14 seater minibus small time operator: turned on side now passenger may claim.

[the king]

Hi,
I have a small bus hire business and had a small accident recently.

I was leaving a girl home after the nightclub and I was going on the back roads and the road was very slippy and although I was going very slowly the 14 seater minibus I was driving lost control and the bus skidded and ended up sideways { it didnt topple over} on the road, therefore blocking the whole road.

It was really a minor thing and the passenger was very apologetic for asking me to bring her home on this very slippy road.

In the meantime I got a tow truck and I was able to drive home and with not even a scratch to the bus.

Since then I have spoken to the girl she has changed her tune and told me she hurt her neck a bit and her side. She says she is kind of alright though.

I am worried she is going to try to claim.

My insurance is up again in April and I am wondering how this would effect my insurance in the meantime?

The fact I would have a claim going through my insurance at the time of renewal, would this effect my no claims bonus at the time of renewal.

Also does she have to visit a doctor within 24 hours to make a claim valid? Your help would greatly be appreciated as i am only a very small time operator and things are really tough at the moment without having to contend with this as well.

thanking you.

 

[cairn]

Hi,

The short answer is yes your passenger can make a claim and by the sounds of it she intends to. You must notify your insurance company of this straight away. She has 2 years to make a formal claim and there is no provision forcing her to seek medical attention in 24 hours. It will be a matter for a medical proffessional to assess her injuries if...any. The severity of the accident really has little practical effect.

Renewal terms are likely to be affected, you may well not be able to move Insurers as there will be an open claim file, if there is no formal claim by the time renewal comes around then the premium might not be affected.

 

[onq]

There seems to be more to this than is apparent on first reading.
The circumstances of the accident may be taken into account in a general sense.
This is one for the circuit or the district court I suspect, and the quality of justice can be spotty in either.

The lady may be exagerrating or misrepresenting either the existence or the severity of her injury.
I don't know what the courts view is in relation to persons making spurious claims about personal injuries.

If the lady is truly suffering, it seems possible that there could be some claim she could take, especially if there was negligence on your part.
For example, the decision to drive her home on slippy roads could forseeably lead to an accident and that raises a whole wealth of health and safety issues.
Whether she is above board or not, the roads situation over the past month was dire and there were ample warnings from Met Eireann not to travel unless absoutely necessary.

The other issue that may arise is whether you were giving her a lift for hire or reward or whether you were giving her a lift as an acquaintance, that is to say, not as a fare-paying passenger.
This may have implications for your insurance regardless of the accident, since many commercial vehicle insurance policies contain restrictions as to their use and where they can be parked out of working hours.

That's something you should check regardless.

Finally there may be an issue in relation to the wearing of safety belts, whether this is required for your vehicle and your insurance and whether it might have bene material to any injury the lady might have sustained.
You must face the fact that you are the driver of the bus and the lady in question could not have forced you to use a particular road if there were sufficient health and safety concerns for you to decide not do so - its your bus, its your livelihood.

I would check the situation out per the insurance and conditions on the night.
I hope you took contemporaneous notes about what was said, photos of the bus, advised your insurers, and reported the matter to the Gardaí.
If you have not done these things, it might be wise to consider how best to present the matter should the lady in question actually bring forward a claim.

A word to the wise on this though - don't make her the enemy and don't judge her as being a potential chancer merely because no injury manifested itself immediately.

Soft tissue injuries can take time to develop as can head or neck trauma.
An injury to a muscle might leave no bruise, might result in inflammation of the muscle fibre and might result in a torn muscle if not treated.
I know of someone who, having injured their calf muscle in a fall, ignored the initial minor discomfort and it was only when the pain increased instead of lessened did they attend the doctors.
It turned out that the calf muscle was injured, was becoming more and more inflamed and was likely to tear if left untreated.
A short course of anti-inflammatories and rest put the healing process back on track.

Your situation is different to this.
The lady's injury sounds more like a form of whiplash which is certainly not something to ignore at any time.
If I had been in your shoes I would have strongly suggested she see a doctor, even going so fare as to offer to bring her there the following day.
I would also have been tempted to offer to pay for the consultatioin - around €40-60 or so - in order to show goodwill and hopefully head off any claim at the pass.

If the lady fails to see a doctor, suffers worse injury by not doing so and thus worsens her own case, I fail to see how this can be held against you per se.
But ... some District and Circuit court judges can be funny old duffers and few of them are women.

ONQ.

All advice on AAM is remote from the situation and cannot be relied upon as a defence or support - in and of itself - should legal action be taken.
Competent legal professionals should be asked to advise in Real Life with rights to inspect and issue reports on the matters at hand.

 

[Ravima]

ONQ is right (in theory).

In practice, if she alleges injury and is backed by a medical report from her own doctor, you lose. If your insurers fight the case and win, they might or might not be awarded costs against her. If they are awarded costs, then they might or might not recover. If she has nothing, then they get nothing.

Report to your insurers, tell them everything that happened and let it to them.

 

[onq]

Always good to have a dose of common sense and reality to show the theory in full relief Ravima.

Equally and on a purely human level, it appears to have been a genuine accident, albeit a foreseeable one.

ONQ.