Suspected fraudulent personal injury claim

[zulu_lance]

I was involved in an incident (I would not term it an "accident") last month. As I was driving into the company car park, there was this HGV parked to my left. I stopped and then started slowly, and as I was passing the HGV, this guy climbs down from the passenger side of the HGV and lands on the passenger wing mirror of my car. I go forward and stop as I see him waving in my rear-view mirror. There is a parking attendant who informs me that the chap behind is yelling that I ran over him. I then park my vehicle and ask him if he is alright. He says he has hurt his back and leg, which I could scarcely believe as I was doing as little as 5-7 mph. He then goes away muttering "you don't get run over by a car every day". I call up the police the same day informing them of this incident. The officer asked me if there was any damage to my vehicle to which I replied there wasn't any. She says there is nothing the police can do as there was no damage to my vehicle and hence technically she cannot make a note of this.

This morning, I get a letter this morning from his solicitor for a personal injury claim. This has left me dumbfounded. OP claims he was fixing something on the side of his HGV, which he clearly wasn't. He then goes onto say that my wing mirror hit him with such force that my wing mirror came off, which is a blatant lie. He then accuses me of driving without proper care and attention and driving too close to him, which is again a lie, since it was him who was climbing down from the HGV in the first instance, that too as I was passing. He says he has suffered soft tissue injury, bruising and whiplash(to neck, back, left side). I am no medical expert but I cannot fathom such injuries can be caused by a car brushing past you at less than 10mph!

In the claims letter it mentions that he has not taken time off from work nor attend hospital but that he sought medical attention. He also has not undergone any physiotherapy or rehabilitation. He also did not deem it necessary to report this to the police.

My choices are that I speak to the parking attendant (as a potential witness) and try and get hold of any CCTV footage to dispute his allegations. I will then call my insurance company and tell them I strongly suspect this is a fraudulent personal injury claim. Why did it take him four weeks to file for personal injury claim in the first place, I suspect something fishy here. Hoping for advice from forum gurus.

[Yorkyclaims]

Involve your insurance company straight away. There are very strict timescales for a. acknowledging the letter of claim, and b. making a liability decision.

 

I would also proceed as you state - getting the name of the witness, and also a copy of the CCTV.

 

The insurance company will know what to do - advise them of your concerns - although I would not mention the amount of injuries - this sounds standard, and the fact that it has taken him 4 weeks to make a persohnal injury claim - this is actually pretty quick.

[bernie129]

I think the police have also been negligent here as by law you have to report any accident where somebody is injured.The police should have made a note of it and also probably taken statements !.

[Endymion]

I think the police have also been negligent here as by law you have to report any accident where somebody is injured.The police should have made a note of it and also probably taken statements !.

 

Its a civil matter and as such they won't give two hoots about this claim.

 

It's a company car and so let your company and their insurance sort it out.

 

Just a quick question though - if you were driving at only 5-7 miles an hour, how come you didn't see the bloke open his door, get out of the cab and start to come down the steps of the truck? If you did see him, why didn't you stop. Just a question that you will undoubtedly be asked if you give evidence.

[zulu_lance]

It's a company car and so let your company and their insurance sort it out.

 

Just a quick question though - if you were driving at only 5-7 miles an hour, how come you didn't see the bloke open his door, get out of the cab and start to come down the steps of the truck? If you did see him, why didn't you stop. Just a question that you will undoubtedly be asked if you give evidence.

 

It is my personal car which I use to drive to work. I have called my insurers and made them aware of my concerns.

As I said earlier, I stopped since the parked HGV was blocking my view. I was creeping ahead and as I was passing his passenger door he falls on the passenger wing mirror, if he had fallen on my bonnet then obviously I should have seen him.

The thing which irks me are the allegations that the wing mirror was ripped off and that I was driving too close to him, when in fact he wasn't at all there in the first place!

Isn't there any onus on pedestrians to check when they cross roads/come out of their vehicles?

[bernie129]

Unless the law has changed I think if there is a car accident and somebody is injured you have to call the police and the police have to investigate.This was certainly the case a few years ago it would definately be a civil matter if no one is injured then the police do not have to attend at all.You still have to inform the police if you knock down a dog but not a cat !

 

This is a similar scenario to somebody opening their car door as you are passing its definately the person who opens the car door without looking who is to blame but im not sure if the insurance views it that way !

[Wulfyn]

bernie is right that any accident involving an injury must be reported to the police. You can state that you informed the polic, be interesting to find out if the other guy reported it (weakens his case if he didn't).

 

Unfortunately you may be stuck with this one. There are situations where someone will step into the road without looking and get hit, and even though it was not their fault the driver's insurer will still have to pay. Often these things come down to negotiating negligence - so the guy may be 80% negligent, but they'll say you were 20% negligent. Therefore if he is awarded a cost of (say) £1000, he would get £200 of it and you would get a claim on your insurance

 

Be firm and dispute liability however, as the claim may be so small that your insurer would rather pay it off than risk spending more on court costs.