Where there's blame, there's a claim...
 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/north_east/8607929.stm

Some people are utterly devoid of morals.

Re: Where there's blame, there's a claim...
 

this seems to be a bad state of affairs for mrs Brown ,there doesn't seem to be any mention of the person using the Morrisons scooter and how blame they had .Reading the article it seems to me that Mrs Brown wasn't at fault .Either way i think Morrison should do a bit of soul searching

Re: Where there's blame, there's a claim...
 

Seems like insurance is a must for these things

There are lots of firms providing cover (according to Google)

Re: Where there's blame, there's a claim...
 

Precisely!

I feel sorry for her but she's left herself wide open to being personally sued.

Re: Where there's blame, there's a claim...
 

I also to think Insurance must be introduced for these...

Theres a woman in my home town who has one of these and shes nutorously dangerous and has had many warnings from police and traffic wardens.

Re: Where there's blame, there's a claim...
 

That is so wrong and doesn't make legal sense.
GF works in insurance and the proximate cause is the user of the morrisons' scooter, not the 61 year old. If she was dealing with the claim she'd have gone after morrisons.
I would suspect the injured employee has gotten a no win no fee solicitor, and there's more chance of getting a win by taking the little old lady to court than morrisons.
The court should still not have found her liable, unless there is some genuine reason, which we can't think of and isn't reported, which would make her liable.
If only she'd persued scooter insurance fully, or taken out legal insurance with her home insurance, or public liability on her home insurance.
chances are she may have the last two but isn't aware of it.

Re: Where there's blame, there's a claim...
 

Are we getting the whole story? As Xaccers said on face value this doesn't make sense.

Re: Where there's blame, there's a claim...
 

I think that these machines have the potential to be very dangerous and as such, insurance should be absolutely mandatory as it is for cars and other vehicles.

Re: Where there's blame, there's a claim...
 

I think there may be a clue in this line:

My suspicion is that, lurking behind the complaint that she couldn't afford legal representation, we may find that she didn't go to court herself, effectively rendering the case uncontested. Those of us who have read the Davenport Lyons/ACS download3rz thread will be very well aware of what can happen if someone decides to ignore a summons and fails either to send a solicitor, or at the very least turn up to defend themselves, at the county court.

Re: Where there's blame, there's a claim...
 

Ah Chris, that is a likely possibility.

Re: Where there's blame, there's a claim...
 

I suppose she has left it to late to lodge an appeal now?

Re: Where there's blame, there's a claim...
 

my experience of a good portion of the people who use these things is they seem to think they have right of way over pedestrians. Ive nearly been hit a few times by crazy pensioners who should know better. I do not believe for one minute this woman was stationary. I can however imagine the 2 going faster than they should and one having to avoid the other and hitting someone or something

Yes I think insurance should be mandatory and I also think they should realise that they should give way to those using their legs and not the other way around

Re: Where there's blame, there's a claim...
 

I soory but all electric scooters should be banned from all shops.

I've seen them been drive at stupid speeds around shops, and even if drive slow, it your fault if they hit you.

Re: Where there's blame, there's a claim...
 

I've seen cars driven at stupid speeds around housing estates. Shall we ban all cars from all housing estates?

Re: Where there's blame, there's a claim...
 

No but it is against the law to drive at stupid speeds round a housing estate and the driver can be banned by a court..

One thing that irks me about scooters is that you get a lot of type 2 scooters driven on pavements at high speeds (the higher speed is supposed to be for road only) and yet the driver seems to think that it's OK because it's a scooter..

Re: Where there's blame, there's a claim...
 

There is nothing to stop me buying one. There a couple of people in my blind group who have and USE one so yup that does indeed happen.

Re: Where there's blame, there's a claim...
 

You can argue that insurance should be mandatory (and I think it probably should), but where does it end? Years ago, I was in a lift at Gatwick, the doors opened, and because I was struggling a bit to get my nan's heavy luggage out of the lift, the person behind me pushed the wheelchair he was pushing into the back of my legs. I was wearing shorts, and the footrests of the chair ran up the back of my calves, quite badly scratching them.

