Conference terri::cars_uk

	You may want to put your request in SAC::BASINGSTOKE.

	Heather

    .0 �I went to the hospital after the accident and they billed me 40.00
    
    Is it normal to have to pay for hospital treatment after a car
    accident. I guess this can be claimed back from the insurance company.
    
    Roy

Hi,

Did the people in the Escort pay for the Petrol in Cash?

Did the petrol station attendant remember who the driver
looked like?

Mark.

The Petrol station attendant is infamous around here for being a touch
less than helpfull.  He did nothing to disprove this when I asked for 
help.  In the end I actually had to phone up the head office for any 
information.

I will also put this note in sac::basingstoke.  Thanks for the pointer.

    Last year my Mini got hit up the rear by another car. The other driver
    admitted liability so I just thought my car would be repaired.
    WRONG!!!!
    	The car, despite having very little damage, was written off as the cost
    of repair was more than 50% the value of the car in GLASSES guide 
    (where do they get their figures!!). Anyway the bottom line was I 
    settled on keeping the car and taking the money. Luckily Ralph Motors 
    fixed it for the settlement money so I was satisfied.
    	If you have protected NCB I recommend you look into the cost of
    repair then (if you can) take the cash settlement and get it repaired
    yourself.
    
    	Norm

    Re. the hospital bill - send it to your insurance company - they
    normally pay these.
    
    D

An Update

The insurance company asked the garage to jig the rear end of the car so they
could see the true extent of the damage.  After seeing this they decided to fix
the car.

As if that wasn't good enough 'Karen' put a note in the basingstoke conference
saying that she had seen a car that looked like the one I described.

It was!  I went down to the police station and they were in their usual 
helpfull mood but after some persistance on my part, they agreed to send 
someone down to have a look.  Whether the police pursue this matter on not, my
insurance company have promised to do their best.

The owner had reported the car stolen on the evening of the accident (time?).
It was still reported stolen on friday even though it was parked outside the 
owners house.  DODGY!!

Just for good measure, I went to where the car was parkked and spent about 10
minutes photographing the damage on it.  All this time, we were being watched 
from an upstairs window by the owner.  

The look of horror on his face made my day!!

Cheers for all your help.

Anil.

    
    Anil,
    
    A friend of mine who lived in Reading had his nearly new Fiesta badly
    damaged by a 'stolen' car once. It was reported stolen 20 minutes AFTER
    the accident and turned up less than an hour later outside the owner's 
    sister's house...
    
    My friend lost his NCB, despite the fact that his car was parked
    outside and he was watching TV in his flat!!!!!
    
    I hope you have better luck.
    
    Mark

If it's really him (and it sounds like it is) then i wish you good luck.

My sister was smashed into by a banned-non-insured idiot 20 minutes after she'd
just picked up my mum's brand-new car.

Needless to say, my sister has been a very nervous driver since...

    Well you know where the bloke lives now, so if the matter isnt sorted
    out you could nip round in the middle of the night and give him an new
    paint job with the help of a can of Nitromorz (wait until he has had
    his own car done up though) ;-}.
    

Re: .10

Of course, if you are stupid enough to do this remember that criminal damage
can result in a jail sentence.

jb

Hi'ya

Another update on the car problem.  As you know, thanks to Karen I found the 
person who drove into the back of me.  We took some photos of the car and went
around to the police station and told them what had happened.

We got the photos back and on one of the close ups we could see a massive
streak of blue paint from my car on its bonnet.  That to me is proof that this 
is the car which drove into me.

The police went around to see that owner of the car to see if he knew anything
about the accident.  The owner said that teh car had been stolen at about 6:45 
that evening while he "was around a mates house getting drunk"!

When Mr Policeman asked how come the car was parked outside his house if it 
was stolen, Mr Criminal said "I found it and brought it home".

"At this point I would have arrested him for insulting my intelligence"

Mr policeman called me back and said told me that the Mr policeman who is 
dealing with the 'stolen issue', believes that the owner is telling the truth.
Therefore case closed.

Cheers Mr Policeman.

I'm still hoping that the insurance company is going to do a tad more than the 
police did.

Anyway, looking on the brighter side, at least I''ve got my car back.

Cheers for the suggestions (most of them anyway!!)

A.

    Ah, so! This neatly solves the problem of the photo-speed traps....
    
