Credit Hire

Guy came to Credit Hire from a chancery and commercial law background, having been instructed by Steve Evans of Accident Exchange Limited to review hundreds of decided cases in which it was suspected that fraud by rates surveyors employed by Autofocus Limited had adversely affected the claimants’ recovery of hire charges (by falsely presenting, as true, rates evidence which had been manufactured).

What Steve and Guy uncovered was, as described by Moses LJ, “perjury on an industrial scale”. It led to the overturning of thousands of decisions and settlements (following 2 sets of test cases, heavily contested by various insurers), the committal of 7 of the Autofocus rates surveyors and proceedings against Autofocus, its directors and various solicitors for alleged unlawful means conspiracy.

Guy remained Steve Evans’ Junior Counsel of choice throughout this 8-year endeavour and, as a result of his acquisition of extensive knowledge about both the relevant legal principles and the inner workings of the credit hire industry and motor insurers and their solicitors, Guy also represented claimants at first instance and on appeal in “regular” credit hire cases (including in the well-known cases of Bent, Stevens and Sobrany).

Since 2017 Guy has also acted extensively for impecunious claimants (often self-employed motorcycle couriers) as Counsel of choice for clients of Direct Accident Management Limited, and has a comprehensive grasp of all the potential issues which can arise in such cases, factually, legally and procedurally. Guy also has experience acting for taxi drivers and firms. He routinely, and successfully, resists allegations of illegality, fraud and fundamental dishonesty.

His busy practice has him in Court 3 to 4 days a week, giving him an unparalleled depth of practical experience, to match his understanding of the legal issues arising, in credit hire cases.