Disabled driver banned from Motability scheme after lying to police about speeding offence

A disabled man who was caught speeding in his government-paid Motability car, and then lied over who was behind the wheel, has lost his bid to get his vehicle back.

The man, named only as Mr B, falsely claimed another man was driving his car at the time of the offence as he needed help driving home.

But when the company told him his hire contract would be terminated as the named man was not insured to drive the car, he confessed to the lie.

It did not change Motability’s decision, prompting an “unhappy” Mr B to file a complaint to the Financial Ombudsman that the sanction, which included a four-year ban from the scheme, was “unfair”.

However, ombudsman Mark Hollands dismissed his claim, and wrote in his decision: “I appreciate not having a vehicle through Motability will impact Mr B but having thought very carefully about what has happened in this case, and in particular the severity of Mr B’s dishonesty, [I am] persuaded in the circumstances that Motability acted unreasonably.”

Mr B was one of more than 900,000 people who leased a vehicle through the scheme. It is open to people who claim a qualifying mobility allowance, most commonly through Personal Independent Payment (PIP).

In recent years, the scheme has come under criticism for the provision of brand new cars, with luxury car models, such as BMW, Audi and Mercedes, removed last year after backlash.

There has also been scrutiny of the primary health condition users have, which include food intolerances and tennis elbow.

In Mr B’s case, he had raised a complaint with the Financial Ombudsman Service after failing to overturn Motability’s ban with the company.

Records of the ombudsman’s decision state that Mr B had told both the police and Motability that another man had been driving the vehicle at the time of the speeding offence.

The man, who was unknown to Mr B, had been willing to take the driving offence on his behalf.

What is Motability?

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The Motability scheme allows benefit claimants to use their allowance to pay for a car on a three-year lease.

They must be claiming one of just six specific mobility-related allowances.

This could be through PIP, the Disability Living Allowance, War Pensioners’ Mobility Supplement and a few others.

But when Mr B discovered he was to lose his car and be banned from a hire agreement for four years, he went back to the police and admitted the offence, subsequently attending a speed awareness course.

He had lied because of previous concerns about his driving licence, he said.

Motability, however, was unmoved on its decision, despite the admission.

Mr Hollands concluded: “Mr B has clearly been dishonest to Motability and the police in his initial version of events about who was driving the car.

“Clearly, providing false or misleading information to the police about who was driving the car is a very serious, and potentially criminal matter.

“This will understandably cause significant concern for Motability should it decide to enter into a further hire agreement with Mr B at some point and I can fully appreciate Motability’s concerns about doing this.”

He added: “Considering the significance of what has happened here, I’m not persuaded Motability has acted unreasonably by sanctioning Mr B for four years.”