Fife dad secures more than four times original offer after hit-and-run car crash

David was on his usual commute home from work when he became the victim of a horror smash.

The 47-year-old was driving near a school drop-off zone on Harestane Road in Dundee – it was a 20mph stretch that featured speed bumps.

He slowed his VW Golf as he approached a junction and began to turn. 

But at the same time a Toyota Avensis – which was estimated to be doing more than 70mph – launched into the air after hitting one of the speed bumps then slammed into the side of David’s car.

He said: “All my airbags exploded in the car, so at that moment I was in shock.

“I was just frozen, watching his car, and then his door opened and I saw him coming out of the car.

“I thought he might ask me how I'm feeling or if I'm okay but instead of that, he just ran away.”

David, who lives in Fife and works as a labourer, remained trapped in his car which had also been shunted 10 metres further down the road from the point of the collision.

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Miraculously he only suffered relatively minor injuries consisting of burns to his wrists (likely caused by the airbags) and whiplash. 

However the injuries did still cause long-term problems for David. 

He had constant pain and mobility issues for nearly a year after the crash and had to take time off work.

He also suffered PTSD which meant he had trouble sleeping and suffered with anxiety and hypervigilance – but even worse, it impacted his bond with his child. 

David added: “I was having flashbacks and I was sinking into some kind of trauma hole which I didn't know how to get out off.

“After the accident we struggled as a whole family.

“I couldn't do what I was doing before, like helping with going shopping with my wife, doing the dishes, you know, spending quality time with her. 

“With my son I was really not communicating at all.

“I was shut inside myself, so it was difficult, not only on me, but for them too.”

As the driver that caused the accident fled on foot, David was unable to complete the usual steps of swapping driver information.

But as the Toyota Avensis remained at the scene the police were still able to investigate and confirm what happened. This also allowed a claim to be made against the insurers for the at-fault driver and immediately, the insurers accepted liability and agreed to pay David compensation for what happened. 

The important thing was making sure the family man recovered a fair amount and that’s when he decided to get legal advice for a car crash claim. 

That’s when he came into contact with Euan Robertson, Senior Associate in our Dundee office. 

As the insurer already committed to paying damages the case was about working out what would actually be a fair amount. 

At Digby Brown we often see insurers offer people quick settlement figures but these are often low value and do not involve any evidence – it therefore raises questions about how they come up with such offers.

What Euan did then was gather all the medical evidence linked to David’s claim such as his hospital and GP notes then he worked alongside specialists to work out how long his injuries would continue to affect his work, personal and social life. 

Euan was able to recover additional costs like lost earnings from time off work and the costs of all the extra buses David had to take while he was without a car.

At the beginning of the road traffic accident claim the insurance company offered a £4,300 settlement but this came at a time when no evidence had been gathered – there was no way to know whether this was fair so David rejected this offer after listening to Euan’s advice. 

Over the course of the next six months the insurer made multiple offers to settle the claim (£8.4k, £10.5k, £13k and £15k) but now that Euan had all the evidence in place he knew to hold out for the right amount. 

Eventually, the insurer returned with an offer of £17,500 – Euan believed this to be fair as it reflected what all the evidence showed and so David was happy to accept on his advice. 

David concluded: “I can’t complain about anything.

“Everything was done well by Euan from his communication to his advice to his understanding.

“No one plans to have this kind of chaos in their life and the aftermath of the crash put real financial pressure on our family – if that driver had just been more responsible, we would never have had to go through this.

“To this day I still don’t know if they were ever caught, charged or held responsible for what happened.

“I’m really grateful to my partner for her support, for the NHS team who helped me with my physical and mental recovery and the help I got from the team at Digby Brown.

“I didn’t know what to do or expect when dealing with an insurer after a crash and I’m so grateful I found my own lawyer because then I was able to see that, if I was on my own, my case would have settled for a lot less than I was owed.”