I read with interest the letter from Stuart Killen in last week’s Gazette (see [2008] Gazette, 19 June, 12). I could not agree more with his comments and felt I just had to relate my experiences with Bow County Court. You would be pushed to find a bigger failure by a court to conduct business in an acceptable way.

A simple application for directions (using the special procedure) for a decree nisi hearing made on 12 May has at the time of writing (20 June) still not been set down.

Furthermore, a recent claim form for possession of land was issued four weeks after the application was made. The whole procedure took more than three months. As a result, our client had a repossession order made against him owing to mortgage arrears as he could not meet the payments.

Do the courts not realise that their incompetence severely damages people’s lives? Given all the media coverage of solicitor complaints being made public and talks to protect the public from ‘greedy money-grabbing solicitors’, should not this be more of a priority?