Family of brain-damaged man seeks compensation from the MIB

The family of a brain-damaged man has lodged a writ at the High Court seeking £300,000 compensation from the Motor Insurers’ Bureau (MIB) for an accident suffered 13 years ago.

In September 2000, eight-year-old Aaron Brachio was playing on a swing in a wooded-area near his home in Kent, when it snapped from a tree and caused him to fall to the ground, at the same time as a scrambler bike was travelling around the corner, the writ says.

It is claimed that as a result of the collision, which took place on a pathway, Brachio suffered severe brain damage and extensive injuries to his back, collar bone, jaw and left elbow. He is now 21.

Paul Reid, the defendant, was subsequently convicted of driving without insurance at Maidstone Magistrates Court, the papers say.

Brachio’s mother is now seeking compensation from Reid for riding too fast and failing to stop in time.

Because he was uninsured, the family argue that the MIB should pay compensation.

Arguing their case in the writ, the family say that under government regulations the MIB can provide compensation in ‘certain circumstances to persons suffering injury or damage as a result of the negligence of uninsured motorists’.

But the MIB denies any liability in the case because it says that under the Road Traffic Act, the accident did not occur on a “road or other public place” and the off-road scrambler motorcross being ridden was not intended or adapted for use on roads.

In its defence the MIB added: “The accident was caused wholly or in part by the negligence of the claimant, in that he ran in front of the first defendant’s vehicle, failed to move out of the way in time or at all and chose to place himself in close proximity to the first defendant’s vehicle.”