This article was published in 2015, in Newsletter 121.
In the last newsletter I wrote about a van that crashed into the back of my bike. Despite my winning the case in the small claims court the driver never paid for the damage. A reader got in touch to ask why I hadn’t sued the driver’s insurance company.
At the time of the crash I did not get the driver’s insurance details and I’ve since learned from the police that it is not a requirement for them to be provided (gov.uk/vehicleinsurance/if-youre-in-an-accident). The police also refused to pass on those details citing ‘data protection’, which I challenged but was not in a position to press further.
Then I found this website: askmid.com and paid £4, which yielded the details of the driver’s insurance company on the day of the incident. Alas, this was to no avail: the insurance company’s claims-handling service told me that I cannot claim twice for the same incident and that the judgment I have against the driver would need to be enforced.
I looked again at the enforcement options, which would cost £100, and the advice makes it clear that recovery of the money is far from guaranteed. So once again I have put this matter to rest.
Simon Nuttall