Solicitors Contacting Me About Collision Over a Year Ago

Jefferson1228

Good morning,

I’m new to the forum and have been browsing for anyone else having the same situation as me. There are a few, but none with my specific problem I have at the moment.
I’d like to take you back to 2016 where I had a collision at Gatwick Airport… coming from the M23, the first Roundabout is laned. On approach, there is a left sliproad for traffic entering the South terminal. The other two lanes enter the roundabout. Upon entering the roundabout, the left lane keeps left along the left-hand side and the right lane keeps to the middle lane of the roundabout. The right lane also allows for traffic to go back around the roundabout towards the M23 in the right-hand lane.
There I am, trying to enter the roundabout coming out of the South terminal, giving way to traffic coming from the M23 on their way to the North terminal after dropping someone off as a taxi driver at the time. It’s a fast-paced roundabout and one must judge gaps and accelerate hard to merge with the flow. I want to turn right towards the M23. Then, I see a vehicle enter the roundabout via the right lane and keeps right next to the roundabout island. I merge onto the roundabout and follow my marked lane. Then, the car which was in the lane to go back around, flips their left indicator on, leaves their lane, across the middle lane and into the side of me. We both stop, have a quarrel over who was at fault (none was established at the scene) and we went on our way.
Afterwards, I contacted the taxi company, gave them the relevant information they needed and sorted it out with them. I was given a courtesy taxi from Chief Rentals for the duration of the car getting fixed. Since it wasn’t my policy, I just went with what went on. Anyway, I now no longer work with that company and have had a few employed jobs since then. The taxi company has recently contacted me saying that the third party has still denied any fault and is taking me to a small claims court. I was given a phone number of who contacted the taxi office and found out it was Ravenstone Solicitors. Shouldn’t this still be an insurance matter? Did the third party’s insurance pass the unsettled claim over to Ravenstone? Was it even settled in the first place? I don’t know. Just to add, the man who collided with me was a taxi driver as well. Both of us were driving company cars, so no personal insurance involved. I did give evidence from my dash cam but it shows footage three seconds before impact while we were both on the roundabout. They are apparently asking for footage of me before the roundabout which I don’t have because it was so long ago. It just happened to splice the footage up at that point before impact and used that clip while the rest were overwritten in a short time. I contacted Ravenstone yesterday and asked for relevant details. The lady processing the claim wasn’t around so I asked for a callback on Thursday.
I’ve read on other threads that it should be an insurance matter and that I shouldn’t fill out any forms. I don’t know how’s much this will cost me if I lose or what the third party is trying to claim for, but I’m not really in a good financial situation at all, buying a house and car recently. Does anyone have any tips? I’m willing to sponge up as much advice on this as I can. If anyone needs more information such as a possible diagram of the road layout, the cars’ direction across the roundabout etc. I’m willing to oblige.

Thanks for reading my long essay, but I’m trying to put as much information as possible about it on the first go.

jk0

Small claims court?

I would just go along to court and explain to the judge what happened, and see what he says. Submit some photos of the lane layout.

Really that's all you can do, I think.

Car_54

jk0 wrote: »

Small claims court?

I would just go along to court and explain to the judge what happened, and see what he says. Submit some photos of the lane layout.

Really that's all you can do, I think.

That would be rather silly, since he hasn't even received a summons or claim, just a 3rd-hand phone conversation.

Who are Ravenstone acting for? If it's the OP's insurer, then he should be guided by them.

If it's for the TP he shouldn't even talk to them, except to refer them to his own insurer.

Any court claim should be defended by his insurer.

jk0

Car_54 wrote: »

Any court claim should be defended by his insurer.

But won't be, as of course it is in their interests to admit some guilt to put up o/p's premium. My advice stands.

glentoran99

jk0 wrote: »

But won't be, as of course it is in their interests to admit some guilt to put up o/p's premium. My advice stands.

That's nonsense, Admitting guilt means they have to pay out, They aren't going to recoup that from increasing the OP premiums

Jefferson1228

Hi guys,

I haven’t been summoned to court as far as I’m aware, just that it’s threatened to go to small claims court. Ravenstone Solicitors is acting on behalf of the TP, not the taxi firm’s insurance.
Well, I’m in the predicament now that I’ll be expecting a call from them tomorrow, so shall I just tell them to refer to the taxi firm’s insurance company? I could ask them exactly who passed it onto Ravenstone, whether or not its a claim for damages/injury etc.
Even the owner of the taxi firm said the TP should have gone around instead of just cutting across the lanes without looking. I tried attaching a link to a guide on the roundabout in question but I cannot post links due to having a low post count unfortunately.

Thanks for your replies.

Jefferson1228

There have been a few replies to the post during my previous reply. The insurer of the car I was driving at the time wasn’t in my name as it is a fleet insurance company policy, so I was a named driver on it. Also, I no longer work for the company so I’m not on their policy anymore. I hope this clears things up.

Regards.

molerat

Nothing said alters what needs to be done Simply pass it on to the insurer of the vehicle at the time. If they want anything they will ask you.

System

As above. Refer the claimant or their solicitors to your previous employer, explaining to them it was a company car. This is something that needs to be handled by the insurance company covering the vehicle at the time.

Aretnap

It's not unusual to get letters like this some time after a car accident. If your insurer hasn't settled (either because they're disputing liability, disputing the size of the claim, or just being slow) then the only way for the other driver and his insurer to force the issue is to go through the courts. Any court claim would be issued in your name, because you're the one who (allegedly) caused the accident, so ultimately liability (allegedly) lies with you. You then ask your insurer to indemnify you in accordance with the terms of your policy.

The third party can't take court action directly against your insurer because nobody is claiming that your insurer damaged his car. But in the event that it does go to court and you lose, it will still be your insurer who end up putting their hand in their pocket - not you personally. (However, in all likelihood a settlement will be agreed without an actual court appearance).

None of this is altered by the fact that you were in a company car, or by the fact that you're no longer with the company. The insurer which was covering you at the time of the accident is the insurer who will deal with it. Contact them (find out who they are if you're not sure) and pass the correspondance on to them.

Ectophile

Jefferson1228 wrote: »

There have been a few replies to the post during my previous reply. The insurer of the car I was driving at the time wasn’t in my name as it is a fleet insurance company policy, so I was a named driver on it. Also, I no longer work for the company so I’m not on their policy anymore. I hope this clears things up.

Regards.

You still need to find out who they are, or were, and pass the claim on to them.

Unless you want to try defending yourself in court, and perhaps paying all the TP's costs yourself.