to not pay the woman who ran over my son her car repairs?

[annabel1972]

Hi

Not posted on here before so hello! Also would appreciate help with a dilemma I'm having.

Basically someone ran my son over 2 months ago and she wants me to pay for damages to her car. I have 2 reasons for no wanting to pa (well 3 if Icount being totally skint) but:

1. Whilst I wouldn't say that the accident was 100% her fault in her position I would have stopped in time.

What happened was that I picked my son and daughter up from school (it was really busy as there are 800 children at their school). When we went to cross the road I said that we'd cross when there was a gap but unfortunately my son (8) misjudged it and walked out. I screamed at him and he stopped where he was but the cars wing mirror caught him and was damaged (the glass broke and the mirror was detached). We were all quite shocked by what had happened and I said I'd pay for the damage and immediately took my son to A&E.

Fortuntately my son was fine.

Later on her husband phoned to see how my son was and to say that they'd go through insurance for the damage to the car.

1. I know for a fact that from the paperwork she's sent me she's only paid £25 for repairs but is trying to claim on quotes for over £300. I feel as though she's trying to profit from running my son over as the invoice she's paid is for a part that would be no good unless she's had the other work done.

Now she's threatening me with court and I don't know what to do. My insurers have said I'm not liable and that she's lucky I'm not suing her, but after googling this it seems like such a grey area.

Morally I'd like to tell her where to go - am I being unreasonable?

Honest opinions very much appreciated...

when i was hit at 8 years of age by a van driver while crossing a road the police were extremely keen for me to sue.... i had stepped out too soon and it wasn't really his fault at all but the police were still of the opinion that he should be sued and brought to account for it.

luckily for the driver he had been brave enough to visit our house and see how i was and bring me a pink rabbit toy so i thought he was lovely and didn't sue

i very much doubt that there is any way in hell the legal system would take the side of someone who hit a child outside a school and was whinging about damage to their car

she really does sound rather callous tbh, the poor guy who hit me almost had to have a second ambulance called for him as he was in such a state of shock that he'd hit a child, i very much doubt even if his car had been completely written off he would have given a shit, he was just happy he hadn't killed me!

YABU.

It was your son's fault. Why should she have to pay for it?

If my child damaged someone else's property, I would always offer to pay.

There is no question that she was speeding, as far as I can tell. You said yourself that your son just stepped out. You offered to pay for the damage.

I think it's only right that she shows you how the figure of £300 was arrived at. It sounds completely feasible to me - I know car repairs can be expensive. If you think you can get it done cheaper, phone around and get a quotation. I don't see how she can argue with that.

Would I demand money from you if I were the driver? Probably not, because I would feel pretty dreadful because of what might have
happened. But that isn't to say that I wouldn't pay up in your position.

Very strange- she should just be relieved the boy isn't hurt and she should just pay it herself.

You may be liable. You need to speak to a solicitor or at least CAB.

Push the point that she COULD have stopped. Otherwise people could just be running people over left right and centre and saying 'oh I couldn't have stopped'. I can't see her winning this really in all honesty.

to all you doubters... i recently broke my wing mirror and the cheapest we can get it replaced for is £275. even on ebay etc the wing mirror itself goes for about £200

it's just a volvo!

anyway, OP- you offered to pay, so I don't think it's unreasonable of them to expect you to pay!

maybe the woman should have been going slower, i don't know. maybe she tried to stop and in doing so managed to only clip him with the wingmirror as opposed to slamming into him? none of us can really comment on what happened, but if I were you I would expect my 8 year old not to run out in front of a car to start with and be grateful he wasn't further injured.

There was an incident a few years ago, a woman was successfully prosecuted for "speeding" in the road just off ours. She was doing less than the limit (30mph). I forget the actual charge, but it was effectively driving too fast for the conditions at the time. The conditions being children were playing in the street.

I remember it because there was quite a lot in the local press at the time about being aware that you could still be "speeding" while under the speed limit.

thisisyesterday - OP verbally offered to pay at the scene before going to a & e, drivers husband then phoned and verbally told her they would claim through their insurance. If her verbal claim is to be honored then that should be applied to him to therefore cancelling out any responsibility for her to pay.

What I find strange is the suggestion of fault, if I am keeping hold of my toddler, who doesn't want to be held and who slips through my hands and runs in front of a car that is driving too fast for a residential area because they are taking a short cut, it seems this would be my fault and sod the damage to my toddler but lets pay £300 to the person who's has a dented fender.

She should not be contacting you at all. Her car insurance company should be dealing with it. Perhaps she is not insured.

The police should have been informed straight away and the appropriate paperwork completed. You should do that now. The police will contact her insurance company.Do you have her reg. no.?

Definitely write to the MD of the company she works for and ask why they are threatnening you.

Looking back on this, I suppose had the driver been more flexible and suggested they split the cost, it might have been more reasonable for the OP to have paid something.

Right now, it does seem better to leave it to the insurers (and the driver's insurers would surely expect several quotes, if they were willing to pay out in the first place) and I hope that's the direction the OP is going.

Probably needs minimal contact telling the driver to make sure further correspondence is via her insurers, and that your insurers don't feel she has a leg to stand on. It should surely clarify that (a) she's getting no payout from you direct (whether she uses headed paper or not) and (b) that if she does plan to chase it through insurers, then yours will fight on your behalf, and she'll have to disclose the facts to her insurers. It ought to make her see sense.

