Insurance Company cancelled daughters policy and now renewal price has gone up because of this, any advice?

[Anyjamjar]

I am writing this on behalf of my daughter, it’s her 1st traffic offence.

 

She has been given an MS90 and 6 points for running a red light however she never received the original fine as it was sent to her uni address where she no longer lives.

 

My daughter is a medical student and has had several different addresses as they have to work/study at different hospitals/unis

 

This is her timeline of where we are up to

 

TIMELINE / details of conviction 

 

• 22/08/19 – received message via Facebook from Current tenant of previous Uni address who sent a picture of a Bailiffs final warning - £1200 pound fine ! They told me the police and they had been chasing me for the past 7 months. (was panicking that it was a [problem] from this guy on Facebook) 

 

• I rang the Bailiff straight away – he said he doesn’t have my case anymore but he doesn’t know exactly what the conviction is for – maybe speeding or a car accident – he mentioned about paying the fine or ringing the court to make a ‘Stat Dec’

 

• It was too late to ring the courts – checked my license online to see I had 6 points 

 

• 23/08/19 – rang Leeds magistrates who put me through to Bradford magistrates who said I could make a Statutory declaration, explained I needed to go to court so I arranged the Scarborough date (living here now so it’s easier) 

 

• License online said – MS90 and 6 points with £660 

 

• After moving back home for a year My driving license was my home address and my insurance was there , I completely forgot about changing my V5C (where I was living when I got my car).

 

• The landlord from my old uni address had my forwarding address – but apparently it’s a new landlord so they couldn’t forward anything to me 

 

• I have since: 

o Changed my V5C to my home address 

o Changed my driving licence to my university address

o Declared my points to my car insurance who then cancelled my policy 

o Car now at home and declared it SORN 

 

• I got the car in June 2017 – moved out of that address July 2017 – had to re-sit my exams but was living at home 

 

• August 2017 I was living at 4 addresses that year: Scunthorpe, Grimsby, Hull and Parent address

 

29/7/19 family moved address

 

• 19 September 2018 – offence date 

 

• 17th September – court date

 

What is the best way to deal with this, can we get rid of the points on her licence and reduce the fine.

 

Is there any advice re making a Statutory Declaration - We have no experience of anything like this? 

 

Thankyou

 

[Man in the middle]

The situation she will be in when she has done the SD varies from area to area. In some areas the conviction is simply set aside and the CPS (or the police, depending on who prosecuted the matter) are informed of that fact. It is then for them to resurrect proceedings. However in some areas the defendant is asked immediately to enter a plea to the original offence. This is where it can become tricky. The conviction she currently has (endorsement code MS90) is not for running a red light. It is a more serious offence of "Failing to Provide Driver's details" (FtP) under section 172 of the Road Traffic Act. This is a particularly nasty endorsement as far as insurers are concerned. They don't know what you might have done that led you to fail to provide those details so assume the worst.

 

Her ideal outcome would be to have that charge dropped in return for pleading guilty to running the red light. This is a straightforward "deal" that prosecutors accept every day across the land. The complication for your daughter arises because she is performing her SD in a different court to the one that convicted her and the prosecutor there may not be in a position to do that deal (if for no other reason there may not be a "traffic" court held on that day and there may not be a traffic prosecutor around). She also has the problem that if she was not originally "dual charged" with both offences, the red light charge is now "out of time" (proceedings have to begin within six months of the offence) but prosecutors can find a way round that.

 

I recommend she arrives at court early on her SD day and asks to see the prosecutor who is working in her court. He or she may be in a position to do the deal and if so she should request it. They cannot prosecute the red light charge without her co-operation (because they do not know who was driving) and she should only plead guilty to it when she has an assurance that the FtP charge is dropped. If the prosecutor is unable to handle her request she should plead Not Guilty to the FtP charge. The matter will then be adjourned and listed for trial. On that trial date she can ask again if the deal can be done (and the prosecutor for the trial should certainly be able to make a decision).

 

If for some reason she cannot secure the deal she has a certain difficulty in defending the FtP charge. It is true that she could not respond to a notice she did not get but she contributed (quite mightily!) towards the reason why she didn't get it. Legally it is deemed properly served if it was sent by First Class post to the last address held by the DVLA for the vehicle's registered keeper

 

See what happens when she performs her SD and come back if necessary. I know this all sounds a bit complex but as I said, it is a common procedure. The very worst outcome is that she is unable to secure the deal, is forced to plead guilty to the FtP charge but she will no doubt be able to have the fine reduced. The £660 is based on there being no guilty plea and is also calculated on a weekly income of £440 which I imagine, as a student, she does not enjoy.

Edited September 11, 2019 by Man in the middle

[Anyjamjar]

Ok, that’s all really valuable information which I have passed onto my daughter and I thank you for taking the time to provide us with your knowledge of the system!  Fingers crossed it all goes well for her.

