Hello,

I may need some guidance please.

Last Wednesday I was travelling home from work, came off an A road onto a slip road which leads to a roundabout.

There was a queue of traffic waiting to enter the roundabout.

I joined the queue and was stationary when a vehicle behind me failed to stop and ran into the back of my car with quite some speed.

I was propelled forward and almost hit the car in front of me., luckily there was no impact as my car came to a stop before hitting them.

The guy who hit me got out of his car and stated he was sorry and accepts full responsibility.

He gave me his name and an insurance company but stated he had no ID and no insurance documents on him, he said he didn't need any details from me as he accepted full responsibility.

I took a photo of his car and registration plate with my mobile.

He apologized and drove off, almost causing a second accident by nearly missing a van that came travelling up the slip road.

My car has considerable damage to the back, the bumper is cracked, the rear passenger side wing is coming off, the number plate and number plate light are broken, the boot hatch is dented and I cannot open the boot anymore.

I have neck and shoulder injuries and now have got a tinnitus in both ears, the doctor hopes it should settle again over time and is a whiplash type neck injury which can also cause the ringing in both ears.

I have TPFT cover on my car and phoned my insurers to start the claim, when I gave them the details of the other car it came back as uninsured, the details he gave me were false.

They said they couldn't help me any further but going by the damages described they thought for insurance purpose my car would be a total loss. (10 year old Ford KA). I since got an estimate from a local repair garage for £300.- to fix it though (the same garage I originally bought the car from and the guy said he would do me a deal as I think he felt sorry for me to be honest, so he said he'd do it for £300.-)

I also reported it to the police who gave me details of the MIB, I spoke to them and downloaded a claim form which I have filed out and returned today.

Ha anybody got some experience what is happening next and what I can expect to be the outcome ?

I think for a successful MIB claim the car has to be identified. What are the police saying, have they identified the owner and has he admitted he was driving?

As far as I understand it, the MIB will deal with you the same as a third parties Insurers.

They will liase with you to gain agreement over the costs of the claim and they will also contact the owner of the vehicle to find out what is going on.

Once the MIB payout the relevant sum, they will go after the vehicle owner to repay their costs, as it is compulsory to have Insurance.

Have you contacted any Solicitors who deal with accident claims on a no win no fee basis ?

Will they deal with a claim involving the MIB ?

If so, would they be in a better position to ensure that you received what you were entitled to ?

Something worth looking into ?

Check to see if the car itself has an insurance policy on it here http://www.askmid.com if it does then you will normally need to claim from the Insurers of the car assuming you obtained the drivers name which is a valid name.

The police said they would pass it to their collisions unit who would send a letter to the registered keeper.

They would do that sometime this month as they are very busy, the keeper then has 28 days to reply.

If he doesn't reply they will send him another letter recorded delivery to which he then has another 28 days to reply.

So worst case I won't hear from them until end of February next year.

Best case scenario end of January.

If the driver is not the registered keeper and cannot be traced then they say there is little they can do. The vehicle comes up as not insured on the main database they use (I think it is the same as my insurance company used)

As the driver gave me false insurance details I assume the name he gave me is also false.

all I got is a registration with a picture of the corresponding car.

I was tempted to take a picture of the driver, but wasn't sure if that is allowed so I foolishly didn't and he just drove off.

I am not sure how the change of law that came into effect in April will affect my claim if I use a solicitor , I have been told the solicitor will take his fee out of my compensation (should I even get any) and I get the balance as they can't get it back from the other party anymore ?

So not sure if it is worth a try to do it myself ?

When I spoke to the MIB they said they have a lot of claimants who handle it themselves without using a solicitor so can be done apparently ?

I think you may be confusing the change in law with regards success fees with recovery of fees generally.

