"You haven't helped anybody's understanding by your rather extended narratives. " Im sorry, Im always being told this... I talk far too much IRL too... Ill try to bullet point answers. "Please can you state again briefly you're understanding of this point in respect of recovering your losses" As far as I understand, although I am overall out of pocket I have been paid out the current estimated market of my vehicle which is all I am legally entitled to. Im waiting to be re-embursed for the physio treatment and my loss of earnings for 12 working days whilst I was waiting for a hackney plated replacement vehicle to be supplied while the vehicle claim was being dealt with. Apparently, 3rd party has admitted full liability, Im just waiting for the solicitors to recieve a medical report for which I yet have to go to, to show I am now currently ok. Apparently I have to travel to Portsmouth for this. Its a no fault claim on my part, 3rd party has admitted full liability for the accident and 3rd party insureres have agreed full liability for loss of earnings amd medical costs, so my understanding is that apart from the financial loss Ive suffered in having to buy a new car, I should have no further financial loss/cost. The replacement vehicle that was provided for me by the insurance company so that I could continue to work while the claim was resolved would i have always understood and believed, to be of no cost to me. "Is this what you have been told by the insurance or is this some understanding that you gain from somewhere else." I assume you are asking about my explainantion of the possible outcome of the issue with the cost of the hire car. What I have written above is 100% what has been explained to me by the people who have phoned me and whom I have phoned back from Aviva, my insurers, and the car hire division of Aviva. "Have you read the case? If so what is your interpretation of it? " I believe the gist of it is:- Even though the 3rd party driver admitted full liability for the accident and the 3rd party insurers (KGM) have already admitted full liability for the vehicle costs, the loss of earnings and medical costs, if the 3rd party insurers can prove my vehicle was a solely business vehicle and not used for social domestic or private use, OR the 3rd party insurers can prove that I had enough finances that I could be deemed to have afforded not to work for the duration of time the hire car was provided, then the 3rd party insurer has liability to pay for the hire car removed and is no longer required to pay for it. .

It was my only vehicle, so I used it as a taxi 5 days a week during the daytime and a private vehicle for all other purposes when I wasn't working. I did not have any other vehicle available to use.

My insurance company is AVIVA I do have the names and addresses of all the witnesses, and I do have the names and addresses of both the BMW driver and the Rav4 driver. I do not personally have any statements that they made, these were all given to the insurance company directly, but I do know that they all say the silver RAV4 drove into two stationary vehicles without apparently slowing. The statement from the RAV4 driver admitted full liability. To be fair, on this point, there has never been any dispute on liability. My car was purchased for £10,000. It was assessed to have a twisted rear chassis and a total loss. It was valued at £5400, which after looking around was the current market calue of a car that registration with almost 180k miles on the clock. There was £1200 outstanding on finance, which was was paid off by the insurance company out of my payout figure so I recieved £4200 After seeking advice from 111 about my sore back, I booked an appoinment with a large physio clinic and I had a total of four visits at £57 each. I had two and a half weeks out of work while waiting for a hackney plated car and I had the car for I think 33 days. It was returned 7 days after the payout on my car was made. So to my way of thinking, the real world effect on mr having to replace my car, is Im around £5800 out of pocket on my car and £228 on the physio and 14 days out of work at around £160ish per day. The payout on my car was made as a full non fault claim and I have not lost any of my no claims bonus, The (RAV4 driver) third party insurance company is KGM After phoning both the car hire division back and the main insurers. Apparently there is no question that I am 100% not at fault. But KGM insurance do not subscribe to or agree with the "General Terms of Agreement of the Association of British Insurers" This means that they do not agree to pay anything even in a 100% fault claim. It is not in my terms and conditions and I have a right to refuse. However if I do, it will most likely end up in court when Aviva takes KGM to court, and then I will be requested by the court for the information anyway, so I can save a lot of time and expense by giving it up now. Apparently this happens all the time. The case law they are using is HUMAYUM HUSSAIN Vs EUI LTD, 10th Oct 2019. Ive attached it as a PDF. The short version of the judgement is that: Even if the 3rd party insured is undisputed 100% liable. If the 3rd party insurers can prove that I had enough money in the bank to live on for the time duration between the accident and the vehicle payout, then the courtesy hire vehicle can be deemed an unnecessary cost that they do not have to pay. It is alledgedly extremely unlikely that I will be liable for the bill, but it is possible... Drink tea and Keep calm. Hussain v EUI Ltd [2019] EWHC 2647 (QB).pdf

