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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To ask for advice - legal / driving DH being taken to claims court

139 replies

Grainyawaydays · 22/05/2024 13:04

Around two years ago DH had notification from his car insurance that someone 300 miles away was making a claim against him. He was 100% home all day that day and we weren’t notified of the claim until about three months after it had gone in and he’d actually had a new car by this point. He trades them fairly regularly due to his line of work.
insurance said they would fight it and eventually it was closed about 18 months after the alleged accident.
He has received a letter today from the small claims court and the other driver is alleging he caused £12k worth of damage to her car and she didn’t get his details because he fled the scene. She is now taking him to court personally for £14k (£12k plus costs incurred).
Hes on about his fourth car since this happened and we have no way of proving that this wasn’t him. But equally she can’t prove it was - because it wasn’t! The police don’t seem to have been informed and I do think if someone caused £12k of damage to my car and drove off I’d have informed them at the time.
we can only assume she has recorded the reg incorrectly - since she’s saying it was a fairly major crash but the other driver left the scene? So it’s possible she hasn’t recorded the correct reg in the moment. Or it was a cloned plate.
Any advice? It looks like DH is going to have to go to court - 300 miles away - and get a solicitor.

OP posts:
BoudiccaOfSuburbia · 22/05/2024 15:30

the other driver is alleging he caused £12k worth of damage to her car and she didn’t get his details because he fled the scene. She is now taking him to court personally for £14k (£12k plus costs incurred).

What a chancer. If someone hit you and drove off you would (successfully) claim on your insurance. Whether or not you had any details.

PickledPurplePickle · 22/05/2024 15:33

DVLA don't give out address details

MyFirstLittlePony · 22/05/2024 16:12

@PickledPurplePickle you are wrong

Look it up

WoodBurningStov · 22/05/2024 16:17

peakygold · 22/05/2024 15:25

I would inform the Police on the basis it is a scam.

This with bells on.

Your insurance haven't paid out, sounds like they are trying to scare you into offering to settle outside of court. Doubt it would make it to court if you simply refused. But I would report it to the police

Nanny0gg · 22/05/2024 16:20

Grainyawaydays · 22/05/2024 13:38

It looks like she is saying that the car was damaged to the tune of £12k but she didn’t have it repaired and she’s claiming for depreciation of the car so when she sold it she sold it for £12l less? It’s so weird.
It is also weird that her insurance never responded to ours.

Wouldn't £12K of damage likely be a write-off?

This does seem to have Scam written all over it

What do your insurers say?

Genevieva · 22/05/2024 16:21

This is not what the small claims court is for. It also looks like there are data protection breaches.

Khanga27 · 22/05/2024 16:21

@Grainyawaydays if your DH was WFH could check record of work calendar. As well as this, could look at google maps at his timeline which may have a record of where he was that day as well (should still save if he’s changed phones since then, if switched on).

TammyJones · 22/05/2024 16:25

Grainyawaydays · 22/05/2024 13:27

We are still we with the same insurer.
Ive just asked DH and he says there’s not a time of accident so we don’t actually no when she alleging this to have happened.

Apparently it isn’t very expensive to take someone to court and her possible gain is £14k… wondering if it is a scam after all.

Scam

listsandbudgets · 22/05/2024 16:26

Are there no minutes of the online meeting or better still an archived recording of it?

PotentialNeighbour · 22/05/2024 16:27

Can you look at your credit card statement for the day in question? Local transactions on the day? Photos taken on phone locally (if an iPhone will track). Did your DH actually own the car on the incident date? I bet it’s a recoveries claim and the insurers/sold have done a DVLA search to get the registered keeper details at the time. They can’t go to the MIB as it’s a subrogated loss.

Isometimeswonder · 22/05/2024 16:27

Ethylred · 22/05/2024 15:10

FGS ask an actual lawyer and not a bunch of anonymous randoms on the internet.

Some of the "randos" on here are actually lawyers etc. So may give good advice.

wonderings2 · 22/05/2024 16:52

A bit of long shot but would he have taken a photo on his phone that day that shows his location? Or would have gone to the local shop or ordered food to be delivered - if you can go that far back on his bank statements you mind something youve forgotten about. I agree that the insurance company should be handling it but in my experience its up to do to find evidence unfortunately

mumda · 22/05/2024 16:59

Google timeline?

