Is there anything more we can do?

[mumisskint]

About three years ago my husband was knocked over by a car. He sustained injuries to his shoulder and back and has been in treatment for these on and off ever since. The man who knocked him over was at work and driving his works van.

He went to a a firm of Solicitors for compensation. They first of all contacted the wrong firm and pursued this for 6 months before we told them they were after the wrong lot. Then they were unable to get the details of who the car was insured with - the company allegedly never responded and they were unable to get any details of the firm having any public liability insurance. It ended up with my husband going to court and being awarded £7.5k of compensation only to be told the company then almost immediately went into liquidation so he hasn't received a bean of it - even though Im sure it should be the insurers who pay this, not the company?

I thought that companies had to have public liability insurance and it was a criminal offence not to and had to have car insurance for their drivers and the claim would be against the insurance companies, not the company itself. Also if they had no insurance a claim could have been made to the people who deal with uninsured drivers compensation board?

We were going to get the paper work under a Subject Access Request from the lawyers. We were then going to contact the liquidators and ask them to trace the insurance details as well as try and find out if the lawyers have acted wrongly by not pursuing this information or getting the court to get them to produce it.

Any advice gratefully received x

[des8]

Re: Is there anything more we can do?

hi and welcome.
Firstly companies do not have to carry public liability insurance.
It is the driver of the vehicle who has to be insured, and it is his responsibility to ensure he is covered.
Naturally companies arrange the insurance to make sure their drivers are covered.
Your husband won a court case for injuries caused by a motoring incident. The company the driver worked for, went into liquidation without saying who the insurers were,
The liquidators should be approached in the first place to ascertain who he insurers were.
Do you know who the liquidators were ? you should be able to find out from Companies House.
When you know who the insurers are you should be able to recover his award (if necessary as there has been a court case) you can sue them!

If you get no help there you could try the MIB (motor insurance bureau)http://www.mib.org.uk/Home/en/default.htm

If you get stuck. come back

[kathmorgan12]

Re: Is there anything more we can do?

I have the same problem but it's my son who was knocked off. The problem is I live in a different country so they may have different rules about this. They say I should contact the company and not the insurance provider.

[des8]

Re: Is there anything more we can do?

In South Australia Third party insurance is automatically arranged when the vehicle is registered.
If you are having a problem I would suggest contacting Allianz Australia Ltd, who are the claims managers for Motor Accident Commission , who are the states compulsory third party insurers.