Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
1.
2.
3.
The police officer had refused to query CaRTs authority to take my boat
and told me to take it up in law as a civil matter which he [the police
officer] was not going to involve himself with.
4.
As I had told Mr Garner, I was going to sue them for theft, criminal
damage and acting without due process, by which I meant that they
were seizing my boat for an alleged debt of 4 years licence fees without
obtaining a court warrant to do so, and having absolutely no paperwork
to establish either their claims or their rights to take the action they did. I
explained this to the police officer, and as I said at the time, I was never
going to let this one drop.
5.
I told CaRT and the police officer also, from the beginning, that I needed
no licence where I was moored on the private property of my moorings
provider. My father was prepared to pay the alleged debt for this
regardless, to prevent them taking the boat away, but was told by Mr
Garner that the full sum of more than 8,000 would need to be paid for
that to happen, inclusive not only of the 4 years alleged licence arrears
but also the estimated cost of removal and transportation even though
the boat had not at that stage left the marina
6.
7.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
[They refused to do this, despite their last minute admission that they
had no right to do what my injunction sought to forbid.]
17.
I believe that there could never have been any doubt that CaRT were
aware that I was going to take matters into the High Court. Mr Moore
only advised on the specific legal reasons why my already stated
intention to do so was justified; the right to demand tolls for use of the
river being contrary to Ms Barrys suggestion a matter that County
Courts lack jurisdiction to determine.
18.
19.
20.
My intention had always been to sell the boat as soon as it was finished
as I had told them in the videos: I had already advertised it on ebay,
and I had in fact agreed a sale immediately prior to the seizure. The
intent had been to make a bit of income from the renovation project.
21.
Being refused return of the boat unless it stayed off their water [despite
being made to pay for it to be there], it has since been in a farmers field
costing me the same as if I was paying for moorings, and yet being
unable to sell easily from there. At this stage, even if I sell it for what I
wanted, I will end up out of pocket.
22.
23.
24.
The reliefs that I am seeking from the court can never be described as
academic as the videos amply demonstrate, I want not only
compensation for all the monies illegally extracted from me, I want
satisfaction that only the Courts can provide, in declarations affirming
that everything [well mostly] of what I said to CaRT and police at the
time, was fully justified.
25.
are
justified,
in
order to
compensation for all the money they have both charged and cost me.
26.
For all the above reasons, I maintain that contrary to the claims of Ms
Barry, my stated intention had always been to both retrieve my boat and
to sue them in the High Court on the grounds outlined in my Statement
of Case. All that Mr Moore has contributed is the specific waterways
legislation that confirmed the correctness of my allegations; he has also
provided the history of such of the Defendants past activities that have
demonstrated that they are as criminal in enacting their own unlawful
policies as I repeatedly accused them of at the time.
27.
28.
29.
I cannot speak to the claims made about Mr Moores conduct over his
own litigation, which I will have to leave to him. What I, as anybody can
say, is that in the principal case that addresses much of the same issues
I have, over the use of s.8 Notices, he succeeded. That they wasted a
quarter million pounds in fruitlessly arguing the issues and ended up
ordered to pay 75% of his costs besides, is only testimony to the lengths
they will go to pursue boaters even when it is they who are in the wrong.
30.
For the judge whose judgment was overturned to class resolute defence
of an eventually justified claim as indicative of being stubborn and
relentless and obstinate [as quoted by Ms Barry] is singularly
inappropriate. From the outset I put CaRT on notice that I will be equally
as resolute in seeking redress in the cause of justice for the criminal
actions they took against me.
31.
32.
33.
34.
In the first place, and most importantly, they need never have decided to
engage in litigation with me at all.
35.
36.
37.
38.
39.
40.
Having discussed that case with him beforehand, I knew that Mr Moore
had written an amended Defence for them that the solicitors were
postponing looking at in the belief that the hearing would be only for
directions. He did not submit that to the Court, but to the solicitor only.
41.
It was Mr Moores belief [correct as it turned out] that the hearing would
be dispositive, and so he helped Mr Wingfield file a short witness
statement instead of the unused Defence.
42.
that
Mr
Wingfields
solicitors
had
failed
to
file
an
43.
44.
The only Defence filed with that Statement was an exhibited copy of a
relevant Defence that Mr Moore has also helped draft [together with a
couple of other boaters] for yet another boater who faced s.8
proceedings from CaRT earlier. In that prior instance they had
discontinued the case after reading the Defence, and having sight of it at
the Wingfield hearing, CaRT offered to restore the licence on a 3 month
probationary basis if he returned to his home mooring. It was only the
failure of Mr Wingfields representatives to take up that offer that led to
the hearing going ahead.
