Paralysed Shropshire man to be given compensation five years after crash

Daniel Colley was 19 years old when he was a passenger in a car which crashed in March 2015 near Telford leaving him with a spinal cord injury and paralysed from the neck down.

As a father of a young daughter, he instructed law firm Irwin Mitchell to help secure funds for his specialist rehabilitation, adaptations to a home for him to live independently and care needs for the rest of his life.

The driver of the car was convicted of causing serious injury by dangerous driving at Shrewsbury Crown Court in March 2016. He only had a provisional licence and the car insurance company therefore refused to pay compensation because it said Mr Colley knew the driver was not properly insured.

His case then went to the Motor Insurers Bureau (MIB) but they also rejected the claim.

Then following a similar case in Portugal in 2017 the High Court has now ruled in his favour highlighting the fact that EU rules protecting passengers had not been properly implemented into UK law.

The European Court held that European Insurance Directives to protect a passenger require that innocent passengers should not be penalised.

In England the MIB rules for compensating uninsured drivers’ cases denied Mr Colley compensation as they said he knew the driver was uninsured. But under European Law, this is not a bar to receiving compensation - only being in a car that is known to be stolen would be.

Irwin Mitchell said it took the matter to the High Court arguing that the Government had failed to implement the European Laws correctly in the Road Traffic Act in England.

Mr Colley, a volunteer at Telford’s Recharge group for young people with drug and alcohol problems, said: “This is a huge relief as it means that I have assurance from the courts that I will receive funding for my rehabilitation, treatment and equipment I need to live as independently as possible.

“I’m currently helped by my parents and a support worker but it’s not sustainable long term - I just want to get on with my life now and this judgment is the next important step in that process,” Mr Colley said.

Irwin Mitchell’s Cathy Leech representing him said: “This is a very technical case which examines EU laws and their implementation in the UK, but the outcome is very important for Daniel as it will give him the opportunity to begin to rebuild his life.”

“The judgment also ensures that passengers of cars who are injured through no fault of their own will be better protected in future.

“However it’s also worrying that the EU motor insurance directives which provide uniformity, protection and fairness to passengers and accident victims could be abandoned in due course due to Brexit,” she added.