Making a claim in the County Court

In this area of the website you'll find information about taking a trader to Court. If your claim is for up to £5,000.00, then you won't need a solicitor and can use the small claims track.

Please note: the information on this page is intended as general guidance and not as an authoritative statement of the law.

First, try to exhaust all other means of trying to resolve your complaint before taking it to the County Court. If you have tried to sort the matter out before issuing a claim, a Judge would want to see evidence. Ideally, you should detail your efforts in the form of letters to the trader.

If all other means have failed to gain the result you are after, then you may consider suing the trader.

If you issue a summons in the County Court you will be the Claimant. The person you intend taking action against is the Defendant.

The following leaflets give guidance on making a claim in the County Court. These are PDF files and require Adobe Acrobat (available as a free download).

• Making a claim? - Some questions to ask yourself
• The Small Claims Track
• How to make a claim
• Response Pack
• No reply to my claim - What should I do?
• The Defendant disputes all or part of my claim
• The Defendant admits my claim - I did not claim a fixed amount
• The Defendant admits my claim - I claimed a fixed amount

There is a fee to issue the claim - the following leaflet gives details.

County Court Fees (PDF)

If your claim is successful then all Court fees paid by you will be added to the sum of money awarded to you. If you are not successful then you will lose the fees paid. No costs will be awarded in small claims.

For full details, please visit Her Majesty's Court Service website.

Alternatively, please contact your local County Court Service. In Newham this is:-

Bow County Court:
96 Romford Road
London
E15 4EG
Tel: 020 8536 5200

You can find a map for Bow County Court here.