    "Thank you for the photo of my car performing at 81 mph on the M25 at
    19:33 on November 4th. Unfortunately my car was stolen at 19:00 on that
    day while I was in the pub and later that same evening found by me just
    round the corner from my home. I notice that the criminal does appear
    at a distance to be similar in size and appearance to myself, but I
    expected that because I noticed that none of the seat and mirror
    adjustment had been altered when I found my car. I trust you will
    accept this explanation and not pursue the matter further." 

Contact your local MP and the press - now! Oh, and don't forget to let the
police know you are unhappy and have decided to make an example of this case.

Dave.

You don't really think our local MP will do anything do you?

>You don't really think our local MP will do anything do you?

With the press involved - yes.

Dave.

RE: .2

>    Is it normal to have to pay for hospital treatment after a car
>   accident. I guess this can be claimed back from the insurance company.

It is normal for the ambulance service to bill you for
'improper use'.  If you are really hurt then they won't
charge, if you aren't really hurt then they will charge.

The catch is that you need to call the ambulance to get
you to hospital to find out if you are hurt or not 8-)

tp

	> It is normal for the ambulance service to bill you for
	> 'improper use'.  If you are really hurt then they won't
	>  charge, if you aren't really hurt then they will charge.
    
    	Not true, in fact the opposite is the case. The ambulance service
    	don't make an 'improper use' charge as far as I'm aware, unlike the
    	the Fire Brigade who do. But if you are injured in a car accident, 
    	you are expected to be insured against the cost of getting you to
    	hospital.
    
    	Ian.

	In fact when I was run over (pedestrian crossing, lights red,
	ICI BOM member doing 90 mph in a 40 mph area whilst 2 1/2 times
	over the legal alcohol limit...), the next day I woke up in
	hospital with an apologetic officer of the law asking me to
	tell him what happened in "your own words" (as long as your
	own words use statements like, `I was progressing in a northerly
	direction' rather than `Some b*start in a car run me down')...
	and...I'm getting there.. he handed me a bill for 12 quid for the
	ambulance ride.

	I very nearly gave him a complete different statement then!

	Paul.

    >>  ICI BOM member doing 90 mph in a 40 mph area whilst 2 1/2 times
	over the legal alcohol limit
    
    What happened to him?
    
    Phil Gill.

	Transpired the chap already had 9 points on his licence, the judge
	also wasn't very impressed with the fact that he tried to "leave the
	scene of the accident" - fortunatetly another motorist blocked him
	off 100+ yards down the road.

	He got 9 months of which 6 months was suspended, but...I learnt he
	went to one of those category A holiday camp prisions and probably
	did wonders for his health!! - me I ended up in hospital for 5
	months then, an additional 6 months later on an over 18 months of
	physio - is there law or is there justice?

I have been told that if you are involved in a Road Traffic Accident and are
treated in a NHS Hospital Accident and Emergency department, then you will be
billed for the treatment. You are expected to be able to pass this on to the
appropriate insurance company.

Cost effectiveness in the NHS ?? (:-()

Dave

    
    I think I'm right in saying that , if you were taken to hospital by
    ambulance from as a result of an RTA , then you were charged for the
    use of the ambulance. Some years ago it was in the order of 20 quid.
    I don't believe that treatment was chargable at that time. Maybe it is
    now.
                                                  
    
    	Garry

    Maybe I'm being naive here but ..
    why do we pay Taxes/National Insurance/council/poll tax etc. etc.
    
    I was under the old fashioned belief that NHS treatment was Free!
    
    This sounds like we have to pay for our free service.
    
    Bemused Malc

    I've also heard that if _you_ call an ambulance on somebody's behalf
    (say at the scene of a RTA), the _you_ will be issued with the bill
    because they will take your details when you make the call (name,
    address, phone number).
    
    You then have to claim it back somehow.
    
    Any experience of this ?
    
    Roy

    Not personally  but,
    
    
    	Little brother was involved in a crash in the middle of nowhere, I
    know the area and the nearest phone /house is miles. All the services
    turned up, he couldn't possibly ring them, he got hammered for the
    ambulance bills. It wasn't even his fault.
    
    
    Garry

I am fairly sure that the A&E department is allowed/able/expected to issue a 
bill for treatment to anyone involved in a RTA in the expectation that it can 
(or should) be claimed on someone's insurance.

I agree with the concern about "what do we pay N.I./Taxes for the NHS for", but 
this seems to be the current political reality of "value for money" and such.

Dave

Re: .27

It has nothing top do with the current way the NHS is being (mis)run.  The
NHS has charged certain categories of patient what is essentially a nominal
sum for a very long time.

jb