Please can someone advise me! Someone trying to claim £5000 from me following RTA

[performancegirl]

Hi, I have just received a claim form from Lambeth County Court asking for £5000 in damages. Nearly 3 years ago now i had a minor accident in my car, was at traffic lights, traffic had started moving, took my foot off the brake, didn't see that the car in front had stopped & rolled into the back of it at about 5 miles an hour. We got out, gave them insurance details & thought nothing more of it.
Roll on 3 years & I have just received a claim form for £5000 worth of damages.
In the section where it asks for particulars of claim there is an erroneous description of what happened; it says that I drove into the back of the car at speed which was not the case. It also gives the wrong location and the make & registration of the car are incorrect.
I have no idea what to do ...myself and my husand assumed that any claim they made was dealt with by our insurance company many moons ago and now this.
Does anyone have any advice as what i should do next? The only options on the letter seem to be to pay the money or make a counter claim, neither of which i want to do!
Any help/advice would be greatfully received!!

Have you got any legal cover included with your house insurance?

If you were insured then send the letter to your insurance company (keep a copy) and they should deal with it. Check that they do, though, there are very strict timelimits with these things and if they don't enter a defence in time you may get a judgment in default (ie because you didn't defend).
It's highly likely that your insurance company were dealing with it, and couldn't agree a settlement in time. If this is the case then a claim has to be issued within 3 years of the accident date, or you can't make one. Also, the claim has to be served on the defendant themselves (ie you, not the insurance company). Either way the insuarance company will deal, as they are obliged to indemnify you.

Many thanks for your help and advice - does it make a difference that the car details are completely wrong?

It sounds highly suspicious!
Should be dealt with by your insurance company, give them a ring and them to confirm if any personal injury claims were made at the time.
If you have the time and inclination, pop along to the court and get them to confirm that it is actually a legal document issued by the,. I have heard that some people fake the docs to get people to simply pay up.
Let us know what happens! (and good luck)

issued by them...obviously!

Well, yes because they should get it right, but I am not sure it will accord you an absolute defence, as they could be amended later on. That is, if as I assume you agree that the accident did actually occur? What is more concerning is that they appear to be trying to beef up the claim. It is possible to get whiplash at low speeds, but less common, so no doubt you'll be asked about the speed issue. It wouldn't hurt to put a basic witness statement/account down on paper and enclose it to the insurance company, detailing the incident and pointing out the points in the claim that are incorrect.

Could it be that somehow the car registration numbers have been mixed up - if all the details are wrong then I would assume that its not for you but somehow its had your name and address attached to it.
Maybe I've misunderstood but are you sure its actually meant for you ?

Thank you- i did wonder about that as the name of the road is wrong and the name of the area where it happened is also spelt wrong several times. It has been stamped several times by Lambeth County Court though but I guess you never know.
I have calmed down slightly now- was in a state of blind panic before, washing machine packed up yesterday so this is now officially the week from hell.
Will be back to update...

This does sound odd - surely if it was going to court you'd have be told about it earlier? Send straight to your insurers - they'll deal with it

phone insurers to let them know you have received it, and ask where to send the legal papers to, if you have access to a fax, fax as well as post the legal papers (as speeds things up a little, but not vital). and then forget about it, other than answering any insurance/insurance co solicitors questions.

you must notify your car insurance company immediately. This is why you have insurance.

Did you report the accident to your insurance company at the time?

Do you use the same company three years later

I have a doubt that you can make a claim after three years? So do beleive any claim would be invalid anyway.

If wrong reg plate and location then you were not in that location so not your accident.

OP says the accident was nearly 3 years ago - limitation for personal injury action is 3 years.

Is she sure? I mean has this claimgot the corrct date - or was the accident really over three years ago. I mena the whole claim seems dodgey, so if you have an old diary look through it and see whether it really is the right date or where you on holiday or on a course on that day and the date is bogus aswell?

Thanks- insurance was under my husband's name at the time, i was named driver. we have since separated and car and insurance now in my name. I was with another insurance company for a year but am now back with Aviva who were insurers at the time of the accident so will get on to them tomorrow.
Just seems bizarre and can't get my head round why this has come out of the blue nearly 3 years later.
Thanks so much for all your advice, i was flapping round like a headless chicken before and this has really helped me to calm down.
definitely meant to be for me, the date is right, it was bank holiday weekend, car registration is incorrect but close to mine, and the make of the car is incorrect but both begin with V

Definitely was august bank holiday w/e 2007, i was 6 months pregnant and after the bump spent about 4 hours in hospital waiting to be checked out and ended up feeling stupid for overreacting as the bump had been so minor.
we contacted the insurance company, our car was externally unscathed but was damaged underneath so this work was done and we claimed on the insurance. DH rang the woman driving the other car, passed on our insurance details, gave her details to our insurance company & we didn't think anymore about it.

Don't panic! This stuff happens all the time.

All you need to do is contact your insurers (as at the time of the accident). They may need to take details of the papers you have received (the court's claim number, date of issue - the date stamped on the court papers etc) or may simply tell you to send them on by post.

Don't under any circumstances contact the court (am sure you wouldn't but you'd be surprised at the number of people who do). Your insurers will pass the papers to their solicitors to deal with (in fact it's quite likely that they have already appointed solicitors, and have just been waiting for the court docs to come through). They will deal with everything, and any damages/costs will be paid by your insurers.

As to why this has come to you, and so long after the accident, there are 2 reasons. Firstly, the Claimant's solicitors can only serve the court papers on the Defendant (ie you) or their nominated solicitors. If your insurers haven't appointed solicitors, or notified the Claimant's solicitors of those details, the only alternative is for the court to send the docs to you direct.

That doesn't mean of course that any costs or damages are payable by you. This is all covered by your insurers.

As to the timing, you have a maximum of 3 years from the date of an accident to 'settle' a claim for injury ie for the solicitors and insurers to reach an agreement on liability and/or damages. If either or both cant be agreed in the 3 years, then you have to issue court proceedings. Most claims get concluded in the 3 years, but there are a few which for one reason or another don't.

The details being wrong is a common issue, usually down to the Claimant taking the wrong details at the time. or giving the wrong info to their solicitors, or the solicitors making a clerical error. Given that you are aware of the accident, and dont dispute the circumstances, that you were there, or that it was your fault, the fact some of the details are wrong is, in the scheme of things not going to make much difference. You would be surprised at the amount of errors that do get made in court documents!

Sorry that turned into a bit of an essay....can you tell what I do for a living?

Thank you hatesponge...i wonder what job you do?!
It seems the claim is actually for Credit Hire rather than personal injury. I have been looking at this on the internet & this seems to be a common battleground for insurance companies...does this affect the very helpful advice you have given me?
thank you!

I'm a solicitor specialising in RTA claims hence my interest!

You're quite right re hire, this is often a major bone of contention between insurers and the hire companies, and explains why they haven't been able to agree and have now issued proceedings! Other than the part of the claim that's disputed is hire rather than injury, it doesnt make any difference to my advice - I hope it has put your mind at rest though

Many thanks..it has helped a lot. Will be contacting insurers first thing in the morning.
Will sleep a lot easier now.

I've just had the same thing happen to me. I backed into a friend's car recently, the only visible damage was a dent in the bumper. It went into a garage who offered to repair it for £400 cash. I decided to put it on my insurance who said they would deal with it yet today I've received a court claim for over £2600. Mine also has several errors and falsehoods on the form.

My friend is also upset as the claim has been issued in her name and she knew nothing about it either until she got a court letter today too.

I don't know who I'm crosser at, the garage who have clearly inflated the claim or the insurance companies for handling it this way.