Dear Direct Line
Mar. 17th, 2009 09:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rawneeJust over 2 years ago a client of yours decided it was in his best interests NOT to wait in a queue of standing traffic as he just didn't have time, so he pulled out of that line and drove straight into my husband. No biggy BUT my husband was on a motorcycle. Not the best way to travel if someone decides they're above waiting and throwing a large amount of metal around the roads on a busy Saturday lunchtime.
despite eye witness reports and the evidence at the accident scene. He was offered the chance to go on a 'new drivers course' to avoid points on his licence but no, he was above that as well and took his chance in court. I don't blame him! He was prosecuted and got a grand total of 3 points on his licence and a fine of £100! £40 more than I would have been fined had I been driving a tad over the speed limit. Oh well, no-one said life was fair.
7 weeks later was our wedding. We curbed our spending. Thankfully most things had been paid for but we still had to find money for the caterer, disco etc. and had to borrow money to pay for our wedding! My husband couldn't walk down the aisle unaided, he had to sit down through the whole ceremony, he wasn't able to stabd for long for proper wedding photos and as for the wedding night...forget it! He was in so much pain and so tired, it was soul destroying! Not a very good start to married life, I'm sure you'd agree. Even the money we were given as gifts was spent on bills. Thank goodness we did get the money or we would have been a lot worse off!
Then there was the honeymoon...or lack of it. We're still actually waiting for this as we can't afford to go anywhere now, again because of your client.
Homelife? Well, we've had to move out of our home as we were unable to pay the arrears owing on the rent as well as the rent and were given notice to quit the property. The only home we could subsequently find is significantly more than the rent we were paying in our last home. The home we had lived in for 9 years. Now we're not only paying more rent, the council tax is higher...more outgoings, less income. You work it out!
Yes, we've had interim payments but they were hardly equal to what my husband was earning before your client saw fit to ignore the Highway Code. It doesn't go far you know! The interim payments have only been equal to 6 month's earnings. Beats me how you can class the payment for his bike as an interim payment as that was a given that he should be paid the money for that regardless of anything else!
So, we're 2 years and 2 months down the line. Paul's been for treatment and tests, had psychological evaluation and vocational rehabilitation officers visit us and it's still not enough for you. It's costing me time off work. I haven't had a proper holiday and any time off that I have had has been to take Paul for specialists appointments or simply to stay and home and try to recharge my batteries. We can't even afford the petrol to go for a day out and even if we could, most of the journey would have to be broken up to give Paul a brief chance to stretch his legs.
To say I'm verging on depression is NOT an exaggeration. We had got ourselves into a situation where we were comfortable and now this has been taken away from us through no fault of our own. Our credit is shot to shit so we can't turn to our bank for help and we can't take out loans anyway because of our income. I earn too much for benefits and not enough to get financial help from the bank!
We have bailiffs and debt collectors knocking on our door. We have been threatened with having our utilities cut off and taken to court for right of entry to do this. My car is off the road because I can't afford to tax, insure and MOT it...I'm stuffed if it ever needs any repairs. My husband is having to take me to work which in turn is NOT helping his leg and is aggravating the pain he suffers, especially when it's cold and wet as it has been the last few weeks. I've taken time off this week so that I don't have to pay bus fares while the car's off the road but now I'm reliant on lifts from people because I can't afford the bus fares! It costs twice as much on the bus as it costs me in petrol!!!
My daughter has just had her 21st birthday. We managed to buy her a card! Wonderful! What a way to celebrate your 21st...a card from your mum because her husband's disabled through no fault of his own and has no income!
We daren't even think about Christmas. Yeah, we could sell the bike but at the moment, it's the only vehicle we have that is road legal! All the plans we had made for this year have been scuppered and, quite frankly, there's nothing much for us to look forward to.
I'm sure this really doesn't make one bit of difference to you all there and I know for a fact that your client is happy in his new car (that he was seen driving only a few weeks after the accident) and has no worries over bills because he lives with his parents. I'm sure you're just doing your job, but just bear in mind you're being paid...we don't have that luxury. My salary just covers the bills. Yes, Paul gets incapacity benefit...it's a third of what he was earning when he was able to work.
The house we were going to buy? Laughable really. As things stand we can't afford a tent in a bloody field.
Paul also needs driving lessons for the times when he can't ride his motorcycle because of the weather, however, the injury being to his right knee, he will have to have lessons in a specially adapted car. All well and good but then we need a specially adapted car for him to drive and who's going to pay for that? We can't even afford to keep the one we have on the road, much less replace it!
Can you explain to all the people we owe money to that you're not giving us an interim payment? When we try to negotiate with them, they simply aren't interested...they just want us to pay off our debts. Not unreasonable if you ask me but why don't you give us the option of a reduced amount each month, just to keep us ticking over? At the end of the day you're going to have to pay us something, you're just delaying the inevitable!
