Untraced drivers: accidents occurring in the EEA

The Motor Vehicles (Compulsory Insurance) (Information Centre and Compensation Body) Regulations 2003, implementing the EU’s Fourth Motor Insurance Directive, provide for the payment of compensation by the MIB where a British resident is injured in a motor vehicle accident in another country in the European Economic Area. The Regulations make separate provision for compensation where there is an identified insurer and where there is no identified insurer.

The latter situation, governed by Regulation 13 of the 2003 Regulations, has been the subject of a series of barely reconcilable decisions, mainly relating to the measure of damages. The most recent case, Howe v Motor Insurers’ Bureau [2016] EWHC 640 (QB), concerned the question of limitation periods.