insurance company lost witness statement

marrilia

hello last year I have been in an accident where I came from a minor road and the other party slowed down to let me move onto the major road but then did not slow enough and hit me...

now when I pulled over there was a witness stopping saying he had seen how it happened and that he was willing to be a witness.

So far so good,now almost a year later the insurance company tell me that they have lost the statement and that I should admit liability.
Now I don't think I should do that because I do not want my insurance to go up.

If someone on this forum whit more legal knowledge can advice about how to continue that would be really helpful

apesxx

You pulled out of a side road, whether the other car was slowing down or not, it is you who is at fault. You should have made sure it was definately safe before pulling out.
Even if i have right away at a mini roundabout, if i can see the car coming is slowing, but not slowing enough for my liking i will wait until i know they are going to stop.

InsideInsurance

Is there a reason why they cant approach the witness again?

Irrespective of the legality of your case you need to register a formal complaint because their miss handling of the paperwork has at least delayed matters and most likely prejudiced the case

marrilia

just to give a bit of background about the accident, I know that I should have waited before he stopped but...

-on the other side of the junction his side of the road was partly blocked by a delivery truck and therefore he needed to stop anyway.
-the other party was a taxi driver in a van,i am not saying he hit me on purpose but he definitely could have stopped or swerved as he just clipped me behind the rear wheel
-the other party is claiming more then a month for a hire car to do his job(at £200+ a day) because the insurance company just not dealt with it swiftly enough

i know it was my mistake to drive onto the major road but i feel that my insurance company have been making major mistakes and that the witness statement would have tipped the balance in my Favour

Sgt_Pepper_2

marrilia wrote: »

just to give a bit of background about the accident, I know that I should have waited before he stopped but...

-on the other side of the junction his side of the road was partly blocked by a delivery truck and therefore he needed to stop anyway.
-the other party was a taxi driver in a van,i am not saying he hit me on purpose but he definitely could have stopped or swerved as he just clipped me behind the rear wheel
-the other party is claiming more then a month for a hire car to do his job(at £200+ a day) because the insurance company just not dealt with it swiftly enough

i know it was my mistake to drive onto the major road but i feel that my insurance company have been making major mistakes and that the witness statement would have tipped the balance in my Favour

If it was your mistake, why are you denying liability?

Quentin

marrilia wrote: »

Now I don't think I should do that because I do not want my insurance to go up......

No-one wants their insurance to go up, but you can't use that as your reason for not taking the blame!

The witness can only say what was witnessed - you drove into collision with a car who had right of way! How do you know that the car was stopping to let you out? Looks like he took avoiding action!

Your insurer's delays in settling with the third party are not your concern - but maybe they were trying to avoid liability for you!

marrilia

Sgt_Pepper wrote: »

If it was your mistake, why are you denying liability?

Because I have got(or at least I had it until the insurance company lost it) a witness that stated to me
" it looked like he either misjudged how much room he had or how fast he was going and just hit you"

that is the reason why I think I had at least a fighting chance to not be fully liable..

Quentin

The bit you are relying on is not a witness statement - just the witnesses thoughts!

marrilia

Quentin wrote: »

The bit you are relying on is not a witness statement - just the witnesses thoughts!

what is the difference...he made a statement to the insurance company...and then they lost it

Quentin

marrilia wrote: »

what is the difference...he made a statement to the insurance company...and then they lost it

Yes they have been negligent in losing it.

But the difference is that you want to rely on what the witness thought, rather than what the witness saw!

What the witness confirms is you driving into the third party who had right of way! His thoughts are irrelevant.

Maybe it got "filed", rather than lost as it seems no help regarding the liability issue!

InsideInsurance

Quentin wrote: »

What the witness confirms is you driving into the third party who had right of way! His thoughts are irrelevant.

Evidently we dont have a great description of the accident from the OP nor do we know exactly what the witness stated that they saw.

Whilst clearly the emerging vehicle has the greater duty of care there are certainly some circumstances where a split liability or even the other party being fully liable is possible. I had a slightly similar case once where there were 3 indep witnesses to the fact that the driver on the main road gave hand signals to the driver emerging to pull our then got distracted and went into the back of him. Main road driver eventually admitted full liability.

We obviously also havent heard what the insurer has said to the OP but on the surface it suggests that after 12 months they simultaneously lost the witness statement and decided they had to admit liability which would strongly suggest that something in the statement had previous meant it was worth fighting.