In that case, the "carer" who pushed the chair got some quite harsh words from me and I got out, but should the disabled person (who was probably innocent in all of this) in the chair have had insurance? After all, I could have been quite badly injured, and in this day and age, I could have sued. Actually, I suspect in that case, insurance wouldn't have covered him as the company would have claimed it was a deliberate act whether it was or not.

I think the problem here is No Win No Fee. This is a fine idea in theory, but the way it's being used, too many people are being sued for the most trivial of things. There was a programme on Channel 4 a while back (which was repeated a couple of nights ago) covering the actions a local council is taking to defend themselves against this. They had one case of a woman who sued because her son tripped and stubbed his toe on slightly raised paving slab! My mum would have made sure I was physically OK (no broken toes for instance) then told me not to worry about it and go about my business, she wouldn't have sued.

Re: Where there's blame, there's a claim...
 

Surely if she couldn't get scooter insurance then she could have covered herself relating to third party claims??

Re: Where there's blame, there's a claim...
 

From the article it seems she briefly looked into insurance, possibly phoning her home insurance or a car insurer and was told that they don't do it but specialist ones do, and most likely that the call centre staff member couldn't give the details of any.
So then she gave up and didn't try to find one of these companies.

Re: Where there's blame, there's a claim...
 

You mean people who negligently cause injury to others, then drag them through the courts instead of settling the case, then whine about how unfair it all is that they have take responsibility for their own actions and pay for the consequences?

Totally agree as always Russ :) ;)

Re: Where there's blame, there's a claim...
 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ukne...to-worker.html from another site

The court clearly didnt believe her story. As I have said some people drive these things with no concern for pedestrians and for some reason think they have right of way when they do not.

On the face of the money claimed I think next time one nearly hits me I may forget to dodge 8 grand would be nice lol lol

Re: Where there's blame, there's a claim...
 

Which is something that puzzled me. Most large insurers provide this cover? Could it be that Mrs Brown was trying to save a few bob?

The BBC article seems to lack considerable amounts of detail, especially what it was that prompted the court to apportion blame to Mrs Brown.

---------- Post added at 21:28 ---------- Previous post was at 21:18 ----------

Up until recently, scooter owners could get cover attached to their household insurance included on the public liability cover.

Re: Where there's blame, there's a claim...
 

It's OK saying that but you'll see them on the road if you insure them. The old ones will be saying, "I pay my insurance so I can drive on the road".

These scooters should have warning stickers on them when sold and no one should be allowed on them without proper training.

Re: Where there's blame, there's a claim...
 

I think the law puts the ones that do less than 4mph in the same class as kids barbie jeeps, the faster ones should only be used on the road with a warning beacon thing.
Its OK for someone that lives in an area without the problem to pass it off, around here its a major problem, loads of old folk ramming into people or just riding out in front of traffic :rolleyes:
People have to dive out of the way or be hit by these nutters on the pavements.

Its her own fault, she should have had insurance, or not use the thing in public.

Re: Where there's blame, there's a claim...
 

I can't see how insuring them is going to cause the owners to drive on the road. They will be bound by the terms of their insurance, just like everybody else.

Re: Where there's blame, there's a claim...
 

I'm gonna go down the high street on Sunday and step infront of a scooter. I'm willing to put money on the old biddy driving it isnt insured ;)

Re: Where there's blame, there's a claim...
 

How very touching. :rolleyes:

Re: Where there's blame, there's a claim...
 

But come on, if a OAP owed you a large sum of money,, would you not be worried about accepting installments over a long period of time?

Re: Where there's blame, there's a claim...
 

Am I right in thinking that there's a fund for uninsured claims, which the courts then go after the responsible party to reclaim the losses?
Could they not pay the compensation out of this, and but a charge on the woman's property so when she passess away or sells, the court gets the money back without her being made homeless?

Re: Where there's blame, there's a claim...
 

That's only for motor insurance.

I don't think there is a legal mechanism for this, but it did cross my mind.

I am a little puzzled as to why Mrs Brown isn't counter suing the other shooter rider.