Joshua Hedgman successful in multi track road traffic accident trial

Joshua Hedgman was successful in a multi track road traffic accident trial where he appeared for the Claimant before Recorder Bright QC. The claim was for damages after the uninsured Defendant shunted the Claimant’s vehicle onto a roundabout. The impact caused the Claimant to suffer a head injury alongside orthopaedic injuries and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

The Defendant maintained that it was not his vehicle that collided with the Claimant’s car but that, even if it was, his vehicle must have been taken without consent. The MIB was accordingly joined as Second Defendant pursuant to the Uninsured Drivers Agreement.

The Claimant’s head impacted with the steering wheel and his identification of the Defendant’s car was understandably limited to it being ‘a dark Vauxhall Vectra’. He was not able to identify the colour, registration or any features of its driver.

Following cross-examination of the Defendant, the learned Judge found that “the Defendant was in no sense a clear, consistent or credible witness. Neither was he attempting to assist the Court, as opposed to necessarily continuing in the tissue of lies that he had woven after he fled the scene of the collision in a panic”.

The Judge went further and confirmed that he would have been satisfied of the Defendant’s involvement to the criminal standard of proof, had that been necessary.

Joshua attended the Handing Down of the Judgment in the County Court at Birmingham on 24th March 2015. He invited the Judge to consider referring the Defendant to the Attorney General for contempt pursuant to CPR 81.18. The referral was accordingly directed.

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Author: Joshua Hedgman Farrars (chambers@farrarsbuilding.co.uk)

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