When you make a claim against the driver of a vehicle responsible for an accident, the driver must report it to his/her motor insurers. Those insurers will deal with your claim on behalf of the insured driver.
Even though your claim is against the driver, it is the motor insurer who pays you compensation.
Motor insurance is compulsory in Great Britain. Anybody who owns or drives a vehicle on the road must have motor insurance in place.
If there is no insurance in place then the owner/driver has committed a criminal offence and might face a prosecution.
Fortunately, the number of instances where vehicles on the road are uninsured is reducing, but it does still happen.
Even if someone is driving uninsured and causes an accident this does not mean that you cannot make a claim for compensation for your injuries and losses.
If there is no insurance in place your claim will be made to the Motor Insurers Bureau (MIB). This is Government formed organisation which was set up to provide a means of seeking compensation for victims of road traffic accidents where the driver to blame is either uninsured, or left the scene of the accident and cannot be traced.
Claims to the MIB can be made by anyone who has been injured and sustained losses due to the fault of an uninsured or untraced driver, so this would include a driver of a car, a passenger, a cyclist or a pedestrian.
Call us if you have been involved in an accident with an uninsured or untraced driver and we will talk through with you what we can do to help.
