Data Protection Act Help!!!!

Neil1975_2

vaio wrote: »

You and the owner will need to declare this claim/incident to future insurers.

As the deliver company's isnuer paid for the damage then the incident is likely on the cue data base and if you don't declare then cancelled policies/rejected claims and other seriously bad things lie in wait for you when you get found out.

I looked into this, as no claim was made against my friends insurance it does not have to be declared on his policy. He spoke to his insurers who advised that basically if they didn’t have to deal with it, it didn’t need to be declared much the same as if you have a bump with someone and decide to repair the damages yourself the incident doesn’t need to be declared.

Neil1975_2

Dave101t wrote: »

so you essentially swerved and caused the damage yourself? if they refused to assist you, you wouldnt have a chance in court. you need to take no action so all fault is portioned on the other vehicle. good luck tho

You’re raised a good point there, however the wagon had a raised tailgate and if it the vehicle had driven backwards into my car the first point of contact would have been his tailgate going into my windscreen. as you can imagine a 7 and a half ton wagon going backwards down a hill would have had enough momentum to cause quite a bit of damage before it came to a standstill. The evasive action I took was to avoid injury to myself and after speaking to the police they advised that I took the correct course of action, and if the company had denied liability for the incident and it had been necessary for them to compile an accident report, given the layout of the junction they would laid blame with the wagon driver

pulliptears

Neil1975 wrote: »

If I’d have been chasing a buck I would have, as you say, been better off crossing my fingers and letting him reverse into me. However I was in a small megane and he was in a 7 and a half ton wagon so he would have probably driven half way over me if I hadn’t of moved.

I was extremely angry when it happened but its when the dust settled that the problems started. You start looking at what happened again and the thoughts creep in of what could have happened if my daughter had been in the car, or what could have happened if my daughter had of answered the door.

But she wasn't and she didn't. You cant expect to be compensated for 'what ifs'.

Couple these thoughts with the time and effort it took to simply get the car repaired and the concerns of how the driver found my property and I can honestly say it’s led to quite a few sleepless nights.

I didn’t expect the company to send me a wad of cash but I would have thought they would have offered some form of goodwill gesture to compensate for the distress the incident caused and for my allowing them to deal with it without escalating the matter. In hindsight it would have been easier to let my friends insurance company deal with it but then he would have had to deal with the raised premium on his renewal.

It’s a hard one to call but my solicitor is on the case now

And that is what it boils down to, compo. It's not distressing to have someone knock on your door. You didn't answer, you had no dialogue with the driver so really you have no idea whether he was angry or not other than the say so of a neighbour. If you find someone knocking on your door quite hard distressing I sugest you never have a parcel delivered by my local postie.
As for allowing them to deal with it without escalating, you admit yourself you wanted it done this way to avoid your friends premiums going up so you contradict yourself a little there.

Neil1975 wrote: »

I didn’t wish to have to sully his clean policy with a claim. Even though the incident was the fault of the wagon driver, those of you that use this site will know that even a non fault claim pushes up the renewal cost

Why do you think you deserve compensating? The car is fixed, you are not out of pocket. Your scenario is full of if's, but none of those 'if's' happened.

Move on and forget it.

vaio

Crabman wrote: »

Isn't it possible to obtain/negotiate a payment to cover the costs of any future premium hikes due to this specific incident?

I say yes, others disagree.

When I did it the other side resisted right up to the point that court papers landed on one of their desks, then they paid

steve-L

Neil1975 wrote: »

I understand how the driver could have found my house, my point is that after speaking to the manager and explaining the incident I was advised I would next hear from their insurers. It was an unsolicited visit and I was not asked for my consent nor warned that the driver would attend my property, looking at the situation the company will probably try and say it was the actions of a rouge employee but that employee was passed some or all of my details from a manger at the company which I find unacceptable

I still fail to see the issue.....
I understand the guy was aggressive, what I don't understand is why you think this is a breach of the DPA.

You drive round with a REG number.... and you're assuming that
their manager gave a REG number to the driver.

The point is this REG number COULD have been given by a witness or anyone else. In any case a driver involved in an accident should be trying to get the REG and insurance details.

Had you not called them he might have gone to houses and said he had reason to believe he was in an accident with a <colour> <model> .... and wanted to find it for insurance details....

You don't even know they passed your REG.... they might have said a <colour>,<model> on that street..... then he just drove until he saw a <colour>, <model> and saw it had accident damage?

Its not even YOUR REG...... ???

Non of this means you are not due compensation....
I just think you are barking up the wrong tree with the DPA.

angel00079

I have no idea how the driver found you, perhaps driving around. I am assuming that DVLA will have your friend's address not your.