Ok, in a nutshell as the title says. Im a hackney licenced taxi driver, I had fully comp hire and reward insurance that provided me with a hackney plated courtesy vehicle in a no fault claim. Its monday the 29th of May, 2023, and exactly 12 minutes past 5pm. I was stationary, with a customer in the back seat, waiting to turn right into a large church forecourt. A black BMW pulled up behind me, either waiting for me to turn or to turn right himself. After a few moments, an oncoming car stops to allow me to turn, but before I start to move, a silver toyota RAV4 slams into the rear of the BMW, which is shunted forwards into me, my car is shunted forwards around 1 and a half car lengths, turned rightly 45 degrees clockwise and stopped moving an inch away from the front of the stationary oncoming car. (If he had not stopped, it would have been a head on impact...) The rear of my car was stoved in the entire rear floor was concertina'd up and seperated from the chasis although my tow bar took the brunt of the impact The BMW in the middle was completely totalled The front of the RAV4 was completely totalled and the engine was damaged because most of the engine fluids were on the road. It was quite an impact. From the damage transfered through two stationary cars, I believe the driver was speeding although I understand that I cant prove that and that is an opinion that cant be taken as fact. The driver of the silver toyota was completely nonchalant and was just like 'Sorry, never mind, thats what insurance is for...' There were witnesses in the oncoming car that stopped, the driver that was behind the RAV4 who said the Rav4 brakelights never came on, another driver who had just gone past me (oncoming) but was more or less beside the black BMW when the impact happened and a number of pedestrians As stated I had a passenger in the back seat, the BMW had two children in the back seat, the RAV4 had only the driver. Somehow, apart from my mid and lower back feeling like Id been kicked, there were no injuries at all. The police were called by at least 3 people including myself, but they declined to attend on every single call stating that they now only attend RTA's if there is street furniture that is damaged, there is serious injuries and/or the vehicles cant be moved so the road is blocked. As it was possible to push the cars and there were no serious injuries or street furniture damaged, the policy for West Sussex policew is now not to attend, but for all parties to exchange details and let the insurance deal with it. (the following day I went to Bognor police station and spoke to a traffic office in his car and asked him about this and he confirmed that even though one or more of the drivers that caused the crash may or may not have been under the influence and therefore commiting a serious offence, this was in fact the current West Sussex police policy). I had my car towed home by a friend after moving it about 30 feet onto the church forecourt, it would not drive in a straight line. I was instructed by my insurance company not to drive it. (it was subsequently written off as a total loss due to a twisted chassis. I was told the BMW and the RAV 4 were also written off.) There wasnt really any dispute about who was liable, videos of the scene, plenty of indipendent witnesses and the RAV4 driver admitted full liability from the start. As per my policy, I was supplied with a hackney plated courtesy vehicle, which I had to wait two weeks for due to getting it licenced with the local authority, and I was able to continue to work while the claim was resolved. I had some minor bruising to my back from the impact, but not not neck whiplash and I was wearing a seatbelt, even though licenced hackney carriage drivers are excempt from the seatbelt laws and I was not required to when I had a passenger. After a month the vehicle part of the claim was settled as a no fault claim with the third party admitting full liability. I was paid the current market value of the vehicle, less the outstanding finance on it (which I think is completely unfair as even though its a 100% 3rd party fault Im still left massively out of pocket on the vehicle, which I feel I shouldnt be...) The courtesy vehicle had to be returned 7 days after the payout for my car was made. The other part of the claim which is still ongoing consists of four visits to a physiotherapy clinic for my bruised back (which is now ok, I was lucky) and 2 and a hald weeks lost earnings while I waited for the replacement hackney carriage licenced vehicle to be provided so that I could continue to work while the claim was resolved. Its now the 14th of August and two things have happened in the last 7 days which I have some questions on: Question 1 My physiotherapy and loss of earnings claim has been passed from ARC the in house insurance company to a different legal firm. They want me to go to a physiotherapist in Portsmouth, a 40 minute plus drive each way not including traffic through a low emission zone that Ill be charged for as I am a hackney plated vehicle, to be assessed. Ive told them that I am fine, but they are adamant that my injuries have to be assessed, even though I am fine and getting on for 4 months later I have no injuries. I spoke