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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Down under
Credit hire is a world wide phenomenon. This month the High Court of Australia handed down judgment in the first credit hire case to reach the High Court: which is the highest court in Australia and the equivalent of the United Kingdom Supreme Court. Decisions in the High Court should be of interest to United…
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Abuse of process and credit hire
A common argument in credit hire claims is that of abuse of process: a consequence of the way that various claims from one accident, may be handled by different solicitors, and questions can then arise as to whether a global settlement has been effected, or simply a settlement of one claim or part of a…
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The lion sleeps tonight
How quickly the year is passing. We are in the dog days of the year. Each day is a little shorter. Each night a little longer. The darkness grows and the cold starts to seep into your very bones. The pace of credit hire litigation remains unceasing however. Trial by video, is not only commonplace…
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Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Many credit hire claimants lead lives of quiet desperation. They exist from day to day, week to week on the edge of financial disaster. They do not have savings. They have little access to credit. They work zero hour contracts and they are one pay packet away from penury. A road traffic accident which writes…
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Appeals and impecuniosity
A key battleground in credit hire claims is the issue of impecuniosity, the resolution of which in a claimant’s favour will permit her to recover hire charges calculated at the contractual rate, rather than the more modest figures which might be anticipated for basic hire rates (BHR). Impecuniosity does not fall to be judged in…
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Allocation wars
Over the last two decades, there have been at least two great battles on allocation, which form part of the wider Credit Hire Wars that are waged at varying levels of intensity: sometimes burning hotly, sometimes unfolding as a “cold war” with the litigants and those that stand behind them, raising arguments de jour, but…
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Old Possum’s Book of Witness Statements
Memory, turn your face to the moonlightLet your memory lead youOpen up, enter inIf you find there the meaning of what happiness isThen a new life will begin. -Cats Witness statements in credit hire claims can be a car crash in themselves. At their worst, they are formulaic, crafted on a template, and drafted by…
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Abuse of process
An issue that arises from time to time in credit hire claims is that of abuse of process. The categories of abuse of process are famously never closed, but the cases tend to arise in two particular contexts. The first is where a set of proceedings are struck out and whether after a failed application…
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.