Thought Id start this one going because its rather dead on this board at the moment and I suppose all my usual muckers are either at the Stella tennis event watching Dim Tim (lose again) or at Henly Regatta eating cucumber sandwiches (they wish,...NOT).

Anyway please feel free to just talk to yourself blast away and let it go on any company or subject you wish. Just wish Id thought of this one before.

cheers GF.

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.

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.

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!

.

Al
Email received cheers.

cheers, i didn't see it earlier. that was the one i was thinking about ;)

A bird ...

.... in the

is worth

We've got a local pub called The Hand but I've never seen a bird like Jimmy's in there; I've seen a few who look like George though.

there'a an area of bolton called "nob end". there is even a pub called " the nob end inn".

I am told, though I doubt it is true, that in Hertfordshire is a town called Tillet. A nearby village called Cockwell has a pub called The Cockwell Inn.
Its full address therefore is;
The Cockwell Inn
Tillet
Herts.
it would be wonderful if it were true.

I do love a nice view ..

Especially the sea ..

That's the sort of sight we see every day in Rhyl Jimmy!; oh hang on, the nice lady in the white coat is bringing my medication........

I will be travelling up to the Baltic Coast (of Germany, that is!) on Friday and am quite certain there won't be any sights like that. Wismar's municipal website reported weather conditions yesterday of 7 degrees C and a Force 7 storm!