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IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE No. HC-2015-001906

CHANCERY DIVISION

Rolls Building

Monday, 22nd May 2017

Before:

MRS JUSTICE ASPLIN

BETWEEN:

LEIGH RAVENSCROFT Claimant

- and -

CANAL & RIVER TRUST Defendant

__________

THE CLAIMANT appeared In Person together with his McKenzie Friend, Mr Nigel Moore.

MR C. STONER QC (instructed by Shoosmiths LLP) appeared on behalf of the Defendant.

_________

EVIDENCE OF MR STUART GARNER

 INDEX

Page No.

GARNER, MR STUART ANDREW, Affirmed

Examined by MR STONER 1
Cross-examined by MR MOORE 2

_________________
 Monday, 22nd May, 2017
(3.52 p.m.)

A
Mr STUART ANDREW GARNER, Affirmed
Examined by MR STONER
Q For the record, can you give your full name and professional address to the court.
A Yes, its Stuart Andrew Garner, and its The Kiln, Mather Road, Newark.
B Q Thank you, Mr Garner. If you can find the bundle, they have tab numbers on the spines, and
can I ask you to find B1, and behind tab 2 there should be a page which says Witness
statement of Stuart Garner. Do you have that?
A Yes, I have.

C Q And on p.11, which is the last page of the tab, there is a signature. Is that your signature?
A Yes, it is.
Q Have you reviewed this statement?
A I have, yes.
Q Is there anything you wish to correct, amend, or anything like that?
D A There is an incorrect date, I believe, that I noticed in para.28. It refers to 2016 and thats
incorrect. It should be 2015.
MRS JUSTICE ASPLIN: 17th February?
A Yes.
E MR STONER: And also on the following line I think there is a reference to the 16th.
A Apologies, yes.
Q With those amendments, do you confirm the contents of this statement to be true?
A Yes.
MR STONER: Perhaps I can just ask one question by way of supplemental. In fact, I do not
F
need to in view of Mr Ravenscrofts answer earlier. I do not know if Mr Moore has any
questions of Mr Garner in view of what we discussed earlier.
MRS JUSTICE ASPLIN: Mr Moore?
MR MOORE: Thank you, my Lady. I was trying to just put together a little list as you had
G suggested and reviewed the questions that I did wish to ask Mr Garner, and I have to say that
with the majority of it there would be not any much more point in pursuing it for the
purposes very strictly that you are going to be addressing, so I dont want to waste your time
on that. I know that Mr Ravenscroft was keen that you did see some of the video clips that

H contradicted the way events were portrayed but, I mean, that would have to wait until weve

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 seen them if it was firm in his desire that you do see those. So there are just a couple of
questions, seeing that Mr Garner is up here, I might as well ask him about now. Theres only
one main thing, other than referring back to the videos, so if I can.
A

Cross-examined by MR MOORE

Q Mr Garner, Im just going to touch on issues that youve said, rather than use of languages
B and licences versus certificates, and all the rest of it, just accepting that thats a sort of
convenience rather than anything else. But theres something in your para.41. Youre
referring to an email from Shoosmiths. You say:
On 14th April 2015 Shoosmiths confirmed that they were taking instructions from

C their client and would revert to the claimant as soon as they were in a position to do
so. It was not the Trusts intention to hold the boat as a lien over licence fee debts.
A Yes.
Q Can you go to the evidence that youve provided, the witness statement, exhibits, so thats in
tab 1 and its p.59.
D MRS JUSTICE ASPLIN: I think that is in bundle G2.
A Oh, is it? Apologies.
MR MOORE: (To the witness) Bundle B2 tab 1 59. This is the email that youre talking about,
and the 14th April email from Lucy Groves she is the bottom one in the middle of the page.
E Id just like you to point out where it says there that it was not the Trusts intention to hold
the boat as a lien over licence fee debts.
A No, it doesnt.
Q So that statement is not true. I dont know whether its an appropriate point of fact similar to
that, but a lot of the information youre actually providing here is because of what youve
F
been shown rather than what you directly experienced with the correspondence between
well, such as this and the Trust and Shoosmiths and with either Mr Ravenscroft or his then
McKenzie Friend. Your last paragraph refers to the Shoosmiths letter to the claimant
suggesting that insofar as the matter was remitted to the County Court for determination, it
G would be disproportionate to have a separate hearing on this matter alone, which was the
question of the use of holding the boat as a lien on the debt, and you say right at the bottom:
The claimant has refused to agree to this proposal.
A Yes.

H Q Were you shown what his response was or did they just say that hed refused?

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 A No, I will have seen it, yes.
Q Wouldnt it have been appropriate to have put that in as an exhibit, or have you done? I
didnt see it.
A
A I dont know. If its not in the exhibit list then its not here.
Q The last page of your exhibits is the letter that you refer to. This is on p.67.
A Are we still in ----
Q Your exhibits, yes, Bundle B2 tab 1 and its 67. Thats the 8th December 2016 letter that you
B refer to in your final paragraph.
A Yes.
Q There is no response exhibited.
A Theres no what? Sorry?

C Q There is no response from Mr Ravenscroft exhibited, so youve just said the claimant has
refused to agree to this proposal. I mean, I would suggest to you that it was not a flat refusal;
it was, in fact, a counter-proposition. You dont recall having read it.
A I dont recall that, no.
Q Well, I just put it on the record that it wasnt a flat refusal, that it did go into some length and
D make counter-suggestions. I dont think theres anything more to profit from, my Lady.
MRS JUSTICE ASPLIN: Thank you. As there seems to be no re-examination, thank you very
much. You are released as a witness.
(The witness withdrew)
E
(4.04 p.m.)
_____________________

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