 

I really hope they will see it was a genuine error on her part, naivety being her 1st car, and that they take on board that as soon as she became aware of the charge she acted immediately to resolve, in fairness to her she has had so much work, exams, stress of retakes, living at different addresses, working etc... that It’s somewhat understandable how she missed it and a big lesson learned!!  Owner of the house did have access to both mine and her phone numbers and forwarding address although we have been told the house changed ownership so are unsure when this happened so it’s unfortunate that no mail was passed on.

 

Ill be glad when it’s settled for her as this is the last thing she needs hanging over her going into 4th year medicine and she has been so upset by it all, also she needs her car as she is working in GP’s and hospitals in different areas so 6 points is not good!!!  I feel I should have advised her but I have had a company car for as long as I can remember so have never had to deal with anything car related!!!

 

Once again thank you so much

Edited September 12, 2019 by Anyjamjar

[Anyjamjar]

Just wanted to report that the court dropped the MS90 and she ended up with 3 points, £40 fine, £30 Victim Sur (?) and £80 court costs.....thing is because she rang her insurance  to be honest and inform what was happening they cancelled her policy there and then charging her £50 to do so.  Now she’s gone to reinstate her insurance it has gone thru the roof because she’s had a cancelled policy!!  Seems a bit unfair, we hoped dropping the MS90 would avoid this - does this sound right? 

 

Thankyou

 

Edited September 20, 2019 by Anyjamjar
So post read better and was clearer

[Anyjamjar]

My daughter recently had to go to court to make a Statutory a Declaration re a motoring offence which had escalated due to a mix up where her vehicle was registered,  she was facing an MS90, 6pts and a £660 fine - as soon as she found out about this she rang the court, the bailiffs and the insurance to explain what had happened- the insurance company cancelled her insurance on the spot charging her £50 to do so!

 

The court has since dropped the MS90 and she now has 3 points and £40 for the initial motor offence of going thru a red light.

 

The insurance company have now tried to charge her £1000 (instead of £300) to reinstate her insurance  as she now has a cancelled policy on her record which they say will stay on her record forevermore!!

 

This all seems very unfair as she has no MS90 on her licence and 3pts which shouldn’t affect her policy that much.... Does this sound right..., any advice what we can do about this? 

 

Thankyou

[BazzaS]

Did they cancel the policy on the basis of the MS90, or the red light offence subsequently admitted?

[Anyjamjar]

On the basis of the MS90

[BazzaS]

Go back to them, and ask them to rescind the cancellation .....

[Anyjamjar]

Hi, 

 

Yes my daughter drove through a red light.

 

Yes her DVLA was still registered to her previous address at Uni hence them not being able to contact her hence the MS90.

 

This is her 1st car and she simply didn’t think to re register her car to our address she genuinely forgot!  However we left our forwarding address with the letting agent but the house was subsequently sold and the new owner used a different letting agency so communication was lost.

 

The courts enlisted the bailiffs and when the current tenant found her via Facebook she was genuinely mortified as she had no idea that she had broken this light.

 

She immediately rang the bailiffs and court who advised her to make The Statuary Declaration, whilst waiting for that date to arrive she thought she better ring the insurance company to explain what was happening thinking they may have to suspend her policy however they cancelled it on the spot she asked them not to but they just went ahead charging her £50 to do so.

 

At court after she explained what had happened the court dropped the MS90, and reduced the points and fine to what it would have been originally.

 

Going back to the insurance company they said they couldn’t remove the cancelled policy and it would show on her record for life and tried to charge her £1000 to reinsure!!  Previously it had been £300 as she had built up 2 years no claims.

 

I contacted a broker who said he could insure her for £760, she went back to her original insurance company, Admiral who then said they could now do it for £690!!  How can they suddenly do that sounds unscrupulous to me and that they are using this cancellation to now fleece her!!

 

She is a medical student and needs the car to get to the different places she is working on placement but can’t afford to pay this extortionate amount of money.  I would expect her policy to go up a bit but would say max £500 is proportionate? 

 

I will I’ll get her to contact them Regards making a complaint in writing as you have suggested.

 

Thank you.

 

 

[Anyjamjar]

Yes she went back to them and asked them to remove the cancellation however the girl on the phone went to ask someone and came back and said she couldn’t.

 

Thing is they then tried to charge her £1000 to reinsure, I contacted a broker and got it down to £760, she went back to them and they miraculously could do it for £690!!  It feels like they are using this to fleece her, her previous ins was £300.

 

I will get her to write a complaint to them...do you know if there’s an insurance ombudsman she could contact? 

 

I just feel it would have been fair fair to suspend the ins pending the court outcome! 

 

Thankyou.

[BazzaS]

Duplicate thread.

Does this need merging with

 

(OP has posted about the insurance issue on that thread, too)

 

[unclebulgaria67]

Threads merged

[Anyjamjar]

Thankyou