Legal advice

[flyingscot68]

Hi,

I'm looking to see if anyone can advise on a problem we've had with one of our taxis.

A couple of weeks ago one of our drivers hit a very drunk pedestrian who was walking along the middle of a dark road at 4am talking on his mobile.
Our driver was the third car in a line that had to swerve to avoid him but unfortunatley he hit him square on and he went over the bonnet/windscreen/roof.

The pedestrian suffered a broken arm and numerous bruises, our car suffered around £2.5k of damage and is currently still in being repaired. Luckily our driver was not hurt.

The car was taken by the police for inspection which it passed, the police have told the driver that he was not at fault for the accident and they also agreed that he was not speeding and could not have been reasonably expected to avoid the drunken pedestrian.

This incident has left both myself and the two drivers of the car out of pocket.
They have not been able to work since the accident while we wait for the car to be repaired and we are having to pay out the usual weekly costs for the taxi along with the insurance excess of £500. Our insurance company are telling us that this is a fault claim so we'll also lose our NCB which will again raise the cost of our insurance premiums for a few years to come.
The insurance company say that pedestrians are not insured so this will be recorded as our fault and they will not take any action to claim costs from the other party even though he was fully at fault.

We'd like to pursue this further to try and re-claim some of our losses. I do not see why a pedestrian who causes an accident like this should walk away with nothing but their injuries when they were the cause of the accident. How would it have panned out if our driver had also been injured in the crash?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[Doc883]

Do you have legal expenses cover with your comprehensive policy as this is typically used for uninsured loss recovery ? It's one of those bolt on extras.
http://www.theguardian.com/money/2000/a ... eobserver8

[flyingscot68]

Do you have legal expenses cover with your comprehensive policy as this is typically used for uninsured loss recovery ? It's one of those bolt on extras.
http://www.theguardian.com/money/2000/a ... eobserver8

Yes we do but they have told us it only applies to non-fault accidents.

[Doc883]

Do you have legal expenses cover with your comprehensive policy as this is typically used for uninsured loss recovery ? It's one of those bolt on extras.
http://www.theguardian.com/money/2000/a ... eobserver8

Yes we do but they have told us it only applies to non-fault accidents.

So the Police have stated the driver is not at fault however the insurance company record it as a 'fault' accident because pedestrians are uninsured, that's a tough pill to swallow. I'm sure the legal eagles will be along to offer advice but it would seem to me that your only course of action would be to take out a private prosecution to recover costs ?

[Stephen]

The insurance companies seem to be ever more plumping for the easy option. Generally this saves them money as they don't take things to a conclusion but costs you money as they hammer your no claims.
I have had a couple of incidents where we were not at fault but rather than ascertain blame the insurance company have opted for knock for knock.
It's a really shoddy approach. Your only option may be the ombnudsmam

[robin]

Total bummer.

You can no doubt pursue the individual for your losses ... if you think they have any assets it might even pay off given the police are on side ... if they have no assets to speak of it's not worth the effort 'cos they've got nothing to lose and will just laugh at you and any judgement against them.

I assume you have no choice but to repair under insurance (i.e. it's too expensive to do yourself?).

Is the insurance in your name or a business name? You could perhaps circumvent the loss of NCB by signing up a new policy under a new business name - starting with no history might be cheaper than starting with no NCB & a claim against the business. But it's a fine line between happening to start a new taxi business and "failing to disclose a material fact".

Cheers,
Robin

[robin]

Do you have legal expenses cover with your comprehensive policy as this is typically used for uninsured loss recovery ? It's one of those bolt on extras.
http://www.theguardian.com/money/2000/a ... eobserver8

Yes we do but they have told us it only applies to non-fault accidents.

Given it's an insurance against an uninsured loss and they appear to be suggesting that any such loss is in fact a at fault loss and thus isn't covered, I would think you would have grounds for mis-selling claim. I would read your policy wording yourself - if it's not 100% clear that this type of loss is not covered, I would challenge them to show you were in the policy wording the pedestrian-at-fault-loss is excluded; also they should give you some examples of what is included .. for example, accidents with bikes, uninsured drivers, stolen vehicles, ..., if actually they cannot give any example of a real world loss that might ever happen to you, then claim for mis-selling for the entire time you've had the policy (and publicise the fact that you are ... that should give them a right kick up the backside as everyone jumps on the bandwagon!).

Cheers,
Robin

[j2 lot]

Worth going to the Insurance Ombudsman I would think, or follow Robins advice re miss selling.

[tut]

Unusual for an Insurance Company to try and get out of paying.

tut

[robin]

To be clear - I doubt you'll actually get them for mis-selling, but you should push as hard as you can - insurance companies will lie about their policies at sale and at claim and later on when caught tell you it was a mistake and of course you are covered. Look at tut's son's recent home insurance claim for example.

Cheers,
Robin

[GregR]

FWIW I think you'll be lucky to avoid a claim from the pedestrian.

[flyingscot68]

Thanks for all your thoughts on this, I'll be having a good look at the policy wording and see if it gets me anywhere.

If the pedestrian tries to claim for his injuries I reckon he'll be lucky. He told the police at the scene that it was entirely his own fault because he was pissed and being stupid and was even shouting sorry to the driver from the ambulance. I'm sure that'll be in the police report.
Then again - nothing about this kind of thing surprises me anymore.

[sendmyusername]

Agree with robins advice.
However if you have an accident with someone uninsured, isn't there a payout from insurance companies fund for uninsured drivers ( I know it was not a driver, but I thought it was just if it's a road traffic accident to someone uninsured)
Also you could try asking a solicitor, might cost £100 for an initial letter, but might be enough to get them to change their position, and you can claim that back if they do.
If you go down that road. Pick a solictor that specialises in traffic only.
I got a general solicitor and cost me quite a bit of cash due to their inexperience.

[BiggestNizzy]

You can't claim,the MIB as that's only for uninsured / untraceable drivers.

You might have to go to small claims.