If you want to be "snotty" about it, put a time limit on your letter, saying that if nothing is heard from her insurers in the next 2 weeks, you will assume the matter is closed, and won't entertain further contact direct from her.

As for the use of headed paper from the firm of Bailiffs, I'd hesitate at this time to chase it. Keep it as a "nasty surprise" that once everything is sorted out, there can be a "sting in the tail" for the complaining driver who can be asked by the boss at the firm of Bailiffs about using their paper.

Just to add that the speed limit is just that - a limit. So although it may have been 30 she should have been driving slower near a school so she could do an emergency stop if necessary.

Learnt that on my speeding workshop course .

So agree that just pass it over to your insurers.

i'm a police officer and can clarify a couple of legal points here. She has a duty under the Road Traffic Act to report an injury accident involving a person to the police. If she hasn't done this then she could face losing her driving licence.

In relation to the letters you are receiving on headed paper I would consider this falling into the arena of blackmail or demanding money with menaces, depending on exactly what is being said. Also not good. I would be getting in touch with the company at a senior level, they are probably completely unaware of what she is doing and I doubt they would look on it kindly as the majority of bailiff cos do try to operate in a reasonable way and are governed by a lot of legislation

This woman is absolutely ripping the P out of you and the only course of action I would be taking is reporting it to your local police. I would be very interested to know why she doesn't want to claim on her insurance - if she has any of course. Let her take you to court. She won't get very far.

And I cannot believe that people think you should be responsible for paying for damage to her car !

Fibilou - very interesting post.

This is why I love Mumsnet. You "meet" all kinds of interesting people.

I can perfectly well understand why the driver doesn't want to claim through her insurance - loss of NCB, the excess to be paid. This accident may well end up costing her hundreds of pounds.

It's my understanding that if a causative breach of duty is not present, then the driver would not be liable. For example, in Goundry v Hepworth In Goundry v Hepworth [2006], the Defendant driver appealed successfully against a finding in
favour of a 4 year old child who was with a group of adults which had crossed to the middle of the road and were waiting for cars to pass. The first car passed by but as the Defendant?s car drew level, the child ran out into its path and was run over. The Defendant driver was driving at 25mph
in a 30mph limit. The judge said that the
Defendant should have slowed right down or
even stopped to let the group pass. The Court of Appeal held that causation had not been made out - even if the Defendant had been travelling at less than 25mph, he had no chance of avoiding the collision.

I'm not so sure that the driver wouldn't stand a chance in court:

Pedestrian hit by police car suffers broken foot - and £80 penalty for 'denting' vehicle

Here

Still, I'm guessing the driver isn't a police officer.

The driver wouldn't stand a chance in court.

She has not reported the accident ot the police as she is required by law to do.

She has used her boss's headed paper - unauthorised. If her boss has actually authorised it, then the company has behaved contrary to any code of conduct for bailiffs (they do try and present a respectable front, believe it or not, their good reputation is important to them and they are trying with their PR to get rid of the negative image).

She has not provided legitimate quotes.

I somehow don't think a judge would warm to her.

That link you posted about the bizarre story of the bloke hit by the police car, scarletlilybug, says that the guy was appealing. Do you know what the outcome of the appeal was, ti really does sound like a berserk case.

scarlet - the DM story is about the police issuing a penalty, though, didn't get near a court (or at least it hadn't at that point).

I agree with the majority on this thread - the driver has a flaming cheek and is abusing her position in a firm of bailiffs. Tell her to sod off and report her behaviour to the boss!

Agree with the others that you should do 3 things:

Report the accident to the police

Report the letters to her company

Use your legal thing on your insurance

Do you think she has really learnt anything from this? Do you think that she would drive like that again, which could result in a more serious injury? Would you feel awful if this happened?

If so I would not hesitate in reporting her to the police - if you're going to use your legal cover you might have to anyway and I would use it to cover yourself incase she does try anything.

Good luck - don't let her intimidate you. I would be horrified if I'd hit your child and would pay for th wing mirror myself!

if she sues you you should tell her that you will sue back

I'd let her try - I don't think she'd have a leg to stand on. Don't let her bully boy tactics scare you.

She sounds vile - and writing on the headed notepaper of the company she works for is totally dishonest.

Contact the debt collectors regulatory authority - can't recall who they are but try google. DH was pursued for a debt a couple of years ago which had nothing to do with him. There are all sorts of guidelines about how and in what circumstances they can contact you. He complained and within a fortnight they had written back to us saying the debt collectors were breaching the rules and that there was no debt. A copy of their opinion was also sent by them to the collection agancy and they had to write and apologise to DH.

I suspect if you even write to the manager of the company explaining that this is not a legitimate debt she will get a severe bollocking for abusing her position.

dont pay her anything ,its a accident !!hope your dc is ok

Listen to dragonfly and do not give her any money.

I wonder if her boss knows what she is doing with his headed notepaper?

agree with Fibilou - thought A&E would have contacted the police TBH - think they did for us
I had my wing mirror ripped off about 5 or 6 years ago - was £70 (peugeot 106)

Ha! I have been reading the whole thread wondering whether someone was going to say she should have called the police, and just when I thought no one was going to steal my thumder, there was Fibilou's post. D'oh!

I thought everyone knew that you had to call the police if someone got hurt. They will be very interested in finding out this driver:

• clipped your son, so that he had to go to A&E
• did not report this
• is stinging you for money

Do call police and let us know how you get on, won't you.

I really thought A&E depts had to notify the police for something like this anyway

Balloonslayer,
I said that she should ahve called the police a few pages back
[smug emoticon]