Neil1975_2

pulliptears wrote: »

And that is what it boils down to, compo. It's not distressing to have someone knock on your door. You didn't answer, you had no dialogue with the driver so really you have no idea whether he was angry or not other than the say so of a neighbour. If you find someone knocking on your door quite hard distressing I sugest you never have a parcel delivered by my local postie.
As for allowing them to deal with it without escalating, you admit yourself you wanted it done this way to avoid your friends premiums going up so you contradict yourself a little there.



Why do you think you deserve compensating? The car is fixed, you are not out of pocket. Your scenario is full of if's, but none of those 'if's' happened.

Move on and forget it.

In regards to the issue of the issue with the driver coming to my house, he had caused an incident and then drove off. If he was aware of the incident he should not have left the scene to begin with. When I spoke to the company I was advised that their insurers would contact me and to await their call, there was no mention of any need to have contact with the driver. My concern is that at this point the driver was either given my details which goes against what I was told by the manager, or the driver chose to search for my car. When I heard the knock at the door I was on my way to answer it when I saw out of the window that the wagon was parked on my driveway, given that I’d just phoned to complain about the actions of this driver and taking into account that I have a knocker on the door but the guy had chosen to beat against the glass with his hand, I chose not to answer it and risk a confrontation.

I’m not a great believer in the claim culture but given the distress this whole matter has caused coupled with the out of pocket expenses I have incurred because of the incident, I don’t feel a generic apology letter really covers it.

Neil1975_2

steve-L wrote: »

I still fail to see the issue.....
I understand the guy was aggressive, what I don't understand is why you think this is a breach of the DPA.

You drive round with a REG number.... and you're assuming that
their manager gave a REG number to the driver.

The point is this REG number COULD have been given by a witness or anyone else. In any case a driver involved in an accident should be trying to get the REG and insurance details.

Had you not called them he might have gone to houses and said he had reason to believe he was in an accident with a <colour> <model> .... and wanted to find it for insurance details....

You don't even know they passed your REG.... they might have said a <colour>,<model> on that street..... then he just drove until he saw a <colour>, <model> and saw it had accident damage?

Its not even YOUR REG...... ???

Non of this means you are not due compensation....
I just think you are barking up the wrong tree with the DPA.

I raised the question about dpa as when I called the manager after the driver had left my property, he said the driver had been parked up having his lunch when the manager had called him. If the driver had been aware of the incident you’d suspect he wouldn’t have just gone to have lunch, therefore the manager must have advised him of the incident and most likely given him the details of the car. If this was an incident involving two car drivers I could understand someone searching for the car but this was a company employee in a company vehicle, i was advised my details would be passed to the their insurers, not the driver in question

steve-L

But they are not your details ???????

The only details they had were ... your telephone number ... REG, make, model, policy number, insurers????

i was advised my details would be passed to the their insurers, not the driver in question

But did he say "I will specifically not pass the details to the driver"?

I can't imagine a situation where he would phone the driver and no at least say "Oy ... you just caused a accident" that doesn't involve saying a <colour> <make> <model>....

I see you having a REAL grievance about the drivers behaviour ... I just don't see why it bothers you the driver is told what make, model, reg of car he nearly caused an accident with?

Put it another way.... lets say you reported this DIRECT to the police...BEFORE calling the company
You tell them what happened, tell them the make, model, reg and stuff ....
They then go and see the driver having his lunch and have a word....
He says "What car" .... they say a <colour> <make> <model>....
and possibly the REG????

Neil1975_2

To clarify again, when I spoke to the manager and explained what had happened he took my name, the car reg number and my mobile number. He advised that matters like this are passed straight to their insurers and that I would receive a call from their insurers within a couple of hours.

Whilst I am extremely concerned that the driver came to my house uninvited in what can only be confirmed as an aggressive manner by the way he banged against my door, and the observations of my neighbour, my main concern is how the company dealt with the incident.

I understand the driver has the right to defend himself against the allegation of wrongdoing, but in not requesting my address and not being supplied with it, the minimal details I did supply to the manager were then used to search for my house and make an unsolicited visit. When I spoke to the police about the incident this was one of the main points they raised concern about. As my call was not only to report the incident but to also lodge a complain about the actions of the driver, in passing my details to the driver the company basically did not protect my interests as the outcome of this action led to a great deal of distress being caused when the driver turned up at my property.

Pulliptears made the point of it being about ‘what ifs’ and that ‘it's not distressing to have someone knock on your door’, having been the recipient of this I can confirm IT IS distressing. When you lodge a complaint about someone’s actions you expect that your complaint will be presented to that person, however you don’t expect that person will then turn at your home banging on your door.