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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Set off, cross claims and costs
Road traffic accident claims, often involve claims by both parties (or more than two parties) that the other(s) are at fault for the accident and liable to compensate them for their loss. Because each claim will involve elements of uninsured loss and insured loss, the claims rarely proceed with a defence of set off pleaded (as…
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Brexit means Brexit
One of the practical aspects of Brexit will be the effect the departure of the United Kingdom from the European Union has on the development of road traffic insurance law. Devotees of road traffic litigation will be well aware that the scope of insurance law within the United Kingdom is largely set by this country’s obligations under European…
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On the buses
From time to time, a large vehicle such as a PSV, a bus or coach, may be damaged or destroyed in a road traffic accident, and in turn give rise to a claim for compensation, sometimes in circumstances where a replacement has been hired in, in other contexts where a replacement vehicle is “taken off the shelf” by the injured…
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Costs Orders, discontinuance and credit hire
A recent case I had some involvement in, concerned the interesting scenario where a major insurance company told solicitors representing a claimant with a credit hire claim, that they were not the insurers of the defendant’s vehicle, for the purposes of the Road Traffic Act 1988. They then maintained this stance when the MIB queried their position.…
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Credit hire and company cars
As has been observed elsewhere, the role of credit hire cars in the late twentieth century and early twenty first century caselaw, has been analogous to the role of ships in the nineteenth century, driving forward the law of damages through the development of legal principle. An interesting case which emerges from time to time in argument,…
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Seminars and lectures
Each year, I give a number of seminars to the profession. I speak at the Ropewalk Chambers Personal Injury conference in March of each year, dealing with matters particularly pertinent to my colleagues who practise in that field. I also each year undertake a series of talks entitled “A conversation on credithire”, where I come…
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Part 36 problems
In the view of many lawyers, part 36 is one of the most tricky and technical parts of the Civil Procedure Rules. In addition to complicate settlement negotiations, aspects of an individual road traffic accident claim may be parcelled out between insurers, solicitors and claims handling organisations, who may all be dealing with different aspects…
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Illiterate clients, free cars, mistake and misrepresentation
Some credit hire claimants are unsophisticated clients. Under cross examination in the witness box, they will sometimes explain how they were told they were being given a courtesy car, or a free car, or told that they did not have to pay anything for it. They may be unable to read or understand English or…
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.