45.
I have talked at length with these and other boaters who have faced
similar issues and been assisted voluntarily by Mr Moore. I do not see
why I should be denied the same assistance just because he has been
effective in helping others.
46.
47.
48.
49.
50.
I feel that it is important for the court to recognise that Mr Moores advice
to me, as indicated by the email he suggested over resolving the
application for an injunction, was to always seek resolution outside of
the Courts if possible, and the emails CaRT wish to exhibit demonstrate
that he repeatedly though fruitlessly - asked for personal discussion
with the Defendant in lieu of correspondence with their solicitors.
51.
light of that approach. Even the judge in the County Court appeal
queried why they were unwilling to resolve our differences that way;
their stance being then that I should drop all claims entirely with no
unbending or concession on their part, even though admitting at the last
that they could not do as the injunction sought to forbid them anyway.
52.
53.
54.
55.
is
that
the
Statement
of
Case
is
too
prolix
and
56.
I start by noting that the latest White Book commentary on CPR s.16 as
helpfully supplied by Mr Stoner begins by saying that Part 16 and the
Practice Direction supplementing it offers little guidance on drafting
statements of case . . .
57.
58.
I submit that the Particulars of Claim as attached to the Claim Form are
a concise outline of the relevant facts and the reliefs sought, comprising
a mere 5 pages of double-spaced 12 pt font with generous margins.
11
59.
60.
61.
62.
63.
64.
65.
66.
67.
I note that the single most oft repeated accusation that I made to CaRT
at the time of seizure and thereafter, was that they were acting in a
criminal fashion contrary to law. This is very evident from the videos.
68.
Each of the three primary issues that I have raised embraces the
inevitable accusation of criminal action, each of them involving a
violation of either common law and/or Statute by the Defendant, which I
have claimed is a characteristic of CaRTs enforcement policy.
69.
70.
71.
72.
73.
It is all the more relevant that in that latter case, there had been a history
of many years of violating the rights of boats to use a public navigable
river, in demanding illegal tolls and evicting and threatening to evict
boats therefrom.
74.
Worse, the cited example of the Defendant still forcing boats from that
river using s.8 powers, even post the relevant judgment and
acknowledgement of its effect supported by the same regional
manager as publicly acknowledged that effect demonstrates that such
criminal actions are continued in the face of knowledge, with the
sanction of upper management.
75.
76.
The other examples cited in the section likewise demonstrate that the
general attitude is reflective of the attitude of the highest office holders,
as well as that of the enforcement and legal departments.
14
77.
78.
It is all the more inappropriate for the Defendant to demand their costs in
applying to have this section struck out, seeing that they have not in fact
addressed the details of the section at all. Indeed, they cannot deny the
facts; they can only hope to suppress them via this application.
79.
80.
The effect of the presumption is nowhere more obvious than in the video
evidence of the police officer at the scene of the seizure.
81.
When it was forcefully put to him that the seizure was an act of criminal
nature which he ought to prevent, his response was: From my
untrained perspective in the rule of the river, or the laws of the river, its
no different to if someones left their car on a highway, and its been
abandoned . . . You guys are saying they need paperwork, wheres
your proof that this chap doesnt own the [boat?] . . . These guys, the
Canal and River Trust, know what theyre entitled to do . . .
82.
83.
15
84.
85.
86.
The 29 examples of illegal s.8 actions against boats entitled under the
common law right of navigation to be on the Brent, as detailed in the
section objected to, speak directly to the readiness of the Defendant to
commit these crimes, as they have done in the other examples listed,
and with me.
87.
88.
The other itemised historical facts are similarly indicative of the abusive
approach of which I have accused them both verbally and in pleadings.
They serve to establish the validity of my claims as perfectly justified, so
providing reasonable grounds for bringing the claims that I have.
89.
90.
16
91.
In the premises I submit that the application to strike out this section
should be dismissed as wholly improper and inappropriate, and contrary
to the over-riding objective of dealing with the case justly . . .
Statement of Truth
I believe that the facts stated in this witness statement are true.
...........................
2 January 2016
Leigh Ravenscroft
c/- The Croft
Moor Lane
Newark
NG23 5QD
Email: midlandlogs@hotmail.com
17