to find this arsehole and give him the injury he claims to have?

[breakingup]

I am actually fuming and it is possibly clouding my judgement.

Last year I drove into the back of someones van, I was 8 month's pregnant and bruised the insides of my bump when I hit the steering wheel, I was in so much pain that an ambulance came and took me to hospital..ironically I was on my way to a hospital appointment for pain injections due to spd.

His van had a small amount of damage, he was stationary and i was going about 5 miles ph so it wasn't a horrific accident I just didn't stop in time.

I was so upset that I kept apologising and even rang the man afterwards, his only concern was me and my 3 year old he kept saying it was just an accident don't worry he was communicating with dh over the repairs, we couldn't afford to not go through insurance so it did, all went through everything sorted claim closed and he even rang to say all ok and hope all went ok with the birth of our new dd.

Fast forward 8 months..I get a call from an old insurance company saying someone had loged a claim that I had gone into them, I could prove it didn't happen as I was in hospital at the time with hyperreimis (horrible pregnancy) and further details showed actually it is the above man trying to make another claim for the accident on a different date, I got them to communicate with my current insurance company (like getting blood out of a stone) and today I finally accomplished getting the file closed..

However my current insurer has told me the above man has logged a personal injury claim against me..for whiplash.

Now if he had whiplash I am the queen of fucking sheeba, he is out to get quick cash! Hes made a fraudulent claim and now this bollox,

Aibu to track him down and give him something to claim about?

My premium is going to be horrific as it is, how can someone be so fucking cruel!!!

You know you said you flew backwards then forwards? Well the likelihood is, he did do, well his head did and that is what caused the whiplash. He didn't have to tell you. He didn't have to tell your husband. He didn't even have to submit a claim to your insurer for 3 years if he didn't want to.

You are at fault. You drove into the back of him, not intentionally I know, but you still did. It's not his fault your premiums are going to go up, he didn't cause the accident. Whiplash is bloody painful and doesn't always show up straight away. Just accept the consequences of the accident that was your fault.

I've got mild whiplash from falling. It didn't manifest itself at its full pain 4/5 months after my fall. Its bloody agony. I get pains in my neck and at the top of my arm as if a tight band is squeezing it. I have nerve pain and a constant dripping feeling down my arm. I get pins and needles in my hand. I can't drive without great discomfort, or sit at a desk for long. Physio helps it, as does acupuncture but I think I'm looking at a series of steroid injections/MRI scan and possible disc treatment. It was a very small fall but I landed awkwardly and probably exacerbated past damage.

I don't see how you can possibly judge whether or not someone has whiplash from this accident or not, or the force of the impact. It is completely normal for whiplash to take months to develop, and its a hassle to make a claim for such an injury, as the damages are relatively small, and no win no fee solicitors generally only take on straightforward, easy to win cases with a high likelihood of success.

How can you say someone shouldn't claim for whiplash because they are being cruel to you? Being pregnant doesn't reduce your duty of care not to injure other road users. I doubt your premium will go up that much, if that's your main concern then just make sure you don't drive into the vehicle in front of you.

Your premiums go up because of the accident. You were at fault in this accident and so the claim is against your insurance. The fact that he has subsequently claimed to be injured won't put your premium up any futher.

I was driven into from behind at a very low speed. Immediately after the accident and even the next day I was fine. It wasn't until a couple of days after that my neck became sore. It still bothers me 20 years later so I sometimes wish I had claimed. I didn't btw.

I don't understand how you could have been so bruised but think there's no way he can have been injured too .

so you can have bruising and pain in a low impact crash but the other person is making it up

Still suffer the affects of whiplash 25years on. I was hospitalised for 6 days due to this so it is not a nice feeling and any bump in a car wether at 2mph or 60 brings the symtoms back to an agonising head. But I would live with it for at least 6 months before I bothered to do anything about it . So yes you ABU as you do not know this mans history.
Apologise for my spelling having a bad night

Someone ran in to the back of me last December (I was 5 months pregnant at the time)

I got out of the car, swapped details with the other driver. Everything was fine, got checked out at the hospital later that day, no problems with the baby.

