On 1 March 2019, the Member States’ ambassadors meeting in the Council’s Permanent Representatives Committee agreed with the Council’s position on a draft directive which amends the unfair commercial practices directive 2005/29/EC, the consumer rights directive 2011/83/EU, the unfair contract terms directive 93/13/EEC and the price indication directive 98/6/EC. The new draft directive results from […]

Norfolk County Council Trading Standards has successfully prosecuted Katie Hope and Scott Wolfe for fraudulent trading, forgery and money laundering. The Defendants, through their firm “International Distance College”, had duped over 900 people into paying for qualifications that did not exist. The Defendants had claimed that the courses they were offering were expertly written and […]

In February’s Practical Law lending column Thomas Samuels considers the status of default notices in light of the recent judgment in Doyle v PRA Group (UK) Ltd [2019] EWCA Civ 12. Read the column here.

In January’s Practical Law regulated lending column, Lee Finch considers the impact of the FCA taking over responsibility for the regulation of claims management companies, which takes effect on 1 April 2019. The column is available here: Claims Management Regulation

The Court of Appeal has handed down judgment in Doyle v PRA Group (UK) Ltd [2019] EWCA Civ 12. The case addresses the recurring question of when limitation starts to run in respect of a claim for the debt due under a credit card agreement. Sir Terence Etherton MR, giving the judgment of the Court, held that […]

The Information Commissioner’s Office has announced a prohibition on all cold-calls in relation to personal pension schemes, to come into force from Thursday 10 January 2019. This is to take effect by way of an amendment to the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EU Directive) Regulations 2003 (SI 2003/2426), inserting a new regulation 21B. However, the […]

Gough Square is delighted to announce that its new Heads of Chambers are Kevin de Haan, QC and Jonathan Goulding. Chambers expresses its thanks to Claire Andrews for acting as Head for over thirteen years.

In November’s Practical Law regulated lending column, James Ross considers the status of judgments obtained in relation to unenforceable consumer credit agreements. Read the column here.

On 9th November 2018, the High Court handed down Judgment in Warwickshire County Council v Halfords Autocentres Limited [2018] EWHC 3007 (Admin), allowing the appeal of the Council. A Trading Standards Officer (“TSO”) of the Appellant (“A”) undertook a “test purchase” of a full vehicle service offered by a garage of the Respondent (“R”). On […]

Both Chambers and Partners and the Legal 500 have ranked Gough Square Chambers as the only Band 1 set for Consumer Law. The Legal 500 said Gough Square Chambers is: ‘top of the tree for consumer work’ with a set ‘full of genuine experts and specialists’ who are ‘user friendly and commercially aware’. Chambers is also ranked in […]