In December 2019 and January 2020, Insurance Times published two articles reporting on the circumstances surrounding a road traffic claim in which a driver had incurred £400,000 in credit hire charges.
The credit hire firm used by the driver in that case was Direct Accident Management (DAM). The articles addressed the credit hire industry generally, including DAM’s role, its position in the industry and its relationship with, and the role of, Bond Turner, a legal firm owned by the same parent company.
A court has since determined that the articles were defamatory of both DAM and Bond Turner, including alleging that DAM fraudulently charged exaggerated and grossly excessive credit hire costs and that there are reasonable grounds to suspect both a conflict of interest between DAM and Bond Turner and that DAM and Bond Turner fail to act honestly and transparently.
Insurance Times accepts that these allegations, which it did not intend to convey, are untrue, and apologises to DAM and Bond Turner for publishing the articles.
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