There are 2 types of MIB claims - the uninsured drivers scheme and the untraced drivers scheme. For the former it used to be that all costs plus VAT were recoverable and the latter a fixed sum of £500 plus VAT were recoverable. Therefore not all legal fees would come from your compensation.

it is possible, as I don't really know what I am talking about, it is just that I was told the law had changed in April and the solicitors fees now have to be paid by the claimant (i.e. myself) and not by the person / company / body paying the compensation, so I thought if I get say £1200 compensation if I deal with the MIB direct and the money goes completely to me I will be better off than if I get a solicitor who manages to wrangle say £2000.- out of the MIB but deducts their fees from it, I may still be better off doing it myself. That was just my line of thought

Normally if you win a case (I'm not talking a MIB claim, but one against an insured driver), the other side pays your costs and disbursements and off course their own solicitors fees and disbursements. If you lost the same would apply to you. Solicitors would sign you up for a no win no fee agreement, is if you don't win an insurance policy would pay the other sides fees and you would owe your solicitor nil. Because your solicitor would be taking a risk, you would agree a success fee I.e. they would receive a certain % uplift of their fee if you won. This success fee would also be recoverable from the other side. The new law since April 2013 has now stopped this and the success fee would be paid out of your compensation.

I have looked up a few solicitors in my area it would appear most solicitors deal with personal injury claims, one has got a Saturday morning drop in session , I tried to phone them but the chap dealing with personal injury claims wasn't available, so will see them Saturday morning and see what they say.

I'll keep this thread going and keep posting updates as it may be of use / information to other people in the same situation

You might be better with a solicitors firm who advertises as doing RTAs and provides a free initial appointment. Many firms have a dedicated RTA section

I have looked up a few solicitors in my area it would appear most solicitors deal with personal injury claims, one has got a Saturday morning drop in session , I tried to phone them but the chap dealing with personal injury claims wasn't available, so will see them Saturday morning and see what they say.

I'll keep this thread going and keep posting updates as it may be of use / information to other people in the same situation

It's these I was thinking about as they are open Saturday mornings for free initial consultations

http://www.evansharveylaw.co.uk/personal-injury-solicitor-plymouth-personal-injury-claims-plymouth-compensation-evans-harvey-personal-injury-claims-plymouth.html

They have a chap who deals with this sort of thing but he wasn't available today

Keep us updated.

OK, I just got a phone call back from the above, the chap had come into the office and called me back.

He said the MIB will only pay solicitors a nominal amount now of £115

.- plus VAT under the uninsured driver scheme, but the costs would be more like £2000

.- so that would have to come out of my compensation.

But he said if they did it through 'the portal' on the MIB website then there are different options but they would still charge me 10% of my compensation but he thinks I won't be able to get any personal injury money from the MIB without a solicitor as I won't be able to provide the necessary medical evidence to them.

I would need medical reports that have to be paid for privately and the relevant doctors are unlikely to deal with me as an individual, they only deal with insurance companies or solicitors. So he said I would never be able

to proof anything to the MIB on my own, they would just throw my claim out.

That's a bit of a bummer really.

OK, i v just looked at numerous solicitors websites with regards MIB claims and they don't paint as black a picture. If you think about it, if its no longer worth claiming through MIB it would no longer exist. One website dated 2014 stated that it is the MIB who arranges the medical and for UT claims they still pay a minimum of £500 and maximum of £3000 towards fees.

I'd Google the subject and discuss this with another firm. Remember you do not have to use a solicitor in your home town. Don't give up.

Oh no, I will pursue this, the chap was just quite negative about it. I think he just didn't fancy a job that involved the MIB, so maybe he just wanted to scare me off using them.

And to be honest when I read about it on the MIB website and on their guidance book it said they will arrange for any medicals if they require them and even vehicle assessors to assess damages for vehicles that are not driveable.

So I will have a look around the internet but look for no win no fee solicitors specifically that deal with accident and injuries.

The MIB should have received my paperwork today so I assume I will hear from them in due course too and see what specifically they require from me.

I once dealt with RTA claims and this involved a couple of MIB claims (few years ago). One thing I do remember is that we kept our fees to a minimum and as you've already spotted, its the MIB who instructs the medical expert. Perhaps he's never dealt with an MIB claim and couldn't be bothered researching. Let's us know how you get on.

will do, I think I will sit tight for a moment and see what the MIB says and take it from there.

There may be anouther option for you here.