I don't know who makes these decisions in your company but I hope they can sleep at night. Much as I don't like to wish bad things on people, I hope that nothing like this ever puts you in this position and you have to change your whole way of life because of someone's inability to to do the right thing for one split second. I hope you're never in a position where you're wondering if you're going to be able to eat for the next few days. Then again, maybe if it did happen to you, your decisions may be different! My husband is the victim here, not the culprit so why are you penalising us? This is what we pay our insurance premiums for! Over dramatic? You may think so but truly, this is how we're living at the moment and it sucks.
despite eye witness reports and the evidence at the accident scene. He was offered the chance to go on a 'new drivers course' to avoid points on his licence but no, he was above that as well and took his chance in court. I don't blame him! He was prosecuted and got a grand total of 3 points on his licence and a fine of £100! £40 more than I would have been fined had I been driving a tad over the speed limit. Oh well, no-one said life was fair.
7 weeks later was our wedding. We curbed our spending. Thankfully most things had been paid for but we still had to find money for the caterer, disco etc. and had to borrow money to pay for our wedding! My husband couldn't walk down the aisle unaided, he had to sit down through the whole ceremony, he wasn't able to stabd for long for proper wedding photos and as for the wedding night...forget it! He was in so much pain and so tired, it was soul destroying! Not a very good start to married life, I'm sure you'd agree. Even the money we were given as gifts was spent on bills. Thank goodness we did get the money or we would have been a lot worse off!
Then there was the honeymoon...or lack of it. We're still actually waiting for this as we can't afford to go anywhere now, again because of your client.
Homelife? Well, we've had to move out of our home as we were unable to pay the arrears owing on the rent as well as the rent and were given notice to quit the property. The only home we could subsequently find is significantly more than the rent we were paying in our last home. The home we had lived in for 9 years. Now we're not only paying more rent, the council tax is higher...more outgoings, less income. You work it out!
Yes, we've had interim payments but they were hardly equal to what my husband was earning before your client saw fit to ignore the Highway Code. It doesn't go far you know! The interim payments have only been equal to 6 month's earnings. Beats me how you can class the payment for his bike as an interim payment as that was a given that he should be paid the money for that regardless of anything else!
So, we're 2 years and 2 months down the line. Paul's been for treatment and tests, had psychological evaluation and vocational rehabilitation officers visit us and it's still not enough for you. It's costing me time off work. I haven't had a proper holiday and any time off that I have had has been to take Paul for specialists appointments or simply to stay and home and try to recharge my batteries. We can't even afford the petrol to go for a day out and even if we could, most of the journey would have to be broken up to give Paul a brief chance to stretch his legs.
To say I'm verging on depression is NOT an exaggeration. We had got ourselves into a situation where we were comfortable and now this has been taken away from us through no fault of our own. Our credit is shot to shit so we can't turn to our bank for help and we can't take out loans anyway because of our income. I earn too much for benefits and not enough to get financial help from the bank!
We have bailiffs and debt collectors knocking on our door. We have been threatened with having our utilities cut off and taken to court for right of entry to do this. My car is off the road because I can't afford to tax, insure and MOT it...I'm stuffed if it ever needs any repairs. My husband is having to take me to work which in turn is NOT helping his leg and is aggravating the pain he suffers, especially when it's cold and wet as it has been the last few weeks. I've taken time off this week so that I don't have to pay bus fares while the car's off the road but now I'm reliant on lifts from people because I can't afford the bus fares! It costs twice as much on the bus as it costs me in petrol!!!
My daughter has just had her 21st birthday. We managed to buy her a card! Wonderful! What a way to celebrate your 21st...a card from your mum because her husband's disabled through no fault of his own and has no income!
We daren't even think about Christmas. Yeah, we could sell the bike but at the moment, it's the only vehicle we have that is road legal! All the plans we had made for this year have been scuppered and, quite frankly, there's nothing much for us to look forward to.
I'm sure this really doesn't make one bit of difference to you all there and I know for a fact that your client is happy in his new car (that he was seen driving only a few weeks after the accident) and has no worries over bills because he lives with his parents. I'm sure you're just doing your job, but just bear in mind you're being paid...we don't have that luxury. My salary just covers the bills. Yes, Paul gets incapacity benefit...it's a third of what he was earning when he was able to work.
The house we were going to buy? Laughable really. As things stand we can't afford a tent in a bloody field.
Paul also needs driving lessons for the times when he can't ride his motorcycle because of the weather, however, the injury being to his right knee, he will have to have lessons in a specially adapted car. All well and good but then we need a specially adapted car for him to drive and who's going to pay for that? We can't even afford to keep the one we have on the road, much less replace it!
Can you explain to all the people we owe money to that you're not giving us an interim payment? When we try to negotiate with them, they simply aren't interested...they just want us to pay off our debts. Not unreasonable if you ask me but why don't you give us the option of a reduced amount each month, just to keep us ticking over? At the end of the day you're going to have to pay us something, you're just delaying the inevitable!
I don't know who makes these decisions in your company but I hope they can sleep at night. Much as I don't like to wish bad things on people, I hope that nothing like this ever puts you in this position and you have to change your whole way of life because of someone's inability to to do the right thing for one split second. I hope you're never in a position where you're wondering if you're going to be able to eat for the next few days. Then again, maybe if it did happen to you, your decisions may be different! My husband is the victim here, not the culprit so why are you penalising us? This is what we pay our insurance premiums for! Over dramatic? You may think so but truly, this is how we're living at the moment and it sucks.
