40K + solisitors fees please help

TSx

bubblebath wrote: »

Wow that is a huge thread with a lot of sound advice on there for the OP.

There are sample letters on there too and a reply from the MIB

It's a shame we did not get to see the final result from that and as to whether or not he did pay back the 80k in the end or offered them £10 per month..

I've just read through and reached the same conclusion... it all just ends very abruptly!

It is (in my eyes) a bit of an unfair situation that liability for a debt which could potentially reach millions (£22 million in the case of the Selby rail disaster, which is about as extreme as you can get, but I've seen a fair few cases where damages have been £500k+) cannot be discharged by way of bankruptcy.

Whilst driving uninsured cannot be condoned, and (IMO) the penalties and fines in the criminal justice system need tightening up, it effectively amounts to a fine largely exceeding that given for any other criminal act.

bubblebath_2

I'm with you there. Something needs to be looked at.

How can someone be expected to pay say £300k if they earn £600 a month.

I know there's a lesson and always double check you are insured but in a lot of these cases you can see why people do make this error (for example renewing car insurance and them taking off the 'drive any car' option without letting you know'

They need to re-look at this because I bet 80% of the time the driver gets away with it, and as you see, people even emigrate to avoid paying it.

scooby0502

thanks for all the advice guys unfortunately i am unable to afford legal advice due to bills etc but earn to much for legal aid it was 3year minus 2 days it happened 10th july 2009 and they put claim in 8th july 2012 just to make it clear i dont condone driving without insurance and have always been insured fully comp at the time of the acciddent i was insured fully comp to drive any car but was unaware that the other car needed to be insured by someone else and could not be owned by me there for my insurance was unfortunately invalid which it looks like this will be hanging over me for the rest of my life costly mistake for not reading all the small print and nether us nor our family can get together any reasonable sum of money to offer the mib as settlement really not sure what i willl do but i cant live with this over my head for the rest of my life

TSx

scooby0502 wrote: »

thanks for all the advice guys unfortunately i am unable to afford legal advice due to bills etc but earn to much for legal aid it was 3year minus 2 days it happened 10th july 2009 and they put claim in 8th july 2012 just to make it clear i dont condone driving without insurance and have always been insured fully comp at the time of the acciddent i was insured fully comp to drive any car but was unaware that the other car needed to be insured by someone else and could not be owned by me there for my insurance was unfortunately invalid which it looks like this will be hanging over me for the rest of my life costly mistake for not reading all the small print and nether us nor our family can get together any reasonable sum of money to offer the mib as settlement really not sure what i willl do but i cant live with this over my head for the rest of my life

I would still recommend speaking to the CAB. Spend time reading the full topic I linked to here as it is similar to your situation, however you have the added complication of owning a property. I don't know if they would place a charge on the property, or even if they are able to.

Unfortunately, with the law as it is you need to deal with this because it won't go away, and it won't be written off. Speak to the CAB to see if they are able to offer any advice or help in the first instance, at least if they are involved, the MIB will know you are trying to resolve the situation.

bubblebath_2

Please do look at the thread linked Scooby.
There are some sample letters you can send off . Be honest and explain your exact situation and attach income and expenditure summary with a possible monthly repayment what you can pay or even a final offer (I see people even borrow money from family to do this to end the worry of this over their head)

I am unsure what they can do with your property. Where would you live? Can't see them throwing you on the street and your partner.

Please keep us posted and good luck

bubblebath_2

Dear scooby0502

Do you have any update on this.
Did you send the sample letters?

karenh1970

hi..i am in same boat..they want 57k off us...worried sick over house..we have 2 kids 12&15...does any one have any advice..can they take house?will they accept a small payment each month off such a large debt?will they put an order on our home?worried to death...this is ruining our lives..all because younsters lied in court...and the judge was useless...please advise?any body else been through this and what was the outcome?x

pauletruth

sorry hard though it is you both drove without insurance and caused injury whilst doing so. be grateful you did not kill someone.

as you must be the guilty parties then who else should pay. should it be the victim of your act. or the general motoring public.

of course its an horrific amount to be expected to pay. but really if you were seriously injured would you be happy to hear that the guilty person was uninsured and there was no come back.

NinjaSavingKat

Oh good grief almighty I just read that entire link..... what a complete muppet that kid is. You need to read that thread... it's enough to scare anyone into reading their policy small print again and again.... can you collect enough fund from friends and family to offer them a lump sum..?

As that mammoth thread explains ( a solicitor stated ) they almost always assume that they will NEVER get all the money they have requested, appreciate contact from you and will be more helpful and might even accept something as low as £5000..

But first.... get a cuppa, pen and paper and prepare for a good LONG read...

matttye

scooby0502 wrote: »

thanks for all the advice guys unfortunately i am unable to afford legal advice due to bills etc but earn to much for legal aid it was 3year minus 2 days it happened 10th july 2009 and they put claim in 8th july 2012 just to make it clear i dont condone driving without insurance and have always been insured fully comp at the time of the acciddent i was insured fully comp to drive any car but was unaware that the other car needed to be insured by someone else and could not be owned by me there for my insurance was unfortunately invalid which it looks like this will be hanging over me for the rest of my life costly mistake for not reading all the small print and nether us nor our family can get together any reasonable sum of money to offer the mib as settlement really not sure what i willl do but i cant live with this over my head for the rest of my life

Have you asked a solicitor or looked into whether it's possible to apply for legal aid on the grounds of hardship?

It's certainly possible to do that for criminal cases.

Criminal legal aid has three brackets:

1) If you earn less than £XXXX you automatically get legal aid.
2) If you earn between £XXXX and £YYYY a means test is applied.
3) If you earn more than £YYYY you don't qualify.

If you fall under 2 (and get rejected) or 3, you can still apply for legal aid on the grounds of hardship, where you have to fill out a CRM16 form to show that whilst you're earning enough money to be considered ineligible, you still cannot afford to pay for your own legal representation.

Civil law is completely different but I would expect they'd have something similar.