Help - accident claim

ASK THE EXPERTS SAFETY, LAW AND WORKING TIME DIRECTIVE FORUM (INTE
1

Hi All
Sorry I haven’t been in touch - it’s been years and no excuses :blush: but I haven’t done much driving especially of late. Too many other issues swallowing my time.

I’ve got a legal problem levelled at me and I’d appreciate some help.

I used to work for Canute and left about 8 months before they went bust. 2 years ago I was involved in a collision with a Transit van. I was backing into a side street (Full Hazards on) in an attempt to turn the vehicle around. The driver of the transit van was so impatient he couldn’t wait for me to get back out on the road. Consequently I caught him as he accelerated past me when I went forward damaging both vehicles. It was decided I was in the wrong because I didn’t look to my left i.e. the direction he was coming from. Fair enough I took the rap and handed the matter to my manager who presumably handed it to the insurers to deal with. Matter closed as far as I was concerned and heard nothing more about it.

Today (2 years later) I received a county court claim from the Transit driver (and his solicitor) claiming personal injury damages yet to be determined :open_mouth:

I called my lawyer who said if I was insured by Canute at the time (which I was) it’s a third party liability and no personal cost to me regardless. He says Canute’s insurers are responsible for this which is what I thought but as the company’s gone bust I now need to find out who their insurers were and hand it to them. Is it as simple as that? I’ve never been in a situation like this before and believe the claimant is seriously “trying it on” He claims he bust his arm and damaged his jaw. He was perfectly alright when he got out the van :imp:

The hassle I’ve got now is finding out who Canute’s insurers were. Any help from someone in the know about these issues will be greatly appreciated.

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they send you that letter so you crap yourself and hope you somehow interact with them.
if your concerned,then get your own solicitor to write them a letter recorder delivery telling them to contact canute or whoever they can find that represented canute at the time and try it on with them as you were only the driver and basically go and do one.( in lawyer talk of course).

asking at the same time that if they can pass on photocopies of hospital records,doctors reports and follow up treatment then your solicitor will be happy to try and pass that information on for them if they intend pursuing the matter with you.
theyre just clutching at straws i would think to see if your a soft touch.
you were an employed driver on company insurance…they are onto plums.

i was a passenger in a belter of a car smash around 90mph impact when we were stationary caught on camera and when my solicitor sent in the paperwork then it got sent to the other driver to make sure he crapped himself and contacted his insurer.
you cant do that as its outside of your remit to know what company insured canute so not your problem.

3

Thanks dd999
I’ll get on to that. His med report goes back to June 2018. He obviously tried it on when claiming damages for the company van (which must have been repaired as it was hammered) and probably got rejected. Waits a year and now tries again? Can’t believe some people. Got to be desperate