Days later I couldn't move I was in agony, my arms propped on pillows, my neck in a make shift brace, crying my eyes out for days. I couldn't sleep, move about, care for any of my other children, I couldn't even hug them. The pain was like nothing I had ever experienced.

I also couldn't drive for ages without experiencing serious anxiety.

I had to go and see a specialist Dr 40 miles away, great considering I couldn't drive at the time (anxiety) and so had to sit in agony being jolted around on a train just to have an insurers Dr do what my own Dr could have (and had already in a home visit) done.

I got an insurance payment for my injury and I couldn't give a damn if the other persons premiums go up and I don't give a toss if that person or anyone else thinks I was scamming.

If people kept their distance when driving and concentrated on the road a vast majority of these type of accidents wouldn't happen and then no one could claim for whiplash. So why don't we focus all of this anger about whiplash claiments, fake or otherwise, on the idiots that cause most of the accidents and injuries in the first place!

I rolled forward in traffic once and touched the bumper of the car in front

I got a letter THE NEXT DAY making a claim against me for headaches (plural yet the letter must have been sent minutes after the accident) and soft tissue damage. The woman also claimed for a hire car (although there was no damage to her or my car - which was a 20 year old mini and would have practically collapsed on contact according to my garage)

I have never been so angry or frustrated in my life. My insurance company tried to fighter he but ended up paying her about 5k I think.

As far as I am concerned she scum of the highest order who causes everyone's premiums to go up.

Maybe take a refresher driving course so you don't injure anyone else?

YABU.

The injury element won't make a difference to your future premium...it's having a claim for an accident that you caused which is increasing it.

If the accident was at 5 mph, how did it make you 'fly backwards and forwards', yet didn't make the other driver do the same? Perhaps he felt embarrassed to say to your husband that he had some pain in his neck, when you had been rushed off to hospital in an ambulance. Or else he was afraid that your husband would react in the way you are

There's every chance that his insurers/solicitors/your insurers hit the wrong key when entering his claim details, making 6/12/12 into 12/6/12 or something.

My H drove into the back of a car which was double parked on a dark street recently. The driver was a young guy, so was the passenger. Police attended and wrote down the driver's details. My H took a picture of his licence. The passenger said it was his dad's car.
A claim for whiplash came through with a new name - the owner of the car is claiming he was driving and sustained whiplash. I don't know how he thinks he will get away with it! We have a police reference number and they will hopefully confirm the driver was someone else. But do people just lie and lie? I have been rear ended three times and thankfully never sustained any injury, it would never occur to me to claim for whiplash!

You can get whiplash if you are hit at a low speed.

Perhaps you should not have been driving if you had SPD? Do you think the pain you were in may have effected your ability to drive?

Don't drive into the back of people.

Do some of you actually read the whole thread or scam through it and pick out bits which can be sniped at?

Saying don't drive into the back of people is the same as saying 'don't stub your toe' it is a stupid and totally irrelevant point as accidents happen.

It was slow moving traffic, on a road which is very hard to see ahead, I was a safe distance from him the traffic started to move and all of a sudden he braked really hard in front of me

I was not being careless, infact I was being very cautious and unfortunately it happened.

Accidents happen, and I accept I went into the back of him that is all done and dusted.

What i have a problem with is the fact this man has lied trying to make a false claim which got thrown out and then suspiciously made a injury claim just after it stinks of fraud to me.

bunchamunch thank you for your helpful response I will definitely be asking thr insurer today about those points.

Also someone again mentioned about thr premiums going up...the injury part of the claim will add a bit extraa the increase I asked them yesterday.

And once again...yes it will go up ALOT as I lose no claims bonus

YABU but you are panicking so understandable, I can clarify that it is perfectly possibly to sustain whiplash at lower speeds. Someone went into the back of my friend when she was stationary at some lights a few months ago. The car was not at high speed either but within a few days my friend was in pain, headaches etc. An eye test found a blood clot behind her eye caused by the accident and she is still in pain months on.

It was an accident, let the insurance companies sort it out and forget it. Your premium wont be any higher as a result of this as its part of the same accident.

