Minster Law successfully supports driver duped by fraudulent firm

An unintentionally uninsured driver, who was duped by a fraudulent insurance firm, has ended four years of worry and uncertainty after Minster Law successfully defended his case.

Mr Iftikhar Uddin, 40, was completely unaware that the car insurance paperwork he held was invalid, until he was involved in a collision in December 2012. The Yardley resident approached Minster Law for support in bringing a claim against the driver of a minibus involved in the collision, and they found that responsibility for the accident was in dispute.

In addition, 10 members of the same family who were travelling in the mini bus, raised personal injury claims against Mr Uddin, who then found that his insurance policy was invalid, meaning there was no legal cover in place.

Upon payment of an annual premium to Ark Insurance, Mr Uddin was given false paperwork for a policy with a leading insurer. It was only when he needed the protection provided by his insurance cover that he was made aware of the truth. It is understood that Ark Insurance is now closed following a police investigation and Mr Yassar Manzoor is in prison for related offences.

Despite this, the team at Minster Law chose to continue to support Mr Uddin in the belief that he was a genuine claimant and a victim of insurance fraud who needed help, even to the extent of language translation support from one of our trainee solicitors, Kiran Habib.

Minster Law were able to agree 50/50 liability for the accident between Mr Uddin and the driver of the minibus. In doing so, the liability for payments relating to the claim fell to the minibus driver’s insurer, with the remainder covered by the MIB under the uninsured driver’s agreement.

“It made us worry about who to trust but Minster Law proved that they were on our side” 

Commenting on the case, Minster Law Complex Case Handler, James Johnston, said: “This was a particularly complex case as a result of the insurance fraud that Mr Uddin was a victim of in advance of the collision. Even in straightforward circumstances, being involved in a car accident is stressful, but to have the added worry of unwittingly facing direct responsibility for personal injury claims with no insurance is something that most law abiding people would never even consider.

“Our priority throughout was to ensure that Mr Uddin was not made to pay for trusting Mr Manzoor and also to provide safeguards against the language barrier causing additional difficulties in settling the case.”

Mr Uddin’s wife, translating on behalf of her husband, said: “We are very grateful to the team at Minster Law for their help and support throughout this difficult time. James and Kiran, in particular, have been extremely helpful and have shown great kindness. We could never have imagined that the insurance documents we were given were not real, especially when they had the name of a big insurance company on them. It made us worry about who to trust but Minster Law proved that they were on our side and helped make everything easy to understand.”