Can a landlord claim hours put into repairs?

[Stephen Bishop]

We had a long term tenant move out in early November. They left the house in such a poor state that it took me over two months to effect all the repairs. We also live 45 miles away from the property, so I had to make something like 25 separate trips to the house - I ended up taking an inflatable mattress to the house and staying there for a few weeks to speed the process up and stop all the driving back and forth. 

We are taking the tenant to small claims court, and I just need to be clear on a couple of points - 

- Someone told us that, as the landlord, I can't claim the time I put into the repairs, only the associated costs - is that true? If so, it's kind of counterproductive, as I do all the work to keep costs down. If we got contractors to do all the work for the sake of making a claim it would end up three times the overall cost.

- Can I claim the gas and mileage for all the driving back and forth? 

Thanks