County court – Appeal. The claimant's application for permission to appeal against a decision of a district judge was dismissed as the circuit judge decided that the claimant's failure to comply with his earlier directions was not trivial and no reasonable excuse for it had been put forward. The Court of Appeal, Civil Division, dismissed the claimant's appeal. It held, inter alia, that the circuit judge had not purported to deal with the application on the merits; he had simply disposed of it peremptorily by way of a sanction. Further, whatever might be said about the merits of the judge's decision, it was not one that engaged the court's residual jurisdiction.