Setanta insurance saga - unable to get insurance

I had a van policy with the dreaded Setanta years ago. My wife was named on the policy and had an accident. Now 5 years later with the Setanta debacle still dragging on, she was thinking of getting insurance in her own name on a car and has been told that she cannot get a quote because of the outstanding claim.

Surely this can't be correct?

What if the Setanta crap drags on another 5 years. She will have been effectively banned from taking out insurance for 10 years?

I know that you can't move to another company if you have an outstanding claim on your current policy, but this was a claim against her, on my van policy which has long since expired, many years ago.