NC500 crash victim finally wins pay out
Raymond Chalmers is celebrating the end of a stressful 16-month saga involving his car insurer. We told in August how the 74-year-old, from Thurso, Caithness, was embroiled in a protracted battle for a pay out after a Dutch biker crashed into his car. He was on the famous North Coast 500 route in May 2017 when he saw a motorbike coming straight at him. He had been out with his partner Catherine Mackay in their Ford Ka when the accident happened near the village of Reay. Stefan Baars, 50, from Dongen in the Netherlands, had been driving on the wrong side of the road. Days after the accident, Baars was fined and disqualified from driving for 12 months at Wick Sheriff Court. Raymond had assumed that, because of the conviction, claiming his insurance would be straightforward. But his first shock came when his insurance company Saga offered him just £1,000 for his car and when they deducted his £400 excess he was left with just £605. Raymond then spent more than a year trying to claim back £520 for uninsured losses including the £400 policy excess, plus the taxi and car hire costs with no joy. He wrote to Raw Deal and we asked Saga to investigate. The good news is that last week Raymond finally received a cheque for £920 to cover his losses. “I am surprised and delighted at this result,” he said. “I was being shunted from pillar to post for many months. “I have absolutely no doubt that if it hadn’t been for the intervention of Raw Deal I would never have seen a penny. “I have been awarded a lot more than I was expecting so I am now going to take Catherine out for a slap-up meal to celebrate.”