It still might be worth asking Age Concern or the local community support officer to look in to it because if an outside independent agency supports the view that undue harassment or pressure was used this will carry a lot of weight and I would have thought be quite detrimental to the other side.

Perhaps get the community support officer to talk to the family first. - Or get the family to talk to the community support officer by way of making a complaint.

More likely an underling will read and report I should think

Mikeee5, I've converted it to a text file so try that.

If not try http://woodburnersmoke.net/Dorothy-Woodsmoke_Cancer_May2011.pdf

Have you seen this:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/fine-particulate-matter-pm2-5-in-the-uk

Posted By: Mikeee5Have learned this week that the expert witness is not allowed to attend court too which is a bit of a blow!

So how is justice served by not allowing him to attend?

What was the reason given that would disqualify his attendance?

I'm not sure of the reason that disqualified his attendance. My solicitor has been on holiday all week, it was his assistant that told me there was no expert witnesses allowed to attend court. My solicitor told me that the Environmental Health officer wasn't allowed to attend a few months back, I believe it was because he was an employee of my local authority.

Djh, that's pretty much what I've done. I've responded to their statements with the true facts and have emailed them to my solicitor. They are playing very heavily on "the council say we're doing nothing wrong and no nuisance exists". Tinki Winki has witnessed the fumes on my property, they know damn well there is a problem!

Well said Bot. I was thinking along the same lines, it could get very messy if not careful. I think the smelly tubbies have done it for that exact reason, throwing disruption into the mix. I was warned about this a couple of years ago when I spoke to an environmental consultancy!

I'd like to do a presentation and tell it like it is if possible.There's not a single thing been falsified. The videos of the smoke returning to ground don't lie and the witnesses that are coming with me have all witnessed the severity of the fumes first hand.

Mikeee5

Posted By: CWattersSeems daft that unqualified witnesses are allowed but expert ones aren't.

Yes, there must be more to the story; hence Triassic's question.

I've spoken to the solicitor earlier and I think he said the court won't allow it because it's a litigation case. However, we can rely on the expert witnesses report, it just means the expert witness won't be their to get cross examined!

Let your neighbors play silly games and lie, it may work in your favor if they go too far, falling on their own sword when the court realizes what type of characters they are.

Posted By: Mikeee5I've done a few searches on the expert witnesses not being allowed in court and as you say there are a number of reasons that they may not be allowed to attend. The smelly tubbies have requested that they produce a report from an expert witness regarding the carbon monoxide readings that were included in the report. It will be interesting to see if the court allows that! We've had the disclosure now and I think it will conflict with the evidence already disclosed, I don't think it should be allowed!

Thanks for you reasurance too bot, let's hope the court sees these people for what they really are!

It doesn't sound like the expert witnesses has been refused but that only he/she can give evidence in writing. If that is the case then sometimes there is an opportunity to put further questions to the expert for answering before the hearing - that might depend on the directions from the court.

That the expert witness is not attending is not altogether surprising if the expert is a joint expert. There is the issue of proportionality fro the court's point of view and if the expert is joint, there cannot be any cross-examination.

If the expert is not joint (i.e. instructed by one side or the other only) then it is more surprising that they are not allowed to attend but again the judge may have decided that the case is more proportionality dealt with this way. An expert in attendance and cross-examined will add half a day to a trial.

The expert's report should be addressed to the court and must state that they understand their duties to the court.

Dave

Posted By: djh

Posted By: Mikeee5I'm just finalising my response to the defendants statements and there are that many lies in them it's unreal. It looks like they are trying to assassinate mine and my wife's characters and trying to make out we are the bad guys in all this. As mentioned previously, I've never been to court before and I'm not sure how it will be seen by the judge if I were to point out the "untruths" .

What I'd like to say is: "Don't call people liars - don't refer to their statements at all. But do make a clear statement of the truth of whatever facts it is that are stated wrongly." But without seeing all the documents, I can't be absolutely sure that's the right advice..

Indeed. You can quite happily point out that you disagree with their version of the events. The judge will make a finding as to who he/she believes.

Besides, if witness statements are in, there is not usually any further opportunity to address this before trial.

Do you have a barrister for the trial? A half decent barrister will easily expose the issues in their statement in cross-examination and can also deal with the statement of the lady down the road.

Dave

What would happen if my neighbours produced documentation in court that had not been disclosed? Would it get kicked out?

The expert witness has done some work for my neighbours and they haven't disclosed it. Would have thought they would want to rely on his opinions in court.