Reclaim Time/Inconvience post Car/Bicycle Crash

Zelfer

Hi.

As a cyclist 2 months ago i was knocked off my bike by a car, thankfully with relatively minor injuries.
The driver admitted fault at the scene, and we exchanged insurance details, which were validated at the scene.
However, the driver has then disappeared off the map and has never admired liability to his insurance company, and because he admitted fault at thr scene the copper involved didnt write a detailed report, or validate witness statements etc.
Therefore, istill don't have a repaired bike, as his insurance company don't accept liability, and I don't have any form of legal protection covering personal injury claims.
Therefore, I've spend about 30 hours now with CAB, police, and on the phone to the insurance company trying to force a decision, and getting nowhere as they are obstructing everything I try and do, and with only minor cuts and bruises, and a little soreness for a week, I'm not wanting to jump onto the massive PI claim bandwagon, so solicitors aren't interested.

My understanding is that I ( or so solicitors have told me) can't directly bill the insurer for this time, as I've not lost income because of it.Considering the insurer (or their client) are being obstructive '@&&@&£+£+#-! Is all of their own fault and doing, and they should be liable in my eyes.
I understand there isn't any case law for time reclaiming, so its kind of a good will offering from the insurance company in the end, if they go offer anything.

is anyone able to provide some guidance as to steps to be recompensed for the time?

(And yes, this has added another half hour to the time dealt dealing with the accident)

Quentin

Your solicitors have no reason to lie to you!


They are paid to give you sound advice and face big trouble were they to advise you incorrectly.

Zelfer

I understand that legally the solicitors can't state that compensation for time will be offered.

However, I want it to be recompensed for it, including subsequent hours at Physio etc.

Therefore, do I :
get a solicitor who will take the case on with the knowledge that there is no case law, which seemsseems very difficult and not covered by any after the event insurance I can find

Hire a solicitor that won't support the claim for time, but claim pi

Forget about it and let the insurance company win?

Quentin

Yes, you need your own solicitor to pursue your compensation claim.


(I assumed your reference to "solicitors" in your OP meant that you had solicitors acting for you already)

Zelfer

I can't currently get no win, no fee solicitors as they only want personal injury claims that they will make enough money off. I've tried 7, they just aren't interested.
I can't afford £300 to fix the bike, so paying up front for the standalone solicitors isn't possible.
After the event insurance doesn't cover me, again because of the small pi claim but big time compensation claim.

Therefore, I can't get a solicitor, and I don't get legal aid.

So I'm stuck as far as I can currently tell.

OnanTheBarbarian

I deal with road accident claims for a living.

You cant' claim for just your time spent with all the faffing around you have had to endure. You can only claim for actual economic loss, such as lost earnings if you were absent from work and were not paid as a result. You can claim for phone call charges, any travel expenses such as bus, or taxi fares to CAB etc, basically any economic loss sustained as a direct consequence of the collision, subject to evidential proof of the loss (receipts or records etc)

So forget making a claim for your "time" as it isn't going to work.

Being realistic, all you can do here is tot up what your losses are, get a written estimate for the repairs to your bike and send this evidence to the insurers with a letter/email saying you will be commencing small claims court action in 14 days if they do not meet your reasonable claim.

It is then up to you if you choose to start court proceedings. This can be done online via the moneyclaim website.

have you got the full name & address of the motorist?

InsideInsurance

So your total claim is within the small track case limits (aka small claims court) hence no solicitor wanting to take it on with a no win no fee basis because they cannot reclaim any costs from the other side and retaining any percentage of your settlement would be small amount.

The whole idea of the small track of the court however is that they are relatively simple cases where you do not need legal representation.

As you've already been told a number of times, the law basically accepts that life is a pain at times and so general inconvenience is not a valid head of claim. Back in my claims days we would wrap up miscellaneous (ie undocumented) expenses and inconvenience into a single offer, normally £15 but occasionally £20.

Zelfer

OnanTheBarbarian wrote: »

I deal with road accident claims for a living.

You cant' claim for just your time spent with all the faffing around you have had to endure....

So forget making a claim for your "time" as it isn't going to work.

