A few years ago, I received a knock on the door from the police, stating that a woman had been bitten by my elderly dog whilst posting a leaflet through the door. This must have happened at a time when no one was home, although the dog would have barked prior to this and being elderly, was not exactly the type to go tearing towards the door. Nonetheless, the police asked to see the dog, took my details and suggested that I go to the woman’s house to apologise with some chocolates, which I did, however, they appeared to have given me the incorrect address as there was no one by that name where I went, I even tried the same door number at several similar sounding streets, to no avail. Being a single parent of an autistic child, holding down a stressful job and having to deal with my abusive estranged husband, I did not chase this up again with the police. May I also add that, since this event, a box was placed outside the property for mail to be left in, with the dog now being kept in a room where the door is closed when unsupervised.
A month later, I received a letter from a no-win, no-fee solicitor, demanding that I compensate the woman for her personal injury. I wrote back, including several photos of doors that I had visited and expressed how surprised I was to be receiving this letter, after what the police had told me. I was also curious as to why the police were passing on my details to this woman, for her to use them to sue me! I enlisted legal assistance and the claimant’s solicitors were contacted to explain the situation. I did not hear from them again after this.
Years later, I now receive a letter, telling me that proceedings in a County Court money claims centre have been issued against me! This, of course, is all incredibly stressful, particularly as, like I previously mentioned, I am the single mother of a child with learning difficulties, living with my parents, struggling to make ends meet (I haven’t had a single pay rise in 6 years) and currently desperately trying to hold down a job whilst facing serious health problems which I won’t go into right now. Any advice would be much appreciated.