Background
Sehra was driving her son Zak to school in Hartford, Northwich. Unfortunately, when she pulled out at a T-junction she didn’t see another car coming from her right which resulted in her causing the road traffic accident. Both her and Zak were injured, and her car was written-off.
Sehra’s insurance company paid for the damage to her car and arranged a courtesy car.
However, Sehra’s husband had to take three days off work to look after Zak and they had had to pay out several hundred pounds for physiotherapy for their son as well as other out of pocket expenses such as travel costs.
Sehra contacted her insurers to see if they could claim for these losses. She was advised that as the accident was her fault she could not claim for Zak’s losses under her policy, which is, strictly speaking, true. What they didn’t tell her was that Zak could claim for his injury and consequential losses as a third party because he was an innocent passenger even though it was his mum driving.
Solution
Sehra contacted us and we were able to tell her that Zak had a right to claim against her car insurance policy. As an innocent passenger, it does not matter whether or not you are related to the driver. If the driver is at fault you can make a claim.
Settlement
Sehra’s insurer’s admitted liability to pay the compensation immediately. We were able to recover £3,000 for Zak’s injuries as well as his dad’s loss of earnings, physio and travel costs.
Client
In this case, our client was, of course, Zak, who was delighted with the outcome and now has money towards a car when he learns to drive.
The name of the client and some of the circumstances have been changed in order to protect the identity of the parties involved.