to the physiothery clinic I have to go to and they told me that they will look at me, will be unable to comment as I did not have my treatment there, make a record that I have no current injuries and refer the solicitors to the physiotherapy clinic where I had my treatment for my injury and treatment records. Ive spoken to the solicitor and said this seems like a massive waste of time for me and the portsmouth physio and a massive money sink for all involved, when we could go straight to the clinic where I had the treatment for the current follow up as this is where we are all going to referred to anyway. It seems to me this is just a money generating waste of time with the solicitors being the ONLY people who benefit from this. I have runf them and been told the person dealing will ring back, but they havent, and I have written but they are literally completely ignoring me and have not responded. Can I get this changed or are we just resigned to everyones time being wasted while we are referred back to my own local clinic, and if so, can I claim travelling expenses to the portsmouth clinic as if I have to to portsmouth IM kind of resigned to taking a day off work and going by train. (The solicitors also told me the last time they did acknowledge my existance that this might go on for another 12 months. I feel like saying, You know what, dont bother.... ) Question 2 This morning Ive had a call from the courtesy car/car rental division of my insurance company who have told me that even though its a 100% 3rd party fault claim, the third party insurance company is refusing to pay for the hire of the hackney plated courtesy car claiming that they believe that I would have been financially able to support myself for the 30 odd days of the hire duration and that there is case law that supports this. So I now, through a system called ISAGI, have to provide them full access to all my bank accounts, account and transaction history for an unspecified time before and to date since the accident, and my full credit history to prove that I would have been unable to financially support myself in this time. If the 3rd party insurance company can prove that I had funds that I could have survived on without working, there is allegedly case law that says they dont have to cover the cost of my replacement work vehicle. Which in turn potentially now leaves me liable for the 30 odd days hackney vehicle hire until the insurance claim for my own vehicle complated. Im really worried about this. I COULD have survived on my finances for a 6 weeks without working if I really had to, (lets face it we all proved that in covid...) and giving them full access to my bank accounts and finances is basically going to prove that, but I had an insurance policy that gave me a replacement vehicle so that I wouldnt have to have enforced time off and I COULD work if something like this happened. Is this right? Am I now potentially facing a £5000 plus hire fee after the insurance companies have looked at my finances? I dont have this money, and I wont be able to afford another loan for it on top of the finance loan Ive taken out to replace my car. Should I give my insurance company the acess to my bank accounts and credit history? Will I have to pay this bill if I dont comply and refuse to co operate? More importantly, if I do comply and do give them access, am I giving them ammunition so I will I have to pay this bill if I DO do as Im being asked? Im really not sure what to do next... Remember, drink tea and at least try to stay calm...

Thank you for the additional info

Thank you both of you for the pointer to AgeUK. We always knew that a % of their joint money was going to be used, it was just that no one could tell us how it was going to be worked out, and what and wasn't taken into consideration as part of the assessment, and then going forwards, how any funding and placements worked and what mum would be left with. The best answer we seemed to get was "Social services will do the assessment and explain it to you." Well Im not saying that I dont trust social services, or that I think that they are staffed by people who lack training/knowledge/experience and we might not get the best outcome and care package but... Well ok thats exactly what Im saying... I spoke to a lovely lady from age UK yesterday who gave me some information and escalated it to a level 2 AgeUK financial advisor. Today Ive spent almost 4 hours on the phone going over every aspect of my parents joint and single finances. I've learned so much and I cant tell you how helpful and amazing the lovely ladies at AgeUK have been. Im happy that we are now able to get what we need for my dad, I have a clear understanding of how the care package and I have a further appointment with the AgeUK benefits team to get some further help for my mum. Thank you all And remember, Stay calm and drink tea

I will look at ageUK. Thank you

