Dear Sir or Madam,

Would you please answer the following points for me?

Is Northampton (CCBC) County Court a corporation trading for
profit?
A simple ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ is all I require.

Is it a ‘Public Court’ i.e. a place that is funded by public money
collected through taxes? Again, a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ will
suffice.

If it IS a publicly funded organisation, then would you also
confirm that ALL Officers, Agents, and employees of this body are
therefore, by definition, Public Servants?

Which services, precisely, does this Court supply in consideration
the ‘court fee’ they charge the claimant in small financial claims?
Do they, for example check to see if the claim submitted is
intrinsically valid –i.e. ask to see valid, initial proofs of
contract between claimant and defendant etc. or do they simply
‘proof read’ claims submitted to them to ensure they are correctly
worded? (i.e.) in plain, easy to understand, grammatically correct
English).

Would you also confirm that the initial correspondence (notice)
from the court to a defendant is an offer of Jurisdiction in the
matter, and that the defendant has the right to decline this offer?

In answering this letter would you please let me know how you would
prefer to be addressed in any future correspondence. E.g. the
‘name’ you are commonly known by followed by your family name so I
can, at least, have the confidence that these answers do come from
another living, human being.

Yours faithfully,
Andrew: Smith

Dear Mr Smith

<<Smith ack ltr.doc>>

Sue Hasdell

Support/Complaint Manager

01604 619592

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show quoted sections

Communications via the GSi may be automatically logged, monitored and/or
recorded for legal purposes.

Dear Ministry of Justice
What follows is a 'response' from CCBC:

(start of quote)

Dear Mr Smith,

Thank you for your email the Correspondence Manager at the Customer
Service Unit, forwarded to this office and received on 7th July
2009, the contents of which have been noted.

Your complaint has been referred to me the County Court Bulk Centre
Complaint Manager for investigation and I will reply to you with my
findings within ten working days of the date of this letter. We aim
to deal with your complaint as a priority.

In the meantime, if you have any further queries, please do not
hesitate to contact me.

Yours sincerely,

Sue Hasdell

Complaint Manager
(end quote)

It is clear that, although it is stated "...the contents of which
have been noted" YOU DID NOT ACTUALLY READ MY REQUEST.
I would like to point out that I have NOT submitted a 'complaint'
of any nature to CCBC or any other party, merely a request for
information.
The questions, I feel, were of a general enough nature that they
could be answered by the office I submitted them to, i.e. The
Ministry of Justice.
You, The Ministry of Justice must, I believe, be aware of the
'commercial status' (or otherwise) of the CCBC and, as the
Government department responsible for overseeing all their
operations, should be able to send me details of their
responsibilities in dealing with claims submitted to them. I hereby
request that you, The Ministry of Justice answer these questions
within the remaining 8 days allowed under law.
Yours sincerely,

Andrew: Smith
Please note: I am NOT MR SMITH. I am commonly known as Andrew, with
the family name of Smith. Please address your reply to a human
being, i.e. Andrew: Smith.

Dear Andrew Smith

<<Smith 8.07.09.doc>>

Sue Hasdell

Support/Complaint Manager

01604 619592

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addressee(s). Its unauthorised use, disclosure, storage or copying is not
permitted. If you are not the intended recipient, please destroy all
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deciding whether to send material in response to this message by e-mail.

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monitoring / blocking software may be used, and e-mail content may be read
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Communications via the GSi may be automatically logged, monitored and/or
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<<Transfer Letter To Mr Smith.DOC>> Dear Mr Smith,

Your case has been forwarded to the County Court Bulk Centre.

Yours Sincerely

Danny O' Sullivan
Customer Service Unit
102 Petty France
London
SW1H 9AJ

Tel: 020 333 4064
Fax: 020 333 4087

------< TRIM Record Information >------

Record Number : D09/214505
Title : Transfer Letter To Mr Smith

This e-mail (and any attachment) is intended only for the attention of the addressee(s). Its unauthorised use, disclosure, storage or copying is not permitted. If you are not the intended recipient, please destroy all copies and inform the sender by return e-mail.

This e-mail (and any attachment) is intended only for the attention of the addressee(s). Its unauthorised use, disclosure, storage or copying is not permitted. If you are not the intended recipient, please destroy all copies and inform the sender by return e-mail.

