As I lay there the smell of diesel was uber-strong. A Czech trucker who’d parked up saw me, called an ambulance and the Police, and gave a fantastic witness statement backing me up.

My solicitor banged in a claim to the MIB, but they’ve rejected it on the basis that the accident happened due to a build up of diesel over time, as opposed to a single spillage.

My solicitor told me to appeal, but I’m worried they may have got it wrong.

Answer

The Motor Insurers’ Bureau (MIB) deals with claims involving ‘untraced’ drivers who cause accidents. Basically, every time we pay insurance, some of the money ends up in a pot used to pay out for eligible claims.

The MIB are wrong in my view; their own agreement actually states, “…The provisions of this Agreement apply where…the person who is alleged to be liable …is an unidentified person (and where more than one person is alleged to be so liable, all such persons are unidentified persons)”.

In English that means if you can prove on the balance of probabilities that you fell off on diesel from a vehicle or vehicles, the MIB should pay out.

Your solicitor is spot on and you should appeal; you only have six weeks from the MIB rejecting the claim, so don’t hang about.

Andrew ‘Chef’ Prendergast

On2Wheels December 2019