Hello. Ive spent a while browsing and im still not sure which forum or sub forum this should go in, so please forgive me if Ive got it wrong and move it to the correct place. So, basically as the title says, its difficult getting definitive answers from anyone and the more I read online, the more conflicting answers I seem to find... To keep it short as possible and keep the relevant points clear Ill bullet point the facts and the ongoing situation. BACKGROUND - Elderly parents, father 90 years old, mother 83 years old. They have been married over 63 years. Both (until recently) pretty fit and healthy, dad used to be a pro cycle time trial rider and aged 75 he and my mum cycled across india, west to east. - Both me and my sister have lasting powers of attorney for financial and health matters should we ever need them. We are spread out, parents live in Kent, I live in Chichester, sister lives in Bicester. Both me and my sister are on the same page with everything, speak a lot and have absolute support of each other should any legal decisions have to be made, although to be fair, its unlikely that one of us would do that withoug consulting the other anyway. - Around 2017 my dad started to become kind of 'vacant' sometimes and you had to prompt him for an asnwer if you had spoken to him. We all noticed it but mum was in denial. - 2020, just after covid broke out, dad was out on his bicycle when he came off and landed in a ditch. Im not really sure what happened, I dont think we ever will be, but the outcome is that he was found some time later, taken to hospital and spent some time in ICU with a broken neck. - Getting the correct care for him during this time was just awful... Im sure many people suffered during this time with worse outcomes. But that doesnt change how awful it still was for all of us. - The change in dad from this point forwards was fairly rapid and noticable, almost like the trauma triggered a sharp decline. - Between then and mid 2022 his pain in his upper back never went away and he became visibly more frail and increasingly 'vacant'. But still his fitness prevailed and a 25 to 30 mile bike ride 3 times a week was quite normal. Mum finally listened and they got a diagnosis of dementia. - This gradually got worse, but the cycling seemed to keep him going, and 25 mile cycle rides with my mum twice a week were the norm right up to around april this year. - Then his balance started to go, he started to fall over a lot. Me and my sister tried to get him to stop riding his bike, but ultimately fate forced this issue. - His dementia from the begining of this year got worse rapidly. His ability to speak declined. His ability to perform simple functions started to result in him crying because he didnt know what he was doing, but knew that he should know. - He got lost walking down the lane where he has lived for 50 years and his parents lived before that and had to wear a fall alarm - he deteriorated and ended up in hospital after falling and my mum couldnt pick him up. - He came home, with carers visiting a couple of times a day, needed a commode, then became completely incontinent, couldnt get in and out of bed, walking became a major operation with a zimmer frame and someone holding him. one afternoon he ended up in the toilet with faeces all over his hand and getting upset because he didnt know what to do about it. - Ended up back in hospital with a back injury and falling again. - It became clear after many tests and scans, that he was suffering multiple things, none of which help each other. -1. Obvioiusly the dementia which has now reached the point where communication is..., lets call it very limited, -2. A degenerative neck injury from when he broke his neck in 2020 which causes pain in his upper back, -3. A degenerative lower spinal inury (probably from falling off a ladder 30 odd years ago) which is causing lower back pain and mobility issues with his legs. So this brings us to today and the advice I need. He was in Pembury hospital, and while its hard to fault the care he was given there, it was clear that hospital wasnt the place for him and they didnt want him there because he was bed blocking. They tried to get him moved home, but it didnt take a genius to see that he needed 24 hour round the clock care and my 83 year old mum, who has also deteriorated with general age and stress over the last 2 years, couldnt cope with looking after him. Shes also had her driving licence revoked due to her now steadily failing eyesight. After a lot of argueing with the hospital, we eventually got him properly assessed by the discharge team and instead of them trying to send him home he was given a 'pathway 3' discharge. This means he was transfered to a care home that has the facilities to give him the care he needs. We had no say in where this care home was. It was not local to my mother, there are no busses and its a £40 taxi ride each way. She cant ride her bike any more due to her failing eyesight. There are similar homes that provide the same care services that are considerably closer to the village where my mum lives, but for some reason they were not considered. He will be there until the NHS and the social services carry out an assessment on his care needs and my mums finances. After which a package will be put in place with whatever grants, if any, she qualifies for and the remainder possibly self funded depending on her funds. So the questions I have, which Im pulling my hair out trying to get a definitive answer are: First Much as we want him to come home, given the level of 24 hour care he now needs, its not feasable, so we at least want him in a home where my mum can visit him and spend time with him every day. But we are being told that we cant have him moved until the pathway 3 assessment is complete. Trying to get Kent council to actually carry out the pathway 3 assessment is like smashing your face against