4.  The applicant was born in 1952 and lives in St Petersburg. 5.  On 2 August 1999 the applicant lodged an action against two private companies seeking compensation for damage caused to his car. On the same day the Sestroretskiy District Court of St. Petersburg adjourned the examination of the action until 9 February 2000 and ordered that the applicant should pay a court fee in instalments. 6.  On 23 May 2000 the Sestroretskiy District Court once again adjourned the examination of the action, requesting the applicant to pay an additional court fee because he had amended his claims on 9 February 2000. The applicant paid the fee in full on 30 June 2000. 7.  No hearings were fixed between September 2000 and 17 October 2000 because the case file had been sent to the St. Petersburg City Court and the composition of the District Court examining the applicant’s case had been changed. 8.  The hearing fixed for 17 October 2002 was adjourned because the case file had been sent to the St. Petersburg City Prosecutor’s office. The following hearing was listed for 11 March 2003. 9.  According to the Government, hearings fixed between 11 March 2003 and 1 November 2004 were postponed because the companies’ representatives defaulted or asked for adjournments, and because the presiding judge was ill or involved in other unrelated proceedings. 10.  On 1 November 2004 the Sestroretskiy District Court dismissed the action. On the same day the applicant lodged a short version of the statement of appeal against the judgment of 1 November 2004. 11.  On 15 November 2004 the applicant complained to the president of the Sestroretskiy District Court that he had not been served with the full text of the judgment of 1 November 2004 and that he had not been allowed to study the case file to prepare his appeal statement. 12.  On 15 December 2004 the Sestroretskiy District Court adjourned the appeal proceedings because the applicant had not submitted the “reasoned” appeal statement and a certificate showing that he had paid the court fee. 13.  The applicant complained about the decision of 15 December 2004 before the St. Petersburg City Court. 14.  On 22 April 2005 the St. Petersburg City Court refused to examine the applicant’s appeal, noting that he had failed to comply with the District Court’s decision of 15 December 2004.