Police didn't prosecute for TWOC - what does this mean for my insurance claim?

JohnnyB70

What have your friends said about what happened?

The insurance company will likely expect you to tell them who was in charge of the car at the time of the accident. Given that you gave the keys to someone they may well decline to pay out.

Why did you give the keys to someone rather than keep them on you if you weren’t asking them to drive it somewhere for you?

ontheroad1970

JohnnyB70 said:

What have your friends said about what happened?

The insurance company will likely expect you to tell them who was in charge of the car at the time of the accident. Given that you gave the keys to someone they may well decline to pay out.

Why did you give the keys to someone rather than keep them on you if you weren’t asking them to drive it somewhere for you?

Presumably to avoid either the temptation of driving under the influence or being accused of being in charge of a vehicle while unfit through drink or drugs.  Read the whole of the OP's first post.

DB1904

ontheroad1970 said:

JohnnyB70 said:

What have your friends said about what happened?

The insurance company will likely expect you to tell them who was in charge of the car at the time of the accident. Given that you gave the keys to someone they may well decline to pay out.

Why did you give the keys to someone rather than keep them on you if you weren’t asking them to drive it somewhere for you?

Presumably to avoid either the temptation of driving under the influence or being accused of being in charge of a vehicle while unfit through drink or drugs.  Read the whole of the OP's first post.

You need far more than being in possession of keys for an unfit charge. 

JohnnyB70

ontheroad1970 said:

JohnnyB70 said:

What have your friends said about what happened?

The insurance company will likely expect you to tell them who was in charge of the car at the time of the accident. Given that you gave the keys to someone they may well decline to pay out.

Why did you give the keys to someone rather than keep them on you if you weren’t asking them to drive it somewhere for you?

Presumably to avoid either the temptation of driving under the influence or being accused of being in charge of a vehicle while unfit through drink or drugs.  Read the whole of the OP's first post.

I did read it, and it gives no hint at this point about why he did it.

Being in a pub, drunk with your car keys doesn’t count as being in charge of the vehicle, so that’s no reason to leave them on the table and walk away.

DB1904

cjp2308 said:

DB1904 said:

cjp2308 said:

cjp2308 said:

soolin said:

cjp2308 said:

Thanks for coming back to me,

I addressed the group of friends I was sat with at the table and specifically said when I started drinking look after my keys - I even went to the extent of getting the barrier key for the compound so I could collect the car the next morning.

Haven't been refused, just trying to claim at this stage - no charges or accusations of permitting have been raised against me.

Since this happened back in November and a claim would have been made then, where are you currently with that claim? 

My concern, and this is really not my field, is that I’ve seen policies that are reluctant to pay out on the basis of the car was not broken into, therefore keys must have been left negligently and available for a casual thief to acquire. This is certainly open to interpretation but as you did not pass the keys to anyone then it really looks like they were just left without care. 

A lot depends on the wording of your policy of course as not all policies are the same. Does it say anything anywhere about key safety? 

Also, was the car written off or repaired and are you currently insured and driving that repaired vehicle or a different one? 

Thanks again.

Only wording in the policy Markerstudy fully comp is to do with keys left in or on car, or if the car was unlocked.

There is obviously enough evidence of who was driving as they were arrested at the scene, hindsight is a wonderful thing and probably o should have given the keys to a specific friend or put behind bar, but I wouldn't expect 2 people without licenses etc to take they keys In a. Community football club, my friends who I was with know them and their parents well, not that it makes a difference.

It took from November until yesterday to get a police report, which is what Insurance were waiting on to validate the claim, bizarrely, I noticed in the the report an email from the insurance to the investing officer asking is there a reason why they shouldn't honor the claim.

Forgot to add, car written off as total loss, currently driving a new vehicle as courtesy car not provided.

I think the negative from the police report is that so much of it is redacted there is nothing really to support my claim

The only thing that should be redacted is personal information not relating to you. There is clearly more to this.

Yes, that's right, so all statements, names location etc in relation other parties other than me are redacted. 

No reason to redact the location of an accident or where the suspects were arrested if it wasn't at a private address.

ontheroad1970

DB1904 said:

ontheroad1970 said:

JohnnyB70 said:

What have your friends said about what happened?

The insurance company will likely expect you to tell them who was in charge of the car at the time of the accident. Given that you gave the keys to someone they may well decline to pay out.

Why did you give the keys to someone rather than keep them on you if you weren’t asking them to drive it somewhere for you?

Presumably to avoid either the temptation of driving under the influence or being accused of being in charge of a vehicle while unfit through drink or drugs.  Read the whole of the OP's first post.

You need far more than being in possession of keys for an unfit charge. 

That may well be correct, but people sometimes do things in case they might be accused of doing even if not correct.

cjp2308

ontheroad1970 said:

JohnnyB70 said:

What have your friends said about what happened?

The insurance company will likely expect you to tell them who was in charge of the car at the time of the accident. Given that you gave the keys to someone they may well decline to pay out.

Why did you give the keys to someone rather than keep them on you if you weren’t asking them to drive it somewhere for you?

Presumably to avoid either the temptation of driving under the influence or being accused of being in charge of a vehicle while unfit through drink or drugs.  Read the whole of the OP's first post.

That's correct, I've got a previous conviction for drink driving so if I am in that kind of situation I try to remove the temptation.

I put them on the table which me and my group of friends were sat at, I was then drinking at the venue for a number of hours after this.

I didn't know the car had gone until I received a phonecall from the police whilst at another venue.

shiraz99

cjp2308 said:

ontheroad1970 said:

JohnnyB70 said:

What have your friends said about what happened?

The insurance company will likely expect you to tell them who was in charge of the car at the time of the accident. Given that you gave the keys to someone they may well decline to pay out.

Why did you give the keys to someone rather than keep them on you if you weren’t asking them to drive it somewhere for you?

Presumably to avoid either the temptation of driving under the influence or being accused of being in charge of a vehicle while unfit through drink or drugs.  Read the whole of the OP's first post.

That's correct, I've got a previous conviction for drink driving so if I am in that kind of situation I try to remove the temptation.

I put them on the table which me and my group of friends were sat at, I was then drinking at the venue for a number of hours after this.

I didn't know the car had gone until I received a phonecall from the police whilst at another venue.

The very fact that you didn't actually hand them over to a named person to look after doesn't go in your favour as far as the insurance company will be concerned.

noitsnotme

cjp2308 said:

ontheroad1970 said:

JohnnyB70 said:

What have your friends said about what happened?

The insurance company will likely expect you to tell them who was in charge of the car at the time of the accident. Given that you gave the keys to someone they may well decline to pay out.

Why did you give the keys to someone rather than keep them on you if you weren’t asking them to drive it somewhere for you?

Presumably to avoid either the temptation of driving under the influence or being accused of being in charge of a vehicle while unfit through drink or drugs.  Read the whole of the OP's first 

I put them on the table which me and my group of friends were sat at

That was the worst thing to do.  Everyone just assumes one of the others will pick them up and no one takes responsibility.  The insurance company might think the same.

pinkshoes

In short, you decided not to drive home, so dumped your keys on a table where your mates were sitting and asked them to look after your keys.

Two kids then took the keys, took your car for a spin and wrote it off.

Unfortunately just leaving keys on the table rather than asking one specific friend to look after them is not going to look good. 

But if these kids have admitted to taking your car, surely they are driving without insurance, a license etc...?

I still don't understand why the police cannot prosecute given they have admitted taking it and admitted they didn't know you. 

It might mean you need to take out a private prosecution against the driver and take them to court for the value of the car that was written off. How much was it worth?