Can anyone help?
Friend of mine has got a tricky problem, his daughter took the family car without permission and had an accident, minor but baby in other car was taken to hospital.The daughter is learning to drive and she was trying to help out by picking her younger sister up from school because they have had a bereavement in the family and her mother had to fly abroad. 1) How will the insurance company look at this. 2)MOT HAS RUN OUT 3)Her father got to the scene after the police took a statement.
Thanks for your help in advance

soul traders - 03 Nov 2006 19:53 - 5543 of 5544
Emailpat, I have a degree in law, but am not a solicitor or a specialist in the field of insurance.

However, I like to have a go and my gut says the bigger questions are: 1.) Are any charges being pressed? I assume from the fact that you don't mention any injuries that the baby is okay and therefore assume that the occupants of the other car are at least not suing for personal injury. But that doesn't mean they won't press charges relating to the traffic offence, which leads me to question 2.) Are the police prosecuting the girl for driving without a licence or MOT and/or Taking Without Owner's Consent?

It's possible that any police or court involved might take a relatively lenient approach if this is a first offence, mitigating cirumstances, it's her parents' car, she hasn't done anything of the kind before, etc, and that would be what I'd expect a defence to argue. However, she could still face a fine or similar penalty typical for a traffic offence. The fact that an accident occurred makes it more likely that the police would prosecute than if, say, they had just stopped her on the road in a routine check and arrested her before letting her off with a caution. Obviously the police were at the scene so your friend should know pretty soon whether the police will prosecute.

I suspect that the insurance company won't be particularly impressed; your friend really needs to read the details of his insurance policy and discuss the issue with his insurer. Is the owner of the other vehicle pursuing an insurance claim or is the damage negligible?

The father's presence on the scene might look good in court as evidence that the girl has a stable family background but I suspect it won't make a difference to the insurance company.

Your friend really needs to see what claims come his way and take legal advice if he feels it's appropriate. It may be that a friendly local solicitor can give him a quick opinion over the phone, and as I've said his insurance company should be able to advise him of its position.

The daughter may well be entitled to legal aid if prosecution does go ahead - most likely you wouldn't be looking at a big court case as she would just plead guilty to the charges of TWOC'ing and driving without a licence or MOT and her defence would just try to argue the best deal regarding her fine, etc. Where it might get tricky is if the police (dependent upon what the victims/eyewitnesses have to say) decide to bump it up into a charge of reckless driving or similar. Then the solicitor would obviously advise the girl whether or not to plead guilty, based on the facts and how she feels about the charge.

I really hope the police and everyone else involved won't be too heavy-handed and that this works out all right and your friend's daughter comes out of it with nothing more than a stern reminder not to do anything of the sort ever again.

Maybe there are some lawyers/insurance specialists on here who can provide a bit more clarity.

Best of luck,

Soul Traders.
soul traders - 03 Nov 2006 19:56 - 5544 of 5544
PS if you want to attract more attention to this issue on this BB I suggest you start your own thread with a suitable headline, as not everyone reads this thread!

abaccus- Thanks for info. Could you suggest questions he could ask insurance company as police seemed to suggest sometimes paperwork might get lost. Also the other party did not speak english and the police could not take a statement from them.

"Also the other party did not speak english and the police could not take a statement from them. "


That may be useful!

For a extra 10 on my car insurance, i have legal cover and advice. Has her father checked his insurance ?

i think AA offers same service, but having read briefly, i reckon daughter would get done for driving while uninsured at the very least .... conviction would appear on her prov licence and be carried forward

If the girl does not have any previous I think it would be appropriate for the girl to plead guilty and apologise for her "stupidity". To volunteer to pay for any damage to the other persons car and their costs and state that she will be reimburse her father who will probably have to stump up initially. She or her solicitor to appeal to the police or probably court for leniency admitting her lack of thought about the possible consequences of her actions.

But I have to admit over forty-five years ago, I did drive for a while with out a licence and therefore without insurance while waiting for my driving test.

Looking back I was stupid to do so and lucky to not to make a major mistake or be caught. Hindsight is a marvellous thing.

It seems her Dad's insurance won't pay out for his damage and his daughter has been to police station and looks likely she will get 6 points and maybe a fine. Insurance broker said not to put in claim and deal with other party privately providing no personal injury claim.

Sadly, most people don't realize how anti-social driving without insurance is.

It's not not just your loss or damage, or damage to third-party property, it's the lack of effective compensation for personal injury, loss or even death that results.

Equally, most people don't realize that a number of things invalidate insurance: like driving without a licence, while disqualified and so on.

MM ... thank you for writing what you did ..... exactly so

thank you all for your help-we are going to print them and give them to her at a later stage.