You've Got the wrong Guy!

Krust76y

Hi all,

I’m looking for some advice on an ongoing issue with an insurance claim that I believe has been wrongly linked to me, and I’m struggling to get it resolved.

Back in May 2025, my insurer (ERS at the time) was contacted by another insurance company. They stated that one of their policyholders claimed I had been involved in a collision with them on 2 May 2025 in Redditch. They provided my vehicle registration and a name I have never heard of.

The problem is — I was not involved in any such incident. I live in Cornwall and have never driven that vehicle anywhere near Redditch. So I can say with certainty that neither I nor my vehicle were anywhere near the alleged location.

Despite this, the claim (apparently worth over £6,000) has been sitting against me for a year now. As far as I’m aware, no actual evidence has been provided beyond the registration number — which I suspect has either been misread or incorrectly recorded.

This is now causing real problems:

• My insurance premiums have increased significantly
• I’m struggling to get reasonable cover
• I’ve effectively been unable to insure and use my camper van for two summers now unless I can get it resolved in time.

I’ve been trying to resolve this through ERS, but they’ve told me the third-party insurer is very slow to respond (sometimes taking months) and only communicates via email. Meanwhile, they continue to make vague threats about court action.

At this point, I’m not sure what the best route forward is. I’m considering escalating it to the Financial Ombudsman Service, but I don’t know if there are other steps I should be taking first.

Questions:

• How do I get this marker removed from my name/ registration number? 
• Who is in charge of the main UK insurance register?
• Has anyone dealt with something similar and successfully had it removed?
• Any advice on how best to get this cleared and protect my record would be really appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

born_again

To go to FOS, you 1st need to go through ERS complaint process.

Baldytyke88

Maybe you could contact a no win no fee firm, sue the insurance company for libel?

OutdoorQueen

The vehicle reg might match yours, but is the vehicle the same make, model and colour?

Just a thought….Have you been provided with a photo of the vehicle, with the number plate showing? Has your vehicle number been cloned or the vehicle reg number been doctored to match yours?

Krust76y

Hi all thanks for your replies. So apparently my car has not been ringed. After several months, where I was getting nowhere with answers or help from my old insurance company I went back to them requesting they actually did some investigation on my behalf rather than just sit and wait for the accusing insurance company to provide evidence. I specifically asked them to check the ANPR database which would prove I was nowhere near around the time of the alleged collision (and to put my mind at rest that my car wasn't cloned). A week later I was told that they had carried out some ANPR work which confirmed no cloned vehicle. I believe they have sent this to the accusing company as well but I'm still waiting for the accusation to be quashed and closed. These enquiries were made in February 26.

I have not been shown any evidence to place me at the scene. I am unaware if the offending vehicle is supposed to match mine. Both the accusing insurance company ((HF) h-f.co.uk) and my ex insurance company ERS have been utterly useless.

To answer you "Born_Again" (thanks) when I complained they said that they cannot just close the case down until the complaining party has ceased to communicated for a period of 12 months. In other words if they continue to get a follow up message every couple of months simply complaining that the case hasn't been settled, but no actual progress. Then the case just sits there and carries on stagnant forever.

"Baldytyke88" Thanks. I may consider giving it a go if all else fails. I just want the flack flag removed so that I can buy normal price (affordable) insurance for my campervan. I'm not really after any comp.

"OutdoorQueen" Thanks. As a started to say above. ERS claim they don't know a lot of these details as HF haven't provided much of anything according to them.

I just can't believe in this day and age such a thing can happen. I've been motoring for 32 years and never had anything like this happen to me before. Sure I've been involved in a few minor bumps and claims along the way. Some my fault and some not. Which you don't mind having your premiums affected when you're involved. But when you are denying all knowledge and have never been to said collision site. Unless there is proof. (which I can safely bet my life on, as I know there isn't) how can it be that this can be allowed to drag on for over a year and affect me the way it is… Whatever happened to: "Innocent until proven guilty?"

Any help on getting this sorted would be so so appreciated. Its starting to affect me mentally. Thank you all. x

luci

I would go to the ombudsman. This has gone on for too long. I would raise an official complaint. Under the circumstances, you shouldn't need to wait the usual 8 weeks for them to reply before you can do that. Good luck.

Krust76y

Thanks Luci, the insurance ombudsman said they couldn't help me and would not be able to remove me from the main insurance register as it wasn't their remit !!. I am still awaiting a reply from the Financial Ombudsman to see if this is their remit.

dunstonh

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81988179#Comment_81988179

What is this insurance ombudsman that you're referring to, as there isn't one in the UK?

Aretnap

Maybe you could contact a no win no fee firm, sue the insurance company for libel?

Good luck with that.

MyRealNameToo

It happens all the time, most of it is totally innocent… someone sees an accident, leaves a note on the windscreen of the registration plate of the car that hit the parked vehicle but either the handwriting is bad or it rains or they didnt see it clearly and take a stab at what they thought it was.

Part of the problem, at least in our company, was that as soon as a reg is entered most agents would hit the DVLA button which would fill in the make, model and colour and not all agents would add notes to say that the caller said it was a Ford Ka but that the DVLA had brought back a Mercedes G63 and so our Recoveries team send out the letter to the registered insurer of the vehicle reg and the letter will say your clients G63 hit out clients car.

There are plenty of other reasons… cloned reg, call centre mishear the reg, drivers own handwriting/sight is bad so misrecords it, driver sees your car parked next to theirs and they just assume it must be yours that caused the damage etc etc etc

There is no Insurance Ombudsman in the UK, insurance is a form of Financial Service and so the Financial Ombudsman is the escalation point. All they can consider is if ERS have acted reasonably and on this sort of defence only claim the timeline is very much driven by the third party insurer and very little they can do to accelerate matters. They have no way of forcing the others hand.

Ideally they would have asked you for any evidence you had of where your vehicle was that day… works carpark CCTV, a parking ticket with your reg on it, confirmation that you were in the office at the time of the alleged issue and that you're the only driver of the vehicle etc etc. There is no central ANPR database and insurers dont have any form of special exemption under GDPR to gain access to databases. Many times we failed to get CCTV because councils in particular would only release it if we paid thousands for them to have the video edited to remove the faces and registration plates of other vehicles in the video.

Krust76y

"dunstonh" sorry I got confused. I meant I asked the legal ombudsmen.

"MyRealNameToo" I made a request to the (NAS) National ANPR Service,

I never received a reply to date though. Also ERS "claim" they made ANPR enquires suggesting that they had access or requested my data. So I now don't know if this was the case or whether as you say they can't access it and fed me a line. All I can hope for now is the FOS come through for me then. This is a joke!! One which I hope I never experience ever again. And maybe its time that there was an "Insurance Ombudsman" if as you say this happens all the time!!