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Back in April I was driving into my village on a single lane road with passing places. There is a bad bend with high hedges so as I always do I slowed right down in case anyone was approaching from the other way. I saw a car coming towards me so I stopped as they would reach the passing place before me. They didn’t slow down, saw me at the last second slammed on the brakes, skidded and bumped a dry stone wall. No contact was made, nobody was hurt and only very minor damage to the persons car.
This week I have received a summons to court for forcing the driver to take evasive action and in turn causing his accident. It really is totally unbelievable, what a complete ****. My insurers offered to pay him off, I said no way let’s go to court. The sad fact is that there is every chance he will at least get 50/50 for driving like a **** and crashing his car into a wall.
No wonder insurance premiums are sky high.
Dashcam
Dashcam
and time machine
how / why is this claim being made now? Did you have any conversation / dealings with the other guy on the day?
how / why is this claim being made now? Did you have any conversation / dealings with the other guy on the day?
That. I'd reply that he crashed ahead of you, that your conversation was purely to check he was OK and you were not involved in his accident. He won't have footage either, presumably, and if he has it'll exonerate you anyway
Flipping it the other way, when I was young I had a similar situation but the driver of a van coming the other way wouldn't stop and forced me to scrape against a wall. As I was 17 and didn't have a clue about what to do in these situations I didn't get the guys details. We did briefly speak but he claimed I was going fast, which wasn't true (not in a clapped out Renault 5 going up a hill). Just that he had no intention of stopping.
Was told by others I should have claimed really, but I'd guess it would be difficult.
Though this was all before anti-lock and adaptive breaking so likely wouldn't have happened today.
Actually, I've noticed a lot around narrow lanes that a lot just charge down them and expect everyone to get out of the way and not intending to stop even when there's no room. Growing up going round Devon's narrow lanes and with my early experience, I've learnt to be cautious and ready on the brakes at every corner and noting each passing place. Get people behind me sometimes right up my backside expecting me to go charging ahead.
Though do have to be forceful sometimes, mainly to get the other guy to back up to the nearest passing place when yours is much further away. Does result in a standoff sometimes. Still, I don't charge them down.
Been there, done that. Insurance said 50/50 means we get money from both sides excellent, lets agree on that and never mind what the driver wants.
The sad fact is that there is every chance he will at least get 50/50
I'd say possibly not - 50/50 if you hit each other when the road markings don't give either of your priority. If don't thing you can go 50/50 for one persons accident with a wall.
Perhaps the owner of the wall can make a counter claim
I'm surprised your insurer isn't taking more of a stand. The other driver can't have any evidence to back up his claim. Did you give him your details (I can't see that you were obliged to if there was no contact and you were stationary), or did he manage to get DVLA to give them? It's possible his insurer's are bluffing, and will drop the claim when they see you're going to court.
"I’m surprised your insurer isn’t taking more of a stand."
Haha thats the funniest post of the day.
My insurance company rolled over when a sleepy housewife looked out a bedroom window and 'though' the number plate of a car that had smacked into several cars down her street was xxxxxx which happened to be mine. That was despite me or my car ever being in that town. It was only because the cops intervened due to the nature of the offence and because I got them on the job with ANPR that eventually the insurance companies had to back down - oh but they had a nice little 6 figure claim all lined up between them
Scum the lot of them
I’d enjoy my day in court. It would be really interesting to see how the other parties team spin the fact that the OP was stationary, and giving way, so how could that have possibly caused someone to skid and lose control. Unless, of course, excessive speed was involved.
Case dismissed, m’lud.
Scum the lot of them
Not all, I had the front offside wing of my car smashed in on a roundabout by a woman I was following, who indicated right and turned right, suddenly changing her mind as I was exiting the roundabout, swerving across and forcing her way past me! While my car wasn’t economical to fix, being worth all of £900, I kept the car, got £650, and the use of a hire car while my car was in the body shop. I did nearly 1000 miles in that car!
My insurance company and the claims company dealing with the incident were brilliant, I have no criticism of them at all.
Is the other driver acting through their insurer?
The sad fact is that there is every chance he will at least get 50/50 for driving like a **** and crashing his car into a wall.
50/50 means he (or his insurer) pay for the damage to his car.
You pay for the damage to yours.
So your insurer pays nothing.
I don’t think that’s right - that sounds like the old ‘knock for knock’ agreements. 50/50 means he’ll get 50% of the amount claimed.
OP should tell his insurer he does not accept the ‘offer’ and is prepared to attend court in defence of this spurious nonsense.
It’s all rather vague. The driver was not the owner of the vehicle but his wife was and she was in the passenger seat. I watched him crash, thought “idiot”, then he reversed back to the passing place where he should have stopped and I pulled alongside. I asked if everyone was ok then told him he couldn’t drive like that round here ie too fast and not paying attention. When he started examining the scratches on his car he became aggressive and started swearing so I left him to it.
It seems bizarre that so much time has passed and he is still pursuing it. His statement claims I was travelling at high speed which is complete bollox. On that bit of road, high speed would have made a collision either with him or the wall impossible. Yet the fact is he crashed, I didn’t!
Going to go to court and watch his body language prove he is a lying git.
I would get back to that lane and take a load of photos/video, so it be easier to explain and for other to see what was going on.
