Exchange Chambers

Guy Vickers scores on behalf of England footballer in Court of Appeal

Guy Vickers from Exchange Chambers has successfully acted for England footballer Darren Bent in his long-running credit hire case at the Court of Appeal.

The footballer hired an Aston Martin DB9 from credit hire company Accident Exchange after an accident in February 2007. This incurred charges of £63,406, which he sought to recover from Allianz.

Allianz insured the van owned by Highways and Utilities that was involved in a crash with Bent’s Mercedes AMG.

Allianz disputed the period, the rate and the need for the hire. A February 11 decision by Judge Plumstead found that Bent should only recover £43,738 of the total, apparently handing victory to Allianz.

However the Court of Appeal overturned the February 11 ruling, allowing Bent to recover £55,719.81. The court found that Bent was not entitled to claim for a seven-day hire rate and should be limited to a lower28-day rate, and so he could not recoup the full amount.

Commenting on the case, Guy Vickers said:

“This case represents an important restatement of the principles applicable to the assessment of damages in credit hire cases and a vindication of the use of Accident Exchange’s historic spotratecheck.com database as a method of assessing the basic hire rate over the “mystery shopper” exercise carried out by - in this case - SG Consultancy some time after the accident in question.”