Dan, no case ref as the appeal did not get to The Tribunals Service (Tax Credits case; decision changed by HMRC in favour of the claimant). This occurred in December 2009.
However, because a member of staff at HMRC initially indicated they wouldn't refer the case to TTS AT ALL, I had cause to contact Glasgow's TTS office. The advice I was initially given was plain wrong.
My enquiry was to find out how best to submit an appeal directly to TTS (i.e. bypassing HMRC) in order that it was put before a Judge to consider a request to issue a Direction to HMRC to furnish a submission / response. The first member of staff unequivocally stated the appeal *must* be referred by HMRC and an appeal could not be made directly to HMRC. Even when I cited, and explained, R(H) 1/07, that member of staff insisted an appeal could not be made directly.
I then (politely) asked to speak to a senior member of staff and got the "They're all busy" etc, complete with "attitude". I stated I would wait and got the "It could be a long time". At one point, I half expected the phone to be put down, given the unhelpful tone of that staff member. Eventually, I was (very reluctantly) put through to a supervisor / senior member of staff.
The supervisor was VERY surprised at the prospect of an appeal bypassing a decision making authority, but agreed it should at least be put before a judge. In fairness, he did then offer his name and suggested marking such correspondence for his personal attention.
Now, that may be all fine and dandy in this case, but how many other callers would have been aware of R(H) 1/07? Most would have been led to believe they were stuck with HMRC's intransigence.
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