Do you have a witness to corroborate that you had indeed stopped?
Sounds like he has one who may back his story over yours!
As it would appear insurance companies are in it together I can certainly vouch for the 50/50 stance. Mrsws was hit from behind doung 5mph whilst in a protected lane with solid white line to her right, if we couldn't prove she wasn't changing lanes which she wasn't it would go 50/50. Wtf!!!
Check whether his passenger can be a valid whitness as her version of events will naturally tally with the driver.
Reason I ask is a passenger can support a driver in scotland, but not in England ( I think). If this is the case then her version will not count...
If you feel strongly about this, get lawyered up as they can do the talking in court in the best legal speak..
Yes I had a passenger that is acting as my witness. Photos and videos being taken by me shortly.
Enjoy your day in court. It's quite nice when in court you can have clear evidence like that.
I also think insurers are a total crock - I've a letter from Churchill admitting they basically ignored a claim, refunding my excess and full policy cost refunded for the year as they hadn't actually insured me against loss (as the agreement is meant to be), plus £100 M&S voucher, but would I mind awfully not taking them to court and ombudsman...
Be aware he may find an "independent" witness.
Get a map/scale drawing of the road as well to show possible entry speed, line of sight etc
I kept the car, got £650, and the use of a hire car while my car was in the body shop. I did nearly 1000 miles in that car!
My insurance company and the claims company dealing with the incident were brilliant, I have no criticism of them at all.
I've sure they were brilliant, they've managed to get a no-fault-claim on your record for five years. The bookie always wins.
It seems bizarre that so much time has passed and he is still pursuing it.
So has he been perusing this with you/ your insurers since the incident and that has recently escalated to the court date? Your first post makes it seem like there’s been no action until this claim /court summons came out of the blue
IANAL, but deffo go to court, I doubt your insurer will want to be involved, cheaper to settle.
The onus is on him to demonstrate that you a fully or partially to blame and I really can't see how he'll be able to do that given there was no contact. ie You can prove there was more space than the guy used. Maybe it was 1mm maybe it was 1m we'll never know, but there was *some* spare space.
If there was a truly independent witness it might not help your case. Some old biddy could easily think you caused it all. People aren't very good accurately recalling an incident that occurred in the blink of an eye. The non-independent witnesses will be listened to, but perhaps not a huge amount of weight will be put on their recollections. (Let's be honest, the passengers and drivers of each car will be giving matching accounts that blame the other vehicle.)
I think if they think you'll defend this they'll back down, I also think you'll win in court.
On the time it took to claim: My wife crashed into someone. The claim was settled in full very quickly. A year later the other vehicle came back for more money via a completely unexpected solicitors letter to us at our home address. I checked it out and they're perfectly allowed to do that up to 6 years later. I forwarded the letter to the wife's insurer and they paid out without grumbling. (Apart from the frustration of dealing with paperwork, remembering who we had been insured with so long after, and the anger at the obvious pisstake it made no difference to us, SWMBO already had the claim on the record.)
Ok, two vehicles, two drivers, two passengers, two stories, one stationary car un damaged, one loses control and damaged.
Driver of other car.. Wife's vehicle.. Nothing wrong with that unless he is unlicensed or learning.. We're there L plates?
Is the claim suggesting he or his wife was driving?
Check everything...
It seems bizarre that so much time has passed and he is still pursuing it.
Pah, that was only in April 2018. I was in a collision in July 2017, I had a letter a year later saying that 50:50 was the best they could do and they were going to settle on that basis. I expressed my disappointment. Without any more info in the interim I received another letter in Sep 2018 saying they hadn't had any response from the other insurers but now (14 months later) had some CCTV footage and were holding the other party liable. Now they've instructed solicitors and are at "legal threat" stage. In the meantime I've renewed twice more expensively, having had to declare a fault claim pending any other outcome and am still out of pocket for my excess last July after the repairs were done.
My suspicion is my company have had the CCTV since the collision but CBA to pursue it until the other insurers didn't play ball with the 50:50. All I know for sure is the wheels very grind slowly.
All I know for sure is the wheels very grind slowly.
Or more likely in this case the wheels weren't turning at all until the guy got an unsolicited phone call asking about the car accident he'd been in recently.
My insurers advised me a month after his initial claim that they had dismissed it. That’s why the summons came as a surprise.
No chance of finding a random witness, absolute middle of nowhere only us there.
Possibly a no win no fee type ambulance chaser company doing this we are not sure. I know that lately I have been harassed by such a company at times becoming threatening and sinister and even claiming to be from my insurers! I recently setup a password on the case and when they called me a few days ago I asked for the password, after a bit of bu*t the guy on the phone told me to p off and slammed the phone down!!!
I had something similar many years ago now. The guy travelling towards me drifts over the white line and smacks the rear corner of my car, spinning me around. He ends up in the ditch on the "wrong" side of the road.
The guy behind me sees the whole thing and provides a witness statement. There was no-one travelling behind the other guy yet a few weeks later he claims he has a witness statement saying I drifted over the white line and hit him.
The insurance company was happy to settle 50/50 - I said no chance. I had taken photographs of both cars (where they ended up, damage, etc). I was happy to go to court and it went in my favour as the evidence was quite clear and he was just making stuff up.
So take it to court - they will quickly see through the lies.