Articles
This site contains a substantial collection of writing on credit hire law and practice, developed over the past decade. The emphasis is practical: what the authorities mean, how the rules operate and where the real risks lie.
The latest specialist analysis appears below. If you are looking for a particular issue, the four gateways provide a quicker route into the archive.
Older articles should be read in the context of the law at the date of publication.
Damages
Impecuniosity, basic hire rates, need, period, mitigation and the recoverable measure of loss.
Agreements & Regulation
Enforceability, contractual liability, misrepresentation, credit hire and credit repair agreements, illegality and regulatory issues.
Evidence & Commercial Vehicles
Witness and documentary evidence, procedure, dishonesty, taxis, private hire vehicles, fleets and profit-earning chattels.
Evidence & procedure · Dishonesty & fraud · Taxi, fleet & commercial
Appeals & Costs
Appellate principles, QOCS, non-party costs orders and the procedural and costs consequences of credit hire litigation.
Recent analysis
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Declarations and the Motor Vehicles (Compulsory Insurance)(Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2019
In the last few months, there has been a rush of actions for declarations under section 152(2) of the Road Traffic Act 1988, to avoid policies of motor insurance. The purpose of these actions, is to reduce the status of the insurer from Road Traffic Act 1988 insurer to article 75 insurer: this would permit…
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Non disclosure and fundamental dishonesty
One of the obligations that a court often imposes upon a claimant by way of case management directions in a credit hire claim, is a specific requirement to provide copies of what might be usefully described as the impecuniousity documents. These will usually include the claimant’s bank statements, credit card statements, and proof of earnings,…
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The undiscovered country
QOCS like so many areas of costs litigation, could be described as the gift that never stops giving. In 2018 alone for example, I found myself arguing two cases in the Court of Appeal on various aspects of the provisions. QOCS has proved significant in recent years, in providing an effective shield for the credit…
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Robert De Niro’s Waiting…
Another old chestnut that arises from time to time, are credit hire claims involving taxis or private hire vehicles. A useful addition to the case law is the recent decision of Hussain v EUI [2019] EWHC 2647 (QB) which provides some guidance on the quantification of claims for credit hire charges in such instances and…
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Thinking fast thinking slow
For many years I have had an interest in behavioural psychology. The field is closely related to a quality that all lawyers should possess namely: empathy. That is the ability to share and understand the feelings of another. I would emphasise the word “feelings”: because although we may kid ourselves that we creatures of logic,…
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Smokers and bangers
No income tax, no VAT, No money back, no guarantee Black or white, rich or poor, We’ll cut prices at a stroke…. -John Sullivan One of the issues that arises from time to time in credit hire cases, is that a claimant who has an accident and loses the use of his vehicle, and subsequently…
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Raise the Titanic!
If the Liesbosch lies at “full fathom five” and is beyond salvage, the question may be posed whither impecuniosity? In particular how might the yawing anomaly be addressed, that damages are awarded for the “market cost” of hiring a replacement car, but that market is not a market at all in any real sense, nor…
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Sink the Liesbosch!
The credit hire industry apparently rests lightly on the foundations of a 3 to 2 majority decision of the House of Lords in the case of Lagden v O’Connor [2004] 1 AC 1067 for this reason: that case established the principle of impecuniousity and the ability of an impecunious litigant to recover the full cost…
Researching an issue in a current case?
If the point arises in substantial litigation or an appeal and you would like specialist advice, please contact my clerks at Hailsham Chambers.