This e-mail (whether you are the sender or the recipient) may be monitored, recorded and retained by the Ministry of Justice. E-mail monitoring / blocking software may be used, and e-mail content may be read at any time. You have a responsibility to ensure laws are not broken when composing or forwarding e-mails and their contents.

show quoted sections

Dear O'Sullivan, Danny,
It would appear that communications have 'crossed in the electronic
post'
I would like, however clarification from CCBC (Sue Hasdell)
regarding her answers thus far, as it would seem that The Ministry
of Justice themselves feel unable to provide such information.

Although I am still awaiting a response from The Ministry of
Justice to whom these questions were submitted, I request
clarification regarding your (CCBC) responses.

With regard to your responses:

1. If your statement “The Northampton County Court Bulk Centre
(CCBC) is not a corporation trading for profit.” Is TRUE, can you
please explain the following entries on just two of many ‘company
search’ websites that seem to indicate differently:

www.quickcreditreports.co.uk
COURT SERVICE AGENCY
Trading as: NORTHAMPTON COUNTY COURT
St Katherines House
21-27 St Katherines Street,
NORTHAMPTON, NN1 2LH,

www.creditgate.com:
Available Reports Details
Business Name: Northampton County Court
Business Status: Basic Non-Limited
Ref No:B1859115
Established:04/03/1995
Address:
Bulk Centre
21-27 St. Katharines St
NORTHAMPTON
Northamptonshire
NN1 2TD

3. “All employees are Officers of the Court, or Public Servants.”
This statement implies that ‘Officers of the Court’ ARE NOT Public
servants.

-If this is, indeed, the case, please let me know which private
organisation/corporation ultimately pays their wages and/or
expenses?

4. “…..I would like to confirm that it is not for this office to
decide whether a claim is valid, no checks are made to claims prior
to issue.”

-Would this mean that a claimant claiming “three purple unicorns
and a sack of orange smarties – because because because, the
defendant said he didn’t like Wednesdays” would simply be processed
in the normal manner by CCBC, i.e. given a case number, stamped
with the ‘official court seal’ and posted to the ‘defendant’? –and,
yes that IS a serious question to which I require an answer. (In my
original question I asked, specifically, whether claims were ‘proof
read’)

5. “If a defendant wishes to contest the jurisdiction of the Court,
they may do so by completing the Acknowledgment of Service form to
this affect. Please note that upon selecting this option, the
defendant is indicating that they feel this case should not be
dealt with at County Court level.”

- If the person to whom this form is sent, DOES indeed complete the
Acknowledgment of Service form, does this not mean that they are
automatically accepting that they ARE indeed a ‘defendant’ and are
willingly contracting with the court in this matter, and thus
accept any decisions of the court (‘benefits’) associated with such
a contract?

I have downloaded samples of the forms you refer to from HM
websites. I note that on the ‘acknowledgement of service’ section
it states; “If you do not file an application within 28 days………it
will be assumed that you accept the court’s jurisdiction…..”

-Does this statement not clearly imply that the court recognizes it
HAS NO JURISDICTION in this matter, until either the ‘defendant’
acknowledges it either tacitly, (by way of submitting any form of
response) or by way of acquiescence after 28 days?
-Would you please point out where the paperwork (any of the forms
sent) describes what an ‘application’ is and where the process of
how one goes about ‘filing’ the same is described. I note that
every other option ‘available’ as a response e.g. admitting part or
all of the claim; how to counterclaim; how to pay etc. are
explained in great detail on the various forms, complete with ‘flow
charts’ and explanations.

Please correct me if I am in error thinking that, therefore, given
your answers thus far, that the services provided by CCBC in
respect of the ‘fee’ they charge are as follows:

CCBC simply attach a case number to any claim sent to them without
reading it; presumably store the information from the claimant
electronically; ‘generate’ the relevant additional blank forms as
you describe; place the ‘official county court seal’ on the ‘claim
form’ and post to the named ‘defendant’. (with no proof of receipt
required).

-If this is the case, can you explain why the fee charged by CCBC
varies with the amount of the claim? Are, for instance, claims of a
higher value dealt with by personnel (public servants) whose
positions attract higher wages?

I await your answers with interest.

Yours sincerely,

Andrew: Smith