...I am not saying he is not being fraudulent btw, just saying that whiplash is not immediately apparent. If it is fraudulent then I agree he is being a shit.

Bizarrely, I once gave myself whiplash doing an emergency swerve/stop to avoid hitting a deer. It really hurts and you know within 12 hours. It still hurts a year later. So I do agree with the OP that he is trying it on because he didn't communicate it to her during their subsequent conversations. But there's nothing you can do about it, unfortunately

OP I sympathise I really do but if you rely on your car for work it may be worthwhile investing in the protected no claims element when you've built it back up.

I work in the insurance and health sectors and see an awful lot of people exaggerating claims. On the other hand I see many, many people who have their lives devastated by seemingly fairly minor accidents. As a PP said none of us know the health status of each other and for some people it doesn't take much to cause major problems.

Hope your premiums aren't too bad OP.

Just to clarify, the CNF doesn't have to be signed by the Claimant as his / her solicitor can sign it on his behalf, so asking for that won't help. As the Defendant you should receive a copy in the post at some point anyway, so you'll see what is being claimed for.

And whiplash doesn't follow rules about timing / severity / speed of impact, unfortunately. It all depends on the individual how they're affected and how
quickly the injury shows itself.

Low speed claims are known as LVI (Low Velocity Impact) claims and if pleaded properly in a Defence will often have an interim hearing on that issue alone before going through the full court process (once issued, not right at the start of the claim).

Also, your own GP cannot produce a report on your injuries. As your treating physician, their duty is to you. You need to see an independent doctor whose duty is to the Court.

For my sins I work in RTA claims on behalf of Claimants (though I'm hoping to be redeployed to a different dept after mat leave as I don't like it much!) so if you need any info then PM me.

Asking for a signed CNF, or at the very least signed confirmation/mandate demonstrating that the claimant has actually instructed a solicitor is a valid request an insurer can make. The number of late intimated CNFs from solicitors claiming to represent someone when they have no instructions is rising, and it's entirely justifiable to request evidence that actual instructions have been given to the solicitor to submit the claim.

Its people driving into other people resulting in claims that drive premiums up. if insurers fought all of these they would incur huge investigation costs and it would end up in court where claimants costs could be £10k or more let alone damages where the court would accept the claimant was injured. then the defendant ie. your insurer gets to pay both sides costs and damages. something that could have cost less than 5k to settle could end up costing upwards of 25k. still think your insurer should fight your corner despite the fact that they know what theyre talking about?

Yes, but the CNF doesn't have to be signed by the Claimant, which is what you said.

And as the Defendant, she will get a signed CNF in the post anyway. Whether that is signed by the Claimant or the Claimant's solicitor depends on the firm they've instructed. My firm signs the CNF on behalf of the Claimants.

Completely understand why you're annoyed.

I'm another one who was the victim of a scam crash. At a set of traffic lights the car in front slammed on his break for no reason. I went into him at about 10 mph. We both pulled over and within minutes we had man putting his head through the window talking about 'no win, no fee' insurance claims - they had obviously been lurking around the corner waiting for it to happen.

The man who I went into was very chilled about it.

However, for months afterwards I got letters from my insurance company to say he'd got severe whiplash and back problems and was unable to work. Still makes me very now thinking about it.

We all have to pay for these people through our own insurance. [sa]

YANBU

Similar thing happened to me. Try not to get bothered about it, as someone above said, that's what the insurance company is paid to deal with.

However, it pissed me off royally. So much so, I was willing to go to court to dispute his claims...his claim was dropped soon afterwards. A-holes

Im sure he feels very if he has severe whiplash and back problems.

Just because claims companies were hassling you doesn't mean his claim is not genuine.

As others have said whiplash comes on slowly and can happen at slow speed and is nasty.

Also you dont just have to tell your symptoms to GP to get a payout.

I had to see an orthopaedic consultant who performed lots of tests and then judged claim genuine because of the ones I said hurt and ones that didn't. He asked.me a million questions. Was like being on trial.

My post was to TrickyTreeLou but also the other sceptics.