Can anyone help me mum or offer me some good advice

1finny

1finny

Well-known member
Long story short - she is 83 and lives alone. Involved in a traffic accident in Yarm 3 years ago. Car was a right off she believes it was fault of Lloyds Pharmacy driver. She got a ‘courtesy car’ for 6 weeks while the car was sorted
Yesterday she received court papers. Lloyds driver is disputing her version of events. It turns out it wasn’t a courtesy car at all it was conditional on her not being at fault. If this goes against her she is facing. £6K charge for the car - yes £6k for 6 weeks.
There is no way she can afford anything - I support her on a weekly basis to get her by.

I’ve tried to contact the CEO of Loyds direct and been on their twitter page - with no luck so far. I’ve written to our Mayor.
She will get a barrister for the day but, as I’m sure you can imagine, the emotional torment between now and March 9th is just awful for her and, therefore, me.

Help/Support/advice welcome
 
Can you get a free 30 min slot with a solicitor? Or try Citizens Advice.... maybe try the consumer people at the newspapers.... or try puttinhg the issue on e.g money savings expert forum see if anyone else has had this? Good luck
 
not the same but ... an equally traumatic financial transaction for a close relative recently. 6 months of increasing hassle etc from large company on the other side of this fraud. She went to the press and .... the money (a lot of it!) was in her bank account in a week. "A gesture of good faith" etc. This was The Telegraph. Wouldn't the Mail or Express get on board here? "Chemist traumatises frail Pensioner etc"?

(other newspapers are available but perhaps none with the same agenda for older people)
 
Not sure if this is any use but in the criminal courts if someone's got no money to pay the judge won't make an order for costs or owt like that. But yeah try for a bit of proper legal advice - might put your mind at rest.
 
I presume it was an insurance company that gave the car. They must surely have been duty bound to point out the cost.
It is certainly an unreasonable cost and maybe disputed in court as the cost of hiring from any of the big hires would be no more than 400 quid a week at most. And more likely around 30 quid a day. I only paid 25 quid a day from Hertz fairly recently.

Also the big renters mostly do not rent to over 70 year olds. How does that square ?
 
I can’t offer any practical advice finny except to say that this company deserve the spotlight to be well and truly shone on them for their pursuit of profits before humanity. Having cared for both my parents over the last five years i know how stressful it is when things like this happen, so you have my deepest sympathy. Try to keep your mother out of it if possible and make the bästards sweat.
 
Pierre - thanks fella. Absolute b***ds they are. She will never be able to pay - totally and utterly pointless. Hopefully I’ll get thee mail for their CEO tomorrow.
Also - got a high court judge looking at it.
 
1finny I have great sympathy for your mothers plight but I'm not sure, from what you have told us, that your anger is directed at the right people.

Who told her she could have a courtesy car, her own insurance company (or their claim handling agents) or Lloyds Chemists?
Correct me if I'm wrong but I'm going to guess she was told by someone dealing with her side that she could have a courtesy car & the cost of it would be added to the sum recovered from the van drivers insurance ( this last bit may well have not been made clear).
If this is the case then it's them you should be chasing not Lloyds.

Lloyds can't just accept blame for an accident their driver says wasn't his fault I'm pretty sure that would be insurance fraud.
 
Bosco - fair point but I don’t think a huge corporate should be wasting their time chasing an 83 year woman through the courts for £6k she hasn’t got. They won’t get their money and will probably send her to an early grave with the worry, stress and upset.
It is Lloyds pharmacy who are taking her through the courts.
There is no way she should have taken the courtesy car because it ‘wasn’t one! In her confusion she thought it was and signed the documents to say she would be liable for the payments should the claim be disputed.
The £6k is for car hire - for 6 weeks. Who would pay that if they knew the potential consequences?

All my logic tells me this will ‘go away’ at some stage. Try telling that to my mum at the moment tho ....
 
I would be absolutely staggered Finny if Lloyds Chemists pursue her for that amount of money. Their reputation risk alone would be harmed badly. Appreciate that this offers no comfort to your poor mum but if it helps a letter to the CEO which he will be obliged to respond to (not a tweet) will get his attention.
 
1finny don't take this the wrong way, I'm not saying what you're telling us isn't correct, but I'm really puzzled why Lloyds Chemist themselves are involved in recovering the money and not one of the insurers?

Who offered her the courtesy car and who initially paid for it?

I think whoever it was who took advantage of her & conned her into signing the agreement is who you should be fighting with & I hope you succeed.
 
Genuinely not trying to flippant here, but I suggest you pour your mum a large sweet sherry and try to forget about the whole thing. At her time of life she should be more concerned about living a happy and healthy life, lloyds and whoever else can go whistle for the 6 grand. Put it in her will she will leave 7k to them, conditional of both her parents being present at boro's premiership winning final game

Sorry, I know that's not really very helpful at all
 
Finny - what does her insurance policy say about the terms for the courtesy car? Is it clear she may have to cover the cost and critically at what rate?

Did she sign an agreement with the courtesy car company? which showed the rate?

Is the courtesy car company willing to reduce their rate which is totally unreasonable (I would say £200 a week was going rate) to avoid publicity of ripping off a pensioner

To me she has taken on a rental agreement by accepting the so called courtesy car and as such the rental should have been stated. If not stated it has to be reasonable.

It does raise the question of using the term courtesy car and what this means in legal terms. The barrister or a practicing solicitor should know more about this from previous legal judgements.

For everyone - be careful of these no win no fee solicitors - they can do legal work for you that you think is free, bit its only free if your case goes to court. With Finny's mum the insurance company and rental company appear to use the same nasty trick - dressing up a payment as free to distressed and vulnerable people.
 
Other questions for Finny

You said her car was a right off, but she had the courtesy car for 6 weeks - why so long?

I would have thought an assessment could be made within 3 weeks i.e has some dragged this out.

Does the £6k charge include a fee for damage to the Lloyds Pharmacy vehicle?
 
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Bosco - still trying to get to the bottom of it. I’m getting further documents sent over today which she has had through the post. This is all a bit harder cos I live 2 and a half hours away and she doesn’t do e mail.
Red - can’t remember why it took so long and the claim and I’m checking the full claim shortly.
I’m guessing they will have used the right words and she has signed but, equally, know my mum. She won’t have had a clue what they were talking about and would have thought she will be getting a freebie.
Tracked down an old mate of mine today - he’s a court of appeal judge. It’s now in good hands..
 
I was going to suggest Macks ... but you have it in hand. If they are pursuing her, the onus is on them to prove that she owes the money. They'll maybe try all sorts. If there's a letter from the small business court in northampton, contest it. I doubt they will pursue.
 
If your mums car was a write off, I take it that Lloyds insurers paid out on the damage to your mums car?
Did lloyds pay to get their own van/ car repaired?

If they have paid that, then they have effectively accepted liability, and should be liable for the ridiculous hire costs too.

Who did the bill come from for the hire car? Lloyds, their insurers, your mums insurers or the hire company?
 
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