Pothole damage rejected for fraud.

Zainie786

Hi all.

So I’ll start at the beginning,

I work at Stansted Airport, shifts so tend to drive at 4am when there’s no traffic and it’s still dark.

In February this year I hit a humungeous pothole on the slip road off to the airport, causing a substantial crack in the alloy and essentially writing it off, I found out that the rear wheel on the same side had developed a crack as well and was leaking slowly.

I had to fork out approx £800 for a new set of alloys, (the ones on the car were limited edition Amg) which was a big standard AMG wheel, with tyres and alignment.

All sorted.

Two/three weeks later, I hit the same pothole due to very low visibility (beast from the east)

I needed to be towed to a garage as the wheels fully blew out.

I lost a full days pay for this as well.

Upon getting the wheels checked, we found serious damage to one with the other being weldable. I had to replace both and this costed me a further £600, plus additional money for a damaged spring, arch, alignment ect totally roughly £1200.

My loss of pay was roughly £180 as well, so clearly not a happy bunny.

I submitted a claim with highways England as they were responsible. I explicitly told them that I did not have reciepts for the damage as I went through a friend, who sourced used items for me (each wheel is £2400 through Mercedes.)

They told me this wouldn’t be a problem.

I returned the forms and got an acknowledgment, stating the 90 day window.

After 120ish days, I had still not recieved a response for either and I couldn’t get through to the team handling the claim.

Eventually with lots of shouting ect, I got the red claims teams number who made me a time limited offer (-20%) for the initial claim. They had not recieved the second form.

I accepted the offer and resent a form for the second claim.

I recieved a letter asking for invoices. Thinking that they just wanted confirmation of what was spent where, so that the figures add up, I got the friend to create an invoice, showing the itemised spending.

By mistake he used an online generator which added VAT without either of us realising.

My claims handler contacted me and said that they would have to look into the information, and wanted any other information I had for the claim.

I replied back with a full breakdown explaining that they were aware I had no invoice and explaining the reason for the false invoice. I also explained the circumstances behind the repair as in my friend and that payment was through cash, as it was a friends job. I also attached about 15 pics of the old wheels on my car, the damage to the wheels and the new wheels on the car.

They replied stating they will look into it.

Today a neighbour has delivered me a letter that was again sent to the wrong address where they accuse me of fraud. They outline is that since it was paid in cash, I cannot prove it. The invoices were not the original so are fraudulent, the garage we went to is no longer registered so they are not allowed to trade, and the vat is charged despite no vat registration being supplied

So now I am out of pocket over £2000, and highways are refusing the claim despite being responsible, and even making an offer.

I have witnesses to the damage, but not to the incident.

Where do I stand, what do I do to recover the moneyV

Apologies for the chapter book...

And thanks in advance for any help.

macman

Setting aside the fraudulent invoice you submitted, did you report the pothole after the first incident? Why did you only make a claim the second time? Who knows, they might have fixed it in those 3 weeks...
I'd be amazed if any insurer would pay out without proof of expenditure, an invoice or receipt.
Has the insurer actually cancelled your policy, having accused you of fraud? If so, your £2K bill for repairs is the least of your worries, as your premiums will increase massively with that marker on your record.
If you want to challenge their decision then you will need to take legal action against your insurer in the normal manner. Though, since you have already admitted to the fraudulent invoice, I don't think you have a case.

Zainie786

So The issue is not with the insurance, it’s with Highways England (gov agency.) Highways England is the responsible authority for the road.

Just to add, I reported the pothole approx 2 weeks before the first incident, then again after the 1st. Highways have said they knew about the pothole as loads of people reported it, including 3 from my workplace.

Insurance is not involved so nothing fraudulent involved

photome

Not sure where you go from here, maybe consult a solicitor. no win no fee?


but if you knew the pothole was there before the first incident, why did you then drive over it, not once but twice. I know if I had done that much damage once I would not be driving over it again

AndyMc.....

Zainie786 wrote: »

So The issue is not with the insurance, it’s with Highways England (gov agency.) Highways England is the responsible authority for the road.

Just to add, I reported the pothole approx 2 weeks before the first incident, then again after the 1st. Highways have said they knew about the pothole as loads of people reported it, including 3 from my workplace.

Insurance is not involved so nothing fraudulent involved

What about the VAT?

Zainie786

The VAT was for the full amount which I paid, so it was like this

Item 1 x1
Item 2 x3
Item 3 x1

Subtotal £xxxx
Vat £xxxx
Total £amount I paid

It was an oversight on both our parts and clearly I are a mistake. However I’m not VAT registered, neither is friend, so neither of us have nothing to gain from the oversight so not fraud as far as I can tell.

This is going off the fact that I did not intentially deceive HE, rather I made a mistake of assuming they knew I had no invoice and instead wanted a list of parts paid and replaced... I stand to gain nothing, rather I’m equalising what HE caused to happen to my car.:cool:

Zainie786

The pothole didn’t damage my car the first time I saw it. I was pretty much stationary traffic, and my car still bounced around a bit.

The first damage, I had no choice, either I could hit the lorry next to me, or swerve into the off ramp at the last second. The pothole was huge, covering the entire exit lane.

The second damage, i didn’t see it nor remember it as I was trying not to kill myself with 50mph winds, no streetlights and heavy snow meaning I could barely see 30 feet in front of my car.

AndyMc.....

Zainie786 wrote: »

The VAT was for the full amount which I paid, so it was like this

Item 1 x1
Item 2 x3
Item 3 x1

Subtotal £xxxx
Vat £xxxx
Total £amount I paid

It was an oversight on both our parts and clearly I are a mistake. However I’m not VAT registered, neither is friend, so neither of us have nothing to gain from the oversight so not fraud as far as I can tell.

This is going off the fact that I did not intentially deceive HE, rather I made a mistake of assuming they knew I had no invoice and instead wanted a list of parts paid and replaced... I stand to gain nothing, rather I’m equalising what HE caused to happen to my car.:cool:

It's a false representation where they stand to lose, that's fraud.

AndyMc.....

Zainie786 wrote: »

The pothole didn’t damage my car the first time I saw it. I was pretty much stationary traffic, and my car still bounced around a bit.

The first damage, I had no choice, either I could hit the lorry next to me, or swerve into the off ramp at the last second. The pothole was huge, covering the entire exit lane.

The second damage, i didn’t see it nor remember it as I was trying not to kill myself with 50mph winds, no streetlights and heavy snow meaning I could barely see 30 feet in front of my car.

So 10-15 mph would be a safe speed without snow on the ground.

Zainie786

They had already made an offer at this point, would that change things? It was a genuine misunderstanding, and I was obviously a prat

Zainie786

Andy, you’re clearly very helpful, I drove at a speed which was safe for the car, obviously if I remembered the pothole it might be different.

You drive 10-15 mph on a motorway and see how safe it is...