Emails sent? Zoom meetings? Look through calendar!

frankentall · 22/05/2024 17:00

A lot of people seem to be forgetting that the onus of proof is on the claimant in this case. Her personal contention about events and identities etc are just that without any actual evidence which she obviously can't have if the OPs DH wasn't there.

butterpuffed · 22/05/2024 17:06

It all seems very odd ~ if her car had £12,000 worth of damage two years ago , and left unrepaired , surely it wouldn't be driveable let alone saleable , more likely to have been written off .

SilentSilhouette · 22/05/2024 17:19

Every time you use a mobile phone it triangulates to an area which would show he was at home or near home. No idea how you'd get that info but I've seen it used in a court case to prove location.

How far away is this location? Was it exceptionally rural with no cctv??

Just respond to the case saying he has never been to that area, he was working from home that day which his employer will verify, his car has never sustained any damage and has not been borrowed by anyone nor stolen and it was on the drive all day on the day of the alleged accident.

I'd then say it's quite clear that the prosecution have clearly written down the wrong number plate and you are not the person they are looking for which has already been verified by the insurance company.

In a court it's up to them to prove beyond reasonable doubt that he did it which they can't.

TammyJones · 22/05/2024 17:25

Can't quiet remember but we had something similar- including fake photo.

My son showed me just our easy it was to do....
We told them to sling their hook.
Never heard of them again.
Damage on a roundabout

Cactiverde · 22/05/2024 17:33

Surely your husbands car would have had significant damage if he was involved in this, is there anyway you can prove it didn't? I know you said he's changed car, but when he sold it, it would have been obvious if it had been involved in a substantial accident?

crenellations · 22/05/2024 17:34

frankentall · 22/05/2024 17:00

A lot of people seem to be forgetting that the onus of proof is on the claimant in this case. Her personal contention about events and identities etc are just that without any actual evidence which she obviously can't have if the OPs DH wasn't there.

True but I'm sure it'd help the OP's piece of mind if OP had a piece of evidence up her sleeve!

theilltemperedclavecinist · 22/05/2024 17:40

SilentSilhouette · 22/05/2024 17:19

Every time you use a mobile phone it triangulates to an area which would show he was at home or near home. No idea how you'd get that info but I've seen it used in a court case to prove location.

How far away is this location? Was it exceptionally rural with no cctv??

Just respond to the case saying he has never been to that area, he was working from home that day which his employer will verify, his car has never sustained any damage and has not been borrowed by anyone nor stolen and it was on the drive all day on the day of the alleged accident.

I'd then say it's quite clear that the prosecution have clearly written down the wrong number plate and you are not the person they are looking for which has already been verified by the insurance company.

In a court it's up to them to prove beyond reasonable doubt that he did it which they can't.

Will be balance of probabilities, not reasonable doubt.

She's still got no hope without actual evidence. Leave it to your insurers.

rwalker · 22/05/2024 17:51

Couldn’t you just refer it back to insurance they already have the details

Londonrach1 · 22/05/2024 17:54

Report to police...it's a scam...let your car insurance deal with it

Havanananana · 22/05/2024 18:31

Grainyawaydays · 22/05/2024 15:04

It’s all dodgy isn’t it?
The insurance closed it without paying out to her because they said there was no evidence and they’d asked for further information / photos of her car damage / info around the alleged accident and had received nothing.

Which also seems odd?

It closed a few months back and we assumed they was it. We have informed them of this turn of events and will see what they say.

Car insurance will include legal assistance insurance for motoring issues.

All your DH needs to do is forward a copy of the letter to his insurance company and let them deal with it. There is nothing else that he can do at the moment, although gathering some evidence of where he was on the day in question would be very useful - diaries, meeting minutes, credit card or petrol/supermarket receipts etc. Your insurers have lawyers who deal with this sort of thing every day - and insurers also work together to identify scammers.

So for now, contact your insurers and listen to whatever they advise.

BiscuitCheeks · 22/05/2024 18:38

Contact your insurer at the time of the alleged incident who dealt with it previously. They will deal with the small claims court.

Whatadipstick · 22/05/2024 18:42

Grainyawaydays · 22/05/2024 13:14

Ive checked my diary and I was at home that afternoon when it allegedly happened… but I’m not an unbiased witness. He was basically working at home all the time then as we weren’t far out of the pandemic.
No, he’s never been to the location of the alleged accident.
The issue with it being two years ago is we don’t have anything from that date that I can think of that would ‘prove’ it. He had online meetings that day so he could possibly go back and ask people there if they’d vouch for him but I doubt anyone would actually remember 100% that day if they saw him.

Would his work not have a TEAMs log? I know my work can restore old chats etc.

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