Court
Attendance
Court Attendance
At TCF, we stand firmly behind our evidence and therefore we are more than happy to assist our clients and the courts in any way possible to fully understand our report and the process behind it.
Our team of experienced rates collators are fully versed in the process of attending court hearings and giving evidence under oath having assisted courts nationwide, both in person and virtually, on over 80 occasions in the past decade.
Some significant cases in which TCF gave oral evidence include:
Lawson vs Mullen – Newcastle County Court June 2015
District judge awarded the BHR rate on the basis that there was a “gross disparity” between the credit hire rate and the Basic Hire Rate debunking the claimants argument that they were entitled to a Zero excess:
“In my judgment, a claimant, as a matter of legal principle does not have an inalienable right to hire a vehicle with a full waiver excess. In many situations it may be reasonable for a claimant to obtain a replacement vehicle with a nil excess, but where, as here, there is a gross disparity between what the credit hire company charged and the basic hire rate, with the only additional advantage being the waiver of a £500 excess, it may well be unreasonable for the claimant to incur that additional cost.”
Taj vs Islan – Birminghan County Court July 2015
Case was originally awarded on basis of credit hire rate as TCF’s BHR evidence was not contemporaneous to the date of hire. This was overturned on appeal. The appeal judge stated as follows:
“The heart of [the trial judge’s] reasoning is that evidence of the position at a somewhat later date than that of the hire is irrelevant. With respect, that was a mistake. Very often when one is assessing valuation evidence in all sorts of fields, one has evidence of prices of the same or similar things at different dates and has to make appropriate adjustments. Working with comparables and making adjustments is the daily diet of judges concerned with valuation in all sorts of fields. Clearly evidence of the spot rate a year or so later than the relevant date is likely to throw considerable light on what the spot rate would have been at the time.”
Grice vs Atos Origin - Bradford County Court August 2016
Case was originally awarded based on TCF’s Avis Prestige rate, however, this was appealed on three grounds. Firstly that the district judge had erred in preventing the cross-examination of our rates collator, secondly in terms of locality of the rate used and lastly that any comparable evidence should have adduced evidence of the cost of hiring at nil excess. The appeal judge stated as follows:
‘Insofar as they relate to cross-examination and restrictions imposed thereon, only apply to situations in which cross-examination is available as part of the forensic process. A witness must first be called in chief or tendered for cross-examination. Party A cannot compel party B to call a witness that B does not wish to call simply to provide an advantage to A. The duties imposed by the CPR are to promote the over-riding objective; but they fall short of requiring one side to help out the other once the trial has commenced; that distorts the meaning of cooperation.’ ‘It had been open to the Claimant at all times to adduce a short survey of countervailing spot hire rates in his locality; that he failed to do so cannot be the responsibility of the Defendant.’
‘In an era when the internet is the first resort for anyone researching anything, the concept of locality is immediately enlarged; this is further exemplified by the preparedness of organisations to win commerce by offering delivery and collection services (whether at a cost or at no cost).’
Recorder Smith rejected the final ground of appeal noting that: “’This was precisely the ground of appeal in the County Court case of Lawson v Mullen, for the avoidance of doubt, had I been hearing this case at first instance I would probably have made the same finding.’
Chatterton vs AXA Corporate – Stoke County Court 2016
Case was originally awarded based on TCF’s Avis Prestige rate, however, this was appealed on three grounds. Firstly that the district judge had erred in preventing the cross-examination of our rates collator, secondly in terms of locality of the rate used and lastly that any comparable evidence should have adduced evidence of the cost of hiring at nil excess. The appeal judge stated as follows:
‘Insofar as they relate to cross-examination and restrictions imposed thereon, only apply to situations in which cross-examination is available as part of the forensic process. A witness must first be called in chief or tendered for cross-examination. Party A cannot compel party B to call a witness that B does not wish to call simply to provide an advantage to A. The duties imposed by the CPR are to promote the over-riding objective; but they fall short of requiring one side to help out the other once the trial has commenced; that distorts the meaning of cooperation.’ ‘It had been open to the Claimant at all times to adduce a short survey of countervailing spot hire rates in his locality; that he failed to do so cannot be the responsibility of the Defendant.’
‘In an era when the internet is the first resort for anyone researching anything, the concept of locality is immediately enlarged; this is further exemplified by the preparedness of organisations to win commerce by offering delivery and collection services (whether at a cost or at no cost).’
Recorder Smith rejected the final ground of appeal noting that: “’This was precisely the ground of appeal in the County Court case of Lawson v Mullen, for the avoidance of doubt, had I been hearing this case at first instance I would probably have made the same finding.’
Our Services
BHR
Reporting
TCF offer a transparent, tried and tested methodology in providing our flagship full and short BHR reports.
BHR
Taxis
A proven track record of providing rates evidence for taxis, offering full, short-form and CPR short reports.
BHR
Distinct
Rates evidence on pretty much everything; from vans, tractors and trailers to caravans and quad bikes.
Court
Attendance
Our experienced team are fully versed in the process of attending court hearings and giving evidence under oath.
Credit
Repair
TCF delivers outsourced, fully independent, credit repair evidence with CPR compliant witness statements.
Partnership Opportunities
TCF are always keen to hear from claims management and data mining companies in the credit hire industry who are interested in partnering with us to provide enhanced BHR solutions.
Contact Us
Want to get the ball rolling? Drop our team a quick email and we will be back to you with further information immediately after.
TCF - Our Standards
Rigorous Training Programme
TCF staff are put through a rigorous training programme to ensure industry compliance and to ensure our core standards are maintained.
Senior Management Auditing
TCF operate a 100% audit system whereby members of the senior management team audit every report before it is sent to our instructing client.
Time Stamped - No Alterations
All screen grabs are time and date stamped with no member of the credit hire team including senior management having the ability to alter their work stations time and date settings.
Clients Free To Audit TCF
Instructing clients are free to audit TCF as often as they require and also by whatever means suits them best whether that be by a site visit, a remote audit or collating the information to be audited by a third party of their choice.