Deemed service

To what extent can the recent Royal Mail industrial action be taken into account when it has been responsible for a failure to comply with a case management time limit and a sanction has been triggered? Can the deemed service provisions of the CPR be disapplied? As industrial action was announced in advance, should service by post have been avoided or, if used, the likely disruption taken into account?

Civil matters are subject to the CPR and the overriding objective. This gives the court a wide discretion when dealing with the failure to comply with court orders. The court will take into consideration a frustrating event outside of the control of the litigant. However, the court will also bear in mind prior knowledge of such an event and any failure to reasonably avoid it.