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#Post#: 96376--------------------------------------------------
Re: Letter from Courts - URGENT
By: b789 Date: October 31, 2025, 4:42 pm
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No reason you can't check online while you are away. All this is
done by email. The physical N180 will arrive by post, but as I
mentioned, you do not need the physical version. As soon as your
MCOL updates to show that the N180 DQ has been sent, just fire
off the one you've downloaded and prepared already. That's it.
Even if you were to miss the N180 initially, the court would
send a reminder to return it.
#Post#: 96380--------------------------------------------------
Re: Letter from Courts - URGENT
By: Rosa52 Date: October 31, 2025, 5:31 pm
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Thank you, so much. It's a weight off my mind!
With kind regards
#Post#: 103073--------------------------------------------------
Re: Letter from Courts - URGENT
By: Rosa52 Date: December 18, 2025, 2:11 pm
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Hello Moderators,
Now back having been away for a few weeks. In that time I
forwarded N180 to CNBC & Claimant. However, although I
indicated dates I would not be available for the Mediation
appointment, the allocation has been within that period. I have
checked by phone if a different date could be assigned, and the
response was 'No'. Since it is a date when I would be in a
country without the best communication systems, I feel I may be
at a disadvantage on the day if Mediator is unable to easily get
through to me.
Also, should I have received Claimant's N180 by now? MCOL site
does not include it under the assigned Ref. number, and neither
have I received any relevant email from them.
Any clarification based on your past experience would be
appreciated.
Thank you.
#Post#: 103081--------------------------------------------------
Re: Letter from Courts - URGENT
By: b789 Date: December 18, 2025, 2:56 pm
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What you need to do now is shift this from being “your problem
on the day” to being a recorded administrative failure by the
mediation service, so that nothing adverse can later be inferred
against you.
You already did what you were required to do. You completed the
N180, you stated dates of unavailability, and you returned it in
time. Once that is done, responsibility for scheduling lies
entirely with the court’s mediation service, not with you.
The key point is that telephone mediation only works if both
parties can be reliably contacted. You have already warned them,
in advance, that you will be unavailable and potentially
unreachable due to travel. They have ignored that information.
That is not something you are required to fix by taking risks
with unreliable communications abroad.
You should now put matters on the record in writing, before the
mediation date.
Send a short, firm narrative email to the mediation service and
copy in the court and the claimant. Do not ask politely for help
and do not frame it as a favour. State facts and consequences.
Explain that you notified unavailable dates on your N180, that
the mediation appointment has nevertheless been listed within
that period, that you contacted them by telephone and were told
it could not be changed, and that you will be in a country with
unreliable telecommunications where calls may not connect at
all.
Make it clear that you remain willing to mediate, but only on a
date outside the unavailable period you already notified. Then
state that if the mediation is not relisted and they cannot
contact you on the day, this must be recorded as an inability to
contact caused by the mediation service listing the appointment
contrary to the information you provided, and not as a failure
or refusal on your part.
That wording is important. You are not declining mediation. You
are documenting that any failure will be the direct result of
their scheduling decision.
Do not over-explain, justify travel, or offer to “try your
best”. The moment you start saying you will attempt to take the
call, you weaken your position and hand risk back to yourself.
The court does not expect litigants to gamble with connectivity
in a foreign country because an administrative body ignored
their availability.
If they refuse to move the date, that refusal itself strengthens
your position, provided it is documented.
As for the missing claimant N180, it is common and rarely
consequential. There is no sanction for you at this stage, and
it does not affect mediation. If you want to be tidy, send a
brief line to the claimant asking for a copy of their filed N180
and noting that you have not been served with it. You can also
mention this in passing to the court. Nothing turns on it unless
directions are later disputed.
In short, your protection comes from making sure that, before
the mediation date arrives, the file clearly shows that any
inability to proceed was caused by the mediation service
ignoring your stated unavailability. Once that is on the record,
there is no procedural disadvantage to you at all.
Send the following email to
scmreferrals[member=6517]justice[/member].gov.uk and CC
DQ.CNBC[member=6517]justice[/member].gov.uk; the claimants
solicitor and yourself:
[quote]Subject: Claim No. [XXXXXXX] – Mediation appointment
listed during notified unavailability
I write in relation to the Small Claims Mediation appointment
that has been listed in this matter.
On [date], I filed and served my Directions Questionnaire (Form
N180). In that questionnaire, I clearly stated that I would be
unavailable between [start date] and [end date].
Despite this, the mediation appointment has been scheduled for
[date and time], which falls squarely within the period of
unavailability I notified. I contacted the mediation service by
telephone on [date] to request that the appointment be listed
outside those dates and was informed that this would not be
changed.
During the period in question I will be abroad in a location
with unreliable telecommunications infrastructure, meaning there
is a real risk that the mediator may be unable to reach me at
all, or that any connection would be intermittent and unsuitable
for a proper mediation call.
I remain willing to engage in mediation. However, this can only
be done fairly if the appointment is listed outside the period
of unavailability that I properly notified on my N180.
If the mediation appointment is not relisted and the mediator is
unable to contact me on the day, this must be recorded as an
inability to contact arising from the mediation service listing
the appointment contrary to the information provided in my
Directions Questionnaire, and not as any failure or refusal on
my part to engage with mediation.
I would be grateful if this position could be noted on the court
file and confirmed in writing.
Separately, I note that I have not been served with a copy of
the claimant’s Directions Questionnaire. If it has already been
filed, please ensure that a copy is provided to me.
Yours faithfully,
[Defendant’s name][/quote]
As for the mediation call itself, it is a total waste of time
anyway. However, if you do attend a mediation call, here is the
advice I provide for it:
For the mediation call, the only requirement is for you "attend"
the call. It is not part of the judicial process and no judge is
involved.
This is what I advise you to say when you receive the call from
the mediator:
“Before I set out my position, please confirm from the
claimant’s side:[/I]
[indent][I]• the full name of the person attending for them;
• their role/position at their legal representative’s firm; and
• whether they hold written authority to negotiate and settle
today.[/indent]
Please relay that back to me before we continue.”
After the mediator calls back...
If identified and authority confirmed:
[indent]“Thank you. I’m content to proceed on that basis. My
settlement offer is £0, or I invite the claimant to discontinue
with no order as to costs.”[/indent]
If no/unclear authority:
[indent]“Please record that the claimant’s attendee has not
confirmed settlement authority. My position remains that
liability is denied and my offer is £0, subject to prompt
approval by an authorised solicitor if they choose to
discontinue.”[/indent]
If the mediator probes your defence:
[indent]”[I]In what capacity are you asking that question? Are
you legally trained? If not, please refrain from offering
opinions. I will be reporting any attempt to do so as
inappropriate[/I].”[/indent]
All you need to know is the name and the position of the person
acting for the claimant and report that back to us. It will be
over within minutes. Complete waste of time otherwise.
#Post#: 103111--------------------------------------------------
Re: Letter from Courts - URGENT
By: Rosa52 Date: December 18, 2025, 5:13 pm
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b789, you are a Star!
Thank you for the clear information as well as the advised
content.
I will issue that email later, tonight.
With appreciation.
#Post#: 108770--------------------------------------------------
Re: Letter from Courts - URGENT
By: Rosa52 Date: February 4, 2026, 6:31 pm
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Hello b789,
This is to let you know that my letter based on your advice,
managed to get date of mediation appointment changed. It is now
on a date I am able to attend.
Shall inform you of the outcome.
In the meantime, Thank you.
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