The Court of Appeal today handed down judgment in a case which has implications for those injured by an uninsured driver abroad. In the case of Jacobs v MIB, the court decided that the MIB were obliged to compensate Mr Jacobs in line with English levels of damages, rather than Spanish, where the accident happened. This was good news for Mr Jacobs because it meant a higher award of compensation.

Mr Jacobs was standing in a car park in Spain when he was knocked down by a vehicle that was uninsured. He suffered significant leg injuries and required lengthy treatment to his numerous fractures. He decided that rather than pursue his holiday compensation claim against the Spanish equivalent of the Motor Insurers Bureau (MIB - who are responsible in the UK for compensating victims of uninsured drivers) through the English courts. The MIB accepted that he was entitled to do this, but used recent legislation to claim that he was only entitled to be compensated at Spanish levels.

The Court of Appeal decided that the Motor Vehicles (Compulsory Insurance) (Information Centre and Compensation Body) Regulations 2003 applied to his case. The court interpreted this legislation in a very narrow way and concluded that he was to be compensated as if the accident had happened in Great Britain. This meant that he was compensated in line with the level of damges in the English courts.

Nolan Mortimer, travel lawyer at colemans-ctts solicitiors and founder of website www.accidents-abroad.com made the following commment:

"In my view the Court of Appeal have reached the correct decision. There has been a big push over the last few years to try and harmonise levels of damages across Europe. The latest legislation steers the courts to awarding levels of damages in line with those in the country where the accident happened. In my view, that is wrong because if an English person has an accident abroad, he will return to England where we have amongst the highest levels of damages in Europe. That means he will be awarded less damages and, despite having to suffer with the same problems as someone who may have been injured in England.

In this case, the court has given a strict interpretation of the rules and there is no doubt that the assessment should be at English levels for this specific set of circumstances."

If you have been injured in an accident abroad, whether the driver was insured or not, call us today for free initial advice and to start a claim.