Sometimes mistakes can turn out to be extremely expensive. I learned
this to my extreme cost short while ago, and it is a mistake I shall
never
make again!
My son David, aged 26, lives with us for one very good reason –
probably the same reason that most young people still live with
their parents for – he cannot afford to buy a house, and so cannot
afford to live with his girlfriend Susan. He is saving up as hard as
he can, and so does not own a car, but he uses mine from time to
time and I have him included on my insurance policy as a named
driver. Luckily his girlfriend has her own vehicle, a Ford Escort.
One Friday evening last year Susan telephoned him to say that they
had been both invited to stay with her parents over the weekend in a
country cottage they had just bought in the Brecon Beacons. Both
David and Susan are very keen walkers, so not surprisingly they
jumped at the chance; the only problem was that Susan was only used
to driving her car to and from work and she was not very keen on the
thought of driving such a long distance over motorway and country
roads. David was not particularly bothered by this, he was quite
happy to drive the car himself and he knew that my insurance policy
also covers any vehicle that didn't belong to me. He naturally
assumed that this referred to him as well as a named driver, an
assumption that was to prove extremely expensive!
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On the Saturday morning they loaded up the car and set off with
David behind the wheel but as they were approaching a level crossing
the barriers came down rather suddenly, David braked hard and the
car behind him was also forced to break had, but the front of his
vehicle just touched the rear of theirs. Both drivers got out, and
inspected the damage; there was really very little just a couple of
little scratches on each car, and since they both felt that it was a
case of 'six of one, half a dozen of the other' so they shook hands
and decided to forget about it. Unfortunately this whole event had
been witness by two police officers who were sat in a car by the
roadside, and they walked over, have a chat with both drivers, made
sure that no one was hurt and asked them both to produce their
documentation. Neither of them had their documents with them and so
they both agreed to call at their respective police stations to
present them.
When David to his down he was in for a shock. The police officer he
showed them to was very courteous, but firm; as a named driver only
David was not covered by the 'any other vehicle not belonging'
provision, and subsequently he would be reported for driving without
insurance. This was not the end of their woes; I was also reported
for allowing a vehicle on the road, without having made certain it
was insured!
I felt sure that when we explain our position to the court we would
both be acquitted, but that was not the case; I had lent him the car
when he was uninsured, and he had driven it, and that was the end of
it; we were both guilty. The fines hurt, but not half as much as the
six points we each received on our driving licences.
To add insult to injury David had only been talking about temporary
car insurance a couple of days previously; had he realise the
situation and taking out a temporary policy to cover this journey,
we would both be a couple of hundred pounds better off, and in no
danger of losing our driving licences.
