Minor bump, open claim, court summons?!

MissMidnight

Please bear with me, it's a little complicated!

My partner was driving on a lane that has no markings, street lights etc, that gives the only access to his temporary residence whilst working locally. He was leaving the property, with a work colleague, and upon rounding a corner, had to slam on his brakes, as another car was approaching the corner, but more towards his side of the road. Now the "road" is actually nothing more than a mud and gravel track which branches off in two directions, and runs parallel to another identical lane that leads to another set of houses. The other driver was going to one of those houses, so in theory shouldn't have even been on that part.
Anywho, he slammed his brakes on (although doing about 5mph, that phrase sounds a bit dramatic! - you can't do much more than that speed without causing serious damage to the undercarriage, it is a horrendous road!) - as did the other driver, But the cars collided, his front passenger corner with hers. The other driver got out and started ranting and raving, so my OH offered to call the police and an ambulance for her. She point blank refused, said she was fine. Her teenage children then came from the house (which you can't actually see from the road) and my partner gave them his insurance details. He asked the other driver for her details, but she walked off!!! She didn't come back out, but instead a man came out and started shouting that my OH had been speeding, was on his phone etc etc, all of which is easily proved to be rubbish!
As she didn't want the ambo / police called, my OH took some photos of the scene, and left, dropped his passenger home, and came to mine, where he immediately rang his insurance to tell them what had happened.
The following day, Swift rang him to say they wanted to pay out!! No investigations, nothing! So emailed them saying he was not admitting responsibility, it was "knock for knock", couldn't have been avoided etc.
Heard nothing from his insurance after this.
About a month later, someone HAND DELIVERED a bill from a local garage for the repairs on the other car - nearly £3000 compared to the £50 to fix his! The letter was dated nearly two weeks previous, had AXAs address at the top of the letter, but was signed by someone from the hire department of the garage?!
Rang Swift, sent them the letter via post AND email, had confirmation they received it. That's where the contact with swift ended.
Heard nothing for months, then last week a court summons arrived at the house saying he is being charged with driving w/out due care and attention?!?!
Rang swift AGAIN, they said email it, did so, asking for confirmation. Nothing. Emailed them again 2 days later, still no reply. I rang them, told they could not tell me anything, I would need his permission.
He gave it, I rang again. Apparently, the car has been fixed, but the other party has provided several different amounts, none of which match, and are now ignoring swifts questions as to the exact amount. So he has been summoned.
All I have managed to find out is that the other driver is now claiming injuries (despite refusing the ambulance at the time) and now has witnesses who have appeared out of thin air!! It would have been impossible for anyone to witness it, because of the location!
Unfortunately, I keep hearing "data protection", even when it concerns his details (I have permission to speak on his behalf - he works stupid hours and just doesn't have the time to speak to them) and we cannot find out anything about the other party including name (we have surname) or insurers!
Swift are being absolutely useless, and I am now concerned that they are going to drag this out, possibly leaving him with a conviction if they don't get their act together! We don't even know why he was actually sent the summons, or why it didn't go direct to his insurance when it is them dealing with it!

Any help, advice, or anyone that has been in the situation and can tell me what the hell we are supposed to be doing, I will buy you a beer! :rotfl:

Thanks, and sorry for the long story!!
X

Quentin

MissMidnight wrote: »

......then last week a court summons arrived at the house saying he is being charged with driving w/out due care and attention?!?!...... We don't even know why he was actually sent the summons, or why it didn't go direct to his insurance when it is them dealing with it!......

Why do you think this summons should be dealt with by his insurer?

It is he who has been charged with the offence, and needs to sort out his own defence!

(Usually insurers will help with a policyholder's defence only if their charge relates to causing a death by careless driving)

auroan

!!!!!! isn't he sorting all this ?

Trebor16

There must have been some letters from the police before a summons was received for court. Can you confirm that this is the case?

neilmcl

Exactly, you don't just get a court summons stating you've been "charged with driving w/out due care and attention". Sounds a bit fishy to me.

Strider590

This all seems a bit OTT for such a minor incident......

MissMidnight

We have had no contact whatsoever, this just came out of the blue, so rang insurance to ask them what was going on, and they said to send it to them as his legal cover means they can deal with it. He's at work all day, so it's up to me to sort it out with the insurance and all

MissMidnight

Strider590 wrote: »

This all seems a bit OTT for such a minor incident......

Exactly! We are wondering whether she has been told its "knock for knock" so no payout, and is kicking off claiming injuries and all because she will have to foot the bill?!
We are genuinely scratching our heads, it was a 5mph crash, the airbags didn't even go off! The only damage to my partners car was a broken headlamp!

Quentin

MissMidnight wrote: »

We have had no contact whatsoever, this just came out of the blue, so rang insurance to ask them what was going on, and they said to send it to them as his legal cover means they can deal with it. He's at work all day, so it's up to me to sort it out with the insurance and all

The insurer has mislead you - his "legal cover" will not answer the summons! All that is for is "uninsured loss recovery". If need be he needs to get his own solicitor.

(Unless it isn't a summons at all! Is it from the county court (ie a claim) or as you say, a summons from the magistrates?)

Quentin

MissMidnight wrote: »

Exactly! We are wondering whether she has been told its "knock for knock" so no payout, and is kicking off claiming injuries and all because she will have to foot the bill?!
We are genuinely scratching our heads, it was a 5mph crash, the airbags didn't even go off! The only damage to my partners car was a broken headlamp!

There is no such thing these days as "knock for knock". If liability ends up split, then each side pays the other's costs based on whatever the split is decided (eg 50/50 means your insurer pays out 50% of all the third party's costs, and claims 50% of their costs of their own insured they have to pay out)

A low speed crash does still cause injury!

MissMidnight

That's what we thought, but they assured us their litigation team are dealing with it. The police officer who interviewed them both said she would have had one too, but if it says that the other party was injured, then would they actually summon her?

I'm not saying it can't cause injury, but he offered to contact the ambulance and the police at the time and she point blank refused, so how can she possibly answer to that? Also, my partner suffered no effects, neither did his passenger.

I suppose it would help to speak to someone who knows the actual procedures relating to incidents where no liability is admitted. All the insurance company said is that the summons was probably initiated because they have had several conflicting amounts for the damage to her car, and upon trying to clarify it, have had no response, so it has been left to the court to sort it out.