Whilst your cover is TPFT so your own insurers will not deal with your vehicle damage if you have legal expenses insurance included with your policy they will instruct a solicitor under the legal cover to pursue your injury claim and vehicle damage claim against the MIB with no charge to yourself or deduction from your compensation.

Check your insurance documents carefully to see if you have legal cover, which will be listed on your schedule of insurance.

No, I don't have legal cover unfortunately, but they have passed my details on to a personal injury claim firm (Minster Law) who were supposed to contact me but never did.

I will wait for the MIB to contact me and see what they require and how things pan out. If I need legal help after all I may look for a NWNF solicitor on the internet and see if that is an option at that stage

That's my plan of action at the moment anyway

Received letter from Collisions Unit today, advising me of my reference number and that they will have 6 months to complete their investigation now.

Also checked Royal Mail tracking system and my MIB claim paperwork was delivered yesterday (almost 1 week after sending it 1st class recorded !)

So waiting for MIB to get in touch now.

Hello,

 

.... when I gave them the details of the other car it came back as uninsured, the details he gave me were false.

Check to see if the car itself has an insurance policy on it here http://www.askmid.com if it does then you will normally need to claim from the Insurers of the car assuming you obtained the drivers name which is a valid name.

Not insured.

At the moment all I have been told is that there is no insurance at all.

My insurance company has checked and so has the insurance company he gave me. (I phoned them direct)

He said he was insured with ECAR but that is not true, they have no record of him or the car being insured with them

My insurance company says there is no insurance at all registered against that vehicle (?)

When I reported it to the police they also looked at something on a computer screen when I gave them the registration plate (I assume they have access to the same database as my insurance company) and then gave me a leaflet with information about the MIB although they didn't actually say anything to me about what it said on the screen. They didn't say if they could see who the vehicle was registered to or whether it was insured, they didn't actually say anything.

I had a bit of trouble getting them to take my report at all to be honest. As the guy stopped and gave me 'some' details (although incorrect ones) they initially were adamant it wasn't a police matter. I kept telling them the guy wasn't insured but the front desk police officer kept saying 'yes, but he stopped'. 'Yes, he stopped but he didn't give me correct details. ' - 'But he did stop' -'Yes officer, he did stop but he gave me false details' -'If he stopped he fulfilled his legal obligations, you need to take this up with your insurers' and so it went backwards and forwards for about 15 minutes until one of the police officers asked whether he gave me his address. I said no. Then they asked whether he gave me a telephone number - which he didn't . It was only at that point they relented and decided to take this as a report as apparently he should have given me an address and telephone number in addition to his name and insurance details.

The fact that the details he did give me were false didn't even seem to come into it, never mind the fact the vehicle isn't insured. So they were basically alleging as long as you stop and provide some details (true or false ones) you have fulfilled your obligations and it is no longer something the police would investigate.

I really had quite a job getting them to accept this as a police matter

Hi officer that I know says if they do not give you correct details then they have not given you their details so it is the same as not supplying details, but you would have to push it with some officers that should know better or just cannot be bothered with paperwork..

dpick

Yes, although there were two of them and neither one was busy I was clearly a bit of a bother at the time.

But I got there in the end.

The police can be useless in this type of situation. The MIB will obtain the police report but if the police won't even give you an incident number then the MIB probably wouldn't take the case. Thank goodness you persisted with them.

When my partner was struck in the rear whilst stationary the drivers father said he would just pay for the damage as he didn't want his daughter going through her insurance (young new driver). My partner had already rung the police who attended and concluded my partner was not at fault.

The father then decided to use a claims handling company for whip lash as the car behind his daughter also drove into the back of her and the father said it was this cars fault. Anyway he refused to tell me his daughters insurance details.

Polices attitude "it is not our job to criminalise people and in any case your insurance company will obtain the details". When I told the officer that she obviously didn't understand RTA law and in any case the insurance company won't help as my partner was third party only and not at fault. The officer stuttered and stumbled but didn't have an answer.

rung the police who attended and concluded my partner was not at fault..

I guess that was a bit of a success in itself, I struggled to get them to get up from their chair and walk to the front desk to take a report.