Court Date?: A Guide for Lloyds Claimants

From Consumer Wiki

It appears that some claimants are now getting a bit sloppy with regards to bundles and preparing for court. We've seen quite a few threads recently where the claimant hasn't bothered submitting anything becouse its a "waste of time".

Ultimately, that may well be true in most cases, but to not comply with a court order is a very dangerous game and you run the real risk of having your claim struck out. There have been 2 claims in the last week or so where this has been the case.

As we all know, its highly unlikely that your claim will get as far as court, but even so, you should still prepare exactly as you would if you knew it was going to - I.e. get a good, solid bundle in ON TIME, and make sure that you know your arguements. Particularly in relation to Lloyds service charge defence. Read this thread -

The issues raised by Lloyds bank defences and claiming beyond 6 yrs

What to include in your bundle

Clearly this will depend to a certain extent upon which specific directions have been ordered (see this thread ), but, IN ADDITION to everything else which you would normally submit in your Basic Court Bundle, you should include;

1) Your account T&C's.

Ideally those from when the account was opened, and covering right through to the present day. If you haven't got them, attempt to get them from your branch or the Lloyds website.

We now have a T&C library up and running. Here -

Document Library - WORK IN PROGRESS

This is by no means complete though and we still need lots more. Please continue to try to obtain any and scan them to us using the e-mail address in my sig. If a postal address is required please PM me.

2) The full OFT report.

No need to print out the whole thing, but you do need the front cover, section 1 "overview" and most importantly, section 4.21 "Disguised penalties". You should put this in INSTEAD of the OFT report summary from the Basic Court Bundle in the templates library.

Plus, the OFT report "Anayasis of Unfair Terms in Schedule 2". Particulary relevant is section's 5.8 -

Analysis of Unfair Terms in Schedule 2

Plus this -

Scots Law commission report


3) The McNamara interview.

The McNamara interview The transcript is fine.


4) Any correspondance or documents

Published by Lloyds which refers to their charges as - "Penalties", "defaults", "imposed when you breach your agreement", etc. Check your old T&C's if you have them and include anything which suggests that the charges are imposed as a result of a breach of your account agreement.

I have a letter in which Martin Orton states that Lloyds' charges exist - "in order that we can recoup our costs". This was in response to a direct request to justify their charges, and no mention was made in the letter of them being any sort of "service charge". Print it off from here to include in your bundles -

Orton letter

Here's another letter which refers to Lloyds charges as covering "staff" and "administrative" expenses -

Admin Costs p1

Admin Costs p2

Admin Costs p3

Simularly, if anyone else finds anything useful such as that, or in their old T&C's, etc, please let me have a copy so I can distribute it for others. Obviously you should block out personal details, and also I am happy to pay any postage costs if necessary.

5) Additional Case Law

These are essential for Lloyds claims.

General of Fair Trading v First National Bank

Bridge_v_Campbell_Discount[1.doc (116.5 KB, 23 views)]

Dunlop_Pneumatic_v_New_garage[1.doc (76.0 KB, 18 views)]


6) A detailed Witness Statement

Which specifically includes arguements which tackle the service charge arguement and "cloaking". Post details of your court date on this thread -

Lloyds court dates

An example Witness Statement is here Examples of Witness Statements / Disclosure by List / Draft Directions / Case Summary

When you've submitted your bundle

In most cases they will pay around now, but if not, and if they don't submit documents, then on the day of the deadline for submissions (which will be stated on the directions order), you should inform the court of their non-compliance immediately.

Send the letter here -

Directions: Non-Compliance

Also, if a court date is imminent you should have a good read of the guidance notes.

Going to court


Related Pages

Court Date?; A Guide to the Different Hearings