... have you got the full name & address of the motorist?

Thank you for your response. Do you normally defend or claim RTA insurance?


I thought the point of insurance was to return you to the state (and no better) as if the accident hadn't of occurred - which considering the deliberate blocks they have put in place, and the time spent in trying to find ways forward with them, I'm significantly out of time, which I can't claim back, therefore can't I use the following example as an method to support recompense, as this time could have been spend earning money, or if my time was subcontracted out from my employer? The 30 hours doesn't include the time stressing about it.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/money-saving-tips/7914426/British-Gas-customer-wins-2000-payment-for-wasted-time.html



I guess this is a pertitant quote from it:

Joanne Lezemore from Which? Legal Services, the watchdog, said: "It can be very hard to claim any costs for your own time from any company and the courts are very reluctant to order such costs, and do not award costs for inconvenience suffered.
"However, most Ombudsman schemes will make awards for inconvenience to compensation customers for the way a company has treated them."

Yes, I've got to the full details of the driver.

OnanTheBarbarian

Zelfer wrote: »

Thank you for your response. Do you normally defend or claim RTA insurance?


I thought the point of insurance was to return you to the state (and no better) as if the accident hadn't of occurred - which considering the deliberate blocks they have put in place, and the time spent in trying to find ways forward with them, I'm significantly out of time, which I can't claim back, therefore can't I use the following example as an method to support recompense, as this time could have been spend earning money, or if my time was subcontracted out from my employer? The 30 hours doesn't include the time stressing about it.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/money-saving-tips/7914426/British-Gas-customer-wins-2000-payment-for-wasted-time.html



I guess this is a pertitant quote from it:


Yes, I've got to the full details of the driver.

I usually act for Claimants but have done defendant work on behalf of insurers and large self-insured fleets.

You need to put principles to one side and forget about trail blazing some caselaw concerning general time spent battling with an insurer.

At the very best, a judge can at their discretion make a general damages award for the nuisance factor, if they believe a defendant has acted unreasonably. This is likely to be a small amount though and more than likely completely disproportionate to the additional hassle factor in your life.

Quentin

Zelfer wrote: »

..... can't I use the following example as an method to support recompense, as this time could have been spend earning money, or if my time was subcontracted out from my employer? The 30 hours doesn't include the time stressing about it.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/money-saving-tips/7914426/British-Gas-customer-wins-2000-payment-for-wasted-time.html



I guess this is a pertitant quote from it:


"However, most Ombudsman schemes will make awards for inconvenience to compensation customers for the way a company has treated them"........

Your case is quite different.


The case you have found refers to a customer of a company with an ombudsman to escalate complaints regarding the company to. It is often a cheaper option for a company to kill off a complaint by way of a "goodwill gesture" to the customer rather than allow it to go to the ombudsman, (even if the ombudsman might adjudicate in favour of the company)


You are not in that position (because you are not claiming against your own insurer)

Zelfer

OnanTheBarbarian wrote: »

I usually act for Claimants but have done defendant work on behalf of insurers and large self-insured fleets.

You need to put principles to one side and forget about trail blazing some caselaw concerning general time spent battling with an insurer.

At the very best, a judge can at their discretion make a general damages award for the nuisance factor, if they believe a defendant has acted unreasonably. This is likely to be a small amount though and more than likely completely disproportionate to the additional hassle factor in your life.

Thanks.


I'm potentially interested in the new case law argument because the insurance company are being such s41ts, but understand that that would have to be separately funded unless I can find a friendly solicitors willing to burn money I don't have.


I guess a big part of it is I know that the way the company is behaving is causing a day to day impact on my work, my home life, because of the level of stress it's causing me, because potentially I am going to be hounded for the damage to the drivers car (if they now deny liability) . That's on top of the actual injuries I suffered which is affecting how I interact with my kids due to movement limiting injuries.

I understand that insurance companies can normally behave in this manner despite having no reason to reject insurance cover looking at the forums, so feel that the only thing that will stop them doing it is to kick them where it hurts - in the wallet.


I know I shouldn't let it eat me up inside, but it only takes one person to change perception of what's "acceptable"...