while at work-(few weeks ago)3am--hit by a drunk driver.(got out car---swore--slurred words)
the driver then sped off.i managed to get licence plate number.police showed up within 15 mins.
from here it goes downhill for me.
i phoned police a week later asking for update.(havent contacted driver yet)(wasnt a priority that night)there goes drink/driving charges.
two--weeks later ----they get in touch--driver--no insurance.
basicly £600 damages to my taxi.my excess is £350.so basicly i with have to cover full amount to keep no claims going.
theres NO TOUGH PENALTIES for driving without insurance-----another law abiding driver gets shafted
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Get his details off the police and take legal action against him personally.
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its a she-------and the area she lives--basicly-----more chance winning the pools than getting the money.
thx anyway
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"£600 damages to my taxi.my excess is £350.so basicly i with have to cover full amount"
That's about a week's tips then.
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If you're fully comp with legal cover, you insurer should pay everything and they will sue the other party for recovering cost.
However, unless they can recover cost [often they don't bother doing that] your NCB won't be restored.
Why are you interested to protect your NCB? Probably your premium won't rise as much as you spend to protect it [by bearing the cost of repair by yourself].
Edited by movilogo on 27/05/2008 at 13:22
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fully comp--doesnt cover excess fee.so its cheaper for me paying the £250 on top.
waiting on further developements with insurer regarding legal aspects
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I do feel for you BT, this problem is getting worse all the time, and as usual the genuine honest person who does things legally and plays by the book gets penalised without fail.
It may be worth a claim, even if you end up havng to get the debt colectors or bailiffs on it, you may not get your money back, but you will have caused a mighty headache (the hangover they deserve -;) to the other person.
That would make me feel better as they wouldn't have got away scott free.
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good point GB
you have changed my mind-----if im miserable-----i want her more miserable
(:>)
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The other annoying fact is that if you do not pay a parking or speeding fine, baliffs come
round and demand more money than original fine.
Get drunk, drive a car and crash into someone else - then the victim appears to get very little support. Imagine if you had whiplash or another injury.
It would appear that parking and speeding are more of a priority than personal injury and loss.
I wonder if that company which advertises no loss of NCB if it by an uninsured driver will start using baliffs etc to pursue such claims - if they did they will probably get many people signing up.
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Claim off the drunk driver. Get award in Small Claims Court.
Unlikely she will pay up in a oner but then get bailliffs in and even if they only get £10 /week you will have won something.
She pays your damage + Bailliffs fees it might not make you feel like jumping for joy but she will have 1 x bottle of Vodaka less per week paying up the damages over may be 2 years
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So sorry to hear your tale Taxi driver.
My personal opinion is that legal action or a small claims court action will cause you a lot of grief, take up time when you could be collecting fares and would be an all-round disaster when dealing with someone who probably has no income or assets.
Try to pull together every single expense here and set it against your tax as I assume you are self employed.
Good luck, however you proceed.
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yeah another good point doc
police are charging her with 2 offences---so far
one is leaving the scence of a criminal offence
being self employed--anything like this hurts me finacialy so much more
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This sort of thing infuriates me. Good luck, BT - let us know how you get on.
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The Motor Insurers' Bureau pays out when the other driver is uninsured. I'm not sure how it works though. tinyurl.com/5nrs6v
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They don't pay the first £350 and the paper work is horrendous.
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They are also a cover of last resort - if you have fully comp insurance forget it.
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thx for all replys
much appreciated
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Go the Small Claims route - easy & cheap to do, and the DD will get a CCJ if they don't pay up
MVP
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The DD probably has more CCJs than you've had heated evening meals. You'll have to front the SCC costs, and the costs of bailiffs, and you'll find that the defendant has moved/no job/no assets. You'll spend £350 upfront to get back £0.00.
Not worth it. Been there, done that.
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Hi Black Taxi.
Sorry to hear you had a bad experience with the Police. I'm a Police Officer myself and it does sting us when we hear that other colleagues have let us down by not keeping the victim of a crime well updated.
However, I would like a chance to 'defend' ourselves in some way...
The Police take DD VERY seriously! However, I'm not sure what night of the week this happened or where it happened, but if they took 15 mins to get there, they were either quite a distance away from you, dealing with another job already or it was a weekend night with all the usual problems drunken revellers cause.
The problem with dealing with a DD, is what is known as 'continuity'. In other words, they need to catch the driver in the car, with the keys etc. at the time - if the driver was out of the car when they found her, it would be unlikely that they could arrest her as there is no proof she was the driver at the time. If you gave a good enough description of her, they may have arrested her and got her to give an evidential breath test back at the station. However, a good Solicitor would find the loop-holes and get her off of it plus CPS (Crown Prosecution Service) would probably instruct us to drop the case anyway.
I can't speak for the Officers involved, but I would assume they would have circulated the details of her car so that all units could look out for it that night. I would assume they would have also checked her home address too that night - assuming she was going home and not somewhere else.
Obviously, tracking her down that night did not work for whatever reason but they would still need to speak to her about the collision. The law states that a driver has 24 hours to report an accident if they are not able to report it at that time which must be a good reason too. Once that time elapses, they should then go looking for her. In my Force, we would have to do an accident book/report and these must be submitted within 24 hours of us speaking to the other driver. As I say, that is in my Force - your Force may have a different Policy.
There are certain motoring offences that we must inform the driver/suspected driver within 14 days that we intend to prosecute them but to also give them a chance to say who was driving - the registered owner may not have been the actual driver when the offence happened. Once that person is aware of this 'Notice Of Intended Prosecution', then we have six months to get the file in for it to go to Court. To be honest, a file like this takes so little time so, depending on workload, the Officer would get it done very quickly.
By the sounds of it, your local Police have contacted her within the required 14 days and will have reported her for the offence. They will have/will now be doing a file to send her to Court - so don't worry, things are still in motion!
After that, it's down to the Court to dish out the punishment. By the sounds of where you say she comes from, she won't have much money so don't hold your breath for a stiff punishment!
I would speak to your local Force and see if they do Victim Personal Statements (they should do) and whether you are eligible to gve one for this incident as sometimes, VPS's are not applicable for certain offences.
VPS's are a way of you telling the Courts how this has affected you both mentally and financially. The Courts then take this into account - whether they make her pay for all of your financial loss is another matter - but at least it will help them make their decision.
It may sound like I am defending your local Police, but a lot of people do not know how the system works, so I hope you don't mind me explaining it to you.
HOWEVER! Your local Police were wrong by not keeping you informed of their progress and wrong not to have explained things to you so you knew exactly what would happen. For that, I apologise!
No doubt your local Police are like most Police... buried under mountains of red tape documents forced upon us by the good old Government - bring back the good old days of when we could actually go out and Police rather than be glorified form fillers!
Good luck with your case - I hope you'll keep this forum updated and I'll keep an eye out as I'd be interested to see how it goes for you.
GOOD LUCK!
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