Road traffic accidents proceed through something called the Road Traffic Accident Protocol, which involves your claim being electronically submitted to the other side’s insurance through an online portal. Once the claim has been submitted through this portal, they have 15 working days (so around 3 weeks) to respond formally with their admission or denial of liability.
But what happens if they don’t respond in this time frame? And what happens if they deny responsibility?
In both of these circumstances the claim “falls out” of the portal system. In the case where they just simply do not respond the claim will then proceed through the personal injury protocol. Under this protocol the Defendants have just around 4 months to investigate the claim and respond with their decision. In many claims, such as rear end shunts or other cases where it is extremely clear that a party is at fault, it is unusual for the claim to fall out as many insurers try to get these resolved as quickly as possible (another reason that they sometimes try and contact you directly!). Insurers may want the claim to fall from the portal for their own reasons; however this is of course frowned upon and seen as insurers not complying with the “spirit of the protocol” set down by the Ministry of Justice.
It is not a bad thing that the claim falls out; sure it does mean that you have to wait a little longer for a decision, however in this time we can start to obtain medical evidence, arrange private medical care and simply proceed with getting the other aspects of your claim arranged and sorted.
In the circumstance that the accident is denied, it falls out of the protocol as the claim will require further investigating and further work than the road traffic accident protocol is designed for. The portal and the protocol are designed to ensure straight forward cases are dealt with efficiently and therefore if a case is denied, and needs more work, it is unlikely that this protocol will be appropriate.
Another circumstance where the claim may fall from the protocol is if the claim is valued above £10,000. This is for much the same reasons as above, in that the case will require a more complex approach.
We have experience in dealing with claims both in the protocol and when they drop out; therefore If you are considering pursuing a road traffic accident claim please do not hesitate to contact us.
