If I am unable to respond to Judges Directions within a specified period of time ( when appealling a lower tribunal to the Upper Tribunal) will the appeal be able to progress further or will it be "struck out?

I have asked for leave to appeal and the Judge has responded by issuing directions which require me to respond and address certain technical matters as regards the case. I am unable to do so within the specified time limit. I have asked for a time extension but cannot obtain clarification as to whether this will or won't be granted as the judge will not be available and so neither will I.

Any references to Regs etc would be much appreciated,

Thankyou in advance,

T.J.Lintern

It is more likely the Judge will consider whether or not to exlclude you from any taking any further part in the proceedings - can't recall the rule offhand, but it DEFINITELY exists.

However, if your request for an extension of time is cogent AND reasonable, it would be very unusual for you to be penalised for failing to comply with a direction if the only issue is time.

Kevin,

Thankyou for your reply - I do have a good reason for not being able to reply so think the exclusion from the process is unlikely- the only issue is time,

Toby

Under rule 8 of the First tier tribunal rules, the tribunal can only strike you out if the direction itself includes a warning about striking out. It it says "automatic strike out" that means what it says, but if it only says "may be struck out" if they ahve given you an opportunity to make representations.
There is a provision in rule 5(6) for challenging a direction.
I would have thought a note to the Tribunal exlaining your difficulty and giving a date by which you expect to be able to comply would avoid any problems, esepcially if no express warning has been given. But make no rash promises!

Rereading - are you are dealing with the upper tribunal now or still with the lower? It doesn't matter anyway becasue the rules are not only identical, they even have the same numbers.

If it's an application to the UT, this kind of thing used to be dealt with by a Legal Officer when it was still the OSSCSC. I've had to make several requests for an extension of time in the past and they were always granted.....