a wall. And one person we spoke to at the hospital told us that any care package thats put in place will only apply to the home hes in now and we cant move him. Can we get him moved closer to home? Before the pathway three assessment is carried out? After the pathway three assessment? How do we do this? Who do we speak to? Currently we just get kind of stonewalled. Second We understand that my mum may or may not have to pay for part or all of his care. So be it. But EXACTLYWHAT will she be liable for and how is that assessed? So far weve been told that my dads estate has more then £23000 then my mum will be liable for paying for his full care until his estate reaches £23000 after which it will be funded by the local authority. We have been told that this assessment can not take my mums house into consideration as it is her home. We have been told that my dads estate does not include anything that is in joint names, bank accounts etc that are in joint names are considered my mums estate which is seperate. My mum has a little over £55000 in various bank accounts, pensions, savings and investments that are in just her name or are on joint names. We have been told that this can not be touched or taken into consideration of my dads estate and can not be taken for his care costs, but we have also been told that these rules only apply when in relation to a deceased persons estate and in the case of someone alive but not capable of making decisions, these rules on what can be plundered by the local authority do not apply and its much more of a 'grey' area. So exactly what are the rules. What counts as my dads estate, mums estate, joint estate and exactly what can and cant be taken by kent council in relation to my dads care. third We were told by a doctor at Pembury Hospital that moving dad to a care home where my mum can visit him was a 'pointless excersise' as this can only be done if his care is 100% self funded, and as soon as the money for that runs out, or if a finite care grant runs out, the council will just move him where ever they want him (ie the cheapest possible option) and we wont have any say in it. Is this true? Im so sad for my dad at the moment. hes deeply unhappy and hes been so active all his life that I just feel like putting him in a care home is an act of unkindness. Even though I know its where he will get the level of care he needs, which he cant at home. I feel that its kind of important that we get him into a place where my mum can visit him daily, so at least they both have that. Anyway, sorry if that rambled a bit but I thought it was probably best to put all the background info up right from the start to help with any advice. Many many thanks if you read this far, many many more if you can answer our questions with more definitive answers than we currently have and remember Stay calm. Drink tea. Be nice.

Hello. Came on the forum for something completly unconnected but this popped up on my search. My partner who is sitting next to me happens to run a successful independant independant opticians in the Barnham area that is just about to open a second branch and I showed her this post. So just a couple of general points she made. 1. It sounds like you have gone to a large chain that often says something like "should've gone to s#######s". Dont go there. She gets a never ending stream of discgruntled and badly served customers from high street chains, as do most other small indipendants. Almost invariably, you will get better service and better aftercare from small independants. Sometimes this does mean more expensive than the large high street chain due to the bulk buying power they have and the cheaper lower quality lenses they tend to use. But hey, you only have one pair of eyes. Look after them... 2. It sounds like you were badly advised by the dispensing optician. All her customers are advised of all options and the pros and cons explained. But please be aware, not everyone can wear varifocals, some people just dont get on with them and cant wear them. From a cost point of view, they can be more expensive than seperate distance and reading glasses. They are not a magic wand alternative, you might not get on with them. 3. The issue with the 'floaty' feeling when looking down isnt unusual, and can sometimes be resolved by a simple re fitting and adjustment by the dispensing optician (which would be the first option), you may have had the glasses measured incorrectly by a poorly trained dispenser, so that would need to be checked and you might need the lenses re measured and replaced, or you may need lenses with a different base curve (which would be a later option). None of these options should result in any additional financial cost for you. 4. There should be no reason for you to have a retest. The test will have been done by a certified optometrist and it should be roughly in line with all your previous prescriptions. If there was an alarming difference to previous prescriptions or eye history, that may be a red flag that needs looking into further. 5. IF there was any legitimate rerason for you to require a retest, there should be no cost to you for this. 6. In an independant shop the complaints dept is more often than not the dispensing optician you are speaking to. Future custom depends on current face to face customer service not a tv advert. Hopefully some of those points may help you with your next optician.