My first collision

Alan J. Wylie said:

First off - I'm unhurt, although a little shaken.

Glad to hear you are intact.

Are you a CTC member?

(Alan J. Wylie) said:

First off - I'm unhurt, although a little shaken.

Good.

<snip>

Quoted message said:

I called the police, who, since no-one was injured, advised me to get
his details and deal with it as a civil matter. He must have called
the police too(!), since sometime later two very friendly officers
turned up and helped sort things out, including giving me a lift home.

Quoted message said:

The consequences. I'll need a new rear wheel/tyre - no more than about
£70 pounds ish looking at the wiggle website. Anyone who thinks it's
worth involving a solicitor and the legal system to avoid paying out
that amount of money is a twit. What's the best way of getting the
money out of him? Given the lack of co-operation of his insurance
company, I won't feel at all bad about including in the claim such
things as cost of alternate transport, telephone calls, time wasted,
etc.

I had a trip across the bonnet of an idiot who didn't look/didn't
demist his windows.

I spoke to the police afterwards, having got details of an independent
witness. I asked them to prosecute him from driving without due care,
which they did. I was slightly injured though.

With regard to recovering costs I just wrote to him. After 2 weeks I
didn't get an answer , so sent a more strongly worded letter
threatening legal action. I got a cheque by return with apologies from
his girlfriend saying he was out of the country. The cheque preceded
the prosecution by a few months.

Tim

In message <[email hidden]>, Alan J. Wylie
<[email hidden]> writes

Quoted message said:

First off - I'm unhurt, although a little shaken.

Glad of that

Quoted message said:

A large insurance company, part of a large organisation whose
advertising tries to portray a friendly, helpful image, whose sole
response to my request for a claim form (as the police had advised me
to ask for) was to tell me to find a solicitor.

It's worth joining the CTC for their legal assistance alone never mind
the other benefits. Try and get hold of one of their mags as several
solicitors specialising in such cases advertise their services on a no
fee basis. IIRC MBR also feature such adverts.
--
John B Wilkinson

Chris said:

Are you a CTC member?

No - it's been on my to-do list for a long time, but I've never got
round to it. I probably will be next week, though, shutting the stable
door.

--
Alan J. Wylie http://www.wylie.me.uk/
"Perfection [in design] is achieved not when there is nothing left to add,
but rather when there is nothing left to take away."
-- Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Reply to Alan J. Wylie

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Are you a CTC member?

No - it's been on my to-do list for a long time, but I've never got
round to it. I probably will be next week, though, shutting the stable
door.

ISTR hearing that the CTC will give possibly-useful support if you
join them *after* having an accident, though ICBW. Well worth
joining them anyway, so why not join and ask?

--
Mark, UK.
We hope to hear him swear, we love to hear him squeak,
We like to see him biting fingers in his horny beak.

in message <[email hidden]>, Alan J. Wylie

(') said:

The consequences. I'll need a new rear wheel/tyre - no more than about
£70 pounds ish looking at the wiggle website. Anyone who thinks it's
worth involving a solicitor and the legal system to avoid paying out
that amount of money is a twit. What's the best way of getting the
money out of him? Given the lack of co-operation of his insurance
company, I won't feel at all bad about including in the claim such
things as cost of alternate transport, telephone calls, time wasted,
etc.

Whooh! That's the must buggered bicycle wheel I've seen in a long time -
he hit you quite hard. Must have been very scarey. Frankly I'd write to
or telephone the guy and ask him whether he'd prefer to pay for the
wheel directly or through his insurance. For £70 he isn't going to want
to damage his no-claims.

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

;; when in the [censored], the wise man plants courgettes

Mark McNeill said:

Reply to Alan J. Wylie

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Are you a CTC member?

No - it's been on my to-do list for a long time, but I've never got
round to it. I probably will be next week, though, shutting the stable
door.

ISTR hearing that the CTC will give possibly-useful support if you
join them *after* having an accident, though ICBW. Well worth
joining them anyway, so why not join and ask?

They are only really interested in helping personal injury cases.

Tony

On 13 Apr 2005 20:22:58 +0100,

Alan J. Wylie said:

The not so good guys:

A large insurance company, part of a large organisation whose
advertising tries to portray a friendly, helpful image, whose sole
response to my request for a claim form (as the police had advised me
to ask for) was to tell me to find a solicitor.

I'm assuming that this is the drivers insurance. In which case you don't
claim off them. You claim off the driver. I'm not even sure the
driver has to tell you who his insurance company is unless someone was
injured.

Hence they (probably) won't send you a claim form anyway as it is the
driver who would claim on his insurance to cover his liability to you
(although this is quite possibly less than his excess)

Tim.

--
God said, "div D = rho, div B = 0, curl E = - @B/@t, curl H = J + @D/@t,"
and there was light.

http://tjw.hn.org/ http://www.locofungus.btinternet.co.uk/

Alan J. Wylie said:

The consequences. I'll need a new rear wheel/tyre - no more than about
£70 pounds ish looking at the wiggle website. Anyone who thinks it's
worth involving a solicitor and the legal system to avoid paying out
that amount of money is a twit. What's the best way of getting the
money out of him? Given the lack of co-operation of his insurance
company, I won't feel at all bad about including in the claim such
things as cost of alternate transport, telephone calls, time wasted,
etc.

Your case is with the driver not his insurance company. Write to him
setting out your costs and ask him to settle them. If he declines or
doesn't answer it is fairly easy to start a claim in the Small Claims
Court - can be done on-line - its how I had to do it. Give him the
opportunity and if it doesn't work, come back and I'll give some more
advice on how to do the small claims claim.

Tony

Although you have the right to claim from and to sue the driver directly,
you CAN put in a claim to the driver's insurance company if you wish. (I
know a cyclist who did this successfully). There may be a greater chance
of actually getting some money this way. You can use a solicitor or DIY
by letter (find out the driver's policy number). Claim for injury &
suffering + loss of amenity + damage to bike + all expenses

I think you should also press the police into taking action if you believe
a criminal offense was committed.

~PB

Pete Biggs said:

Although you have the right to claim from and to sue the driver directly,
you CAN put in a claim to the driver's insurance company if you wish. (I
know a cyclist who did this successfully). There may be a greater chance
of actually getting some money this way.

You claim against the driver. In my Court case I claimed against both
the driver and the insurance company (since the latter was causing me
all the grief) but the judge removed the insurance company from the case
so it was me v the driver (who looked an awful lot like the insurance
company's solicitor to me and not at all like the driver than hit me)

Tony

Simon Brooke said:

in message <[email hidden]>, Alan J. Wylie

(') said:

The consequences. I'll need a new rear wheel/tyre - no more than about
£70 pounds ish looking at the wiggle website. Anyone who thinks it's
worth involving a solicitor and the legal system to avoid paying out
that amount of money is a twit. What's the best way of getting the
money out of him? Given the lack of co-operation of his insurance
company, I won't feel at all bad about including in the claim such
things as cost of alternate transport, telephone calls, time wasted,
etc.

Whooh! That's the must buggered bicycle wheel I've seen in a long time -
he hit you quite hard. Must have been very scarey. Frankly I'd write to
or telephone the guy and ask him whether he'd prefer to pay for the
wheel directly or through his insurance. For £70 he isn't going to want
to damage his no-claims.

Yes, and if the wheel is that mangled it might be worth getting the
frame alignment checked too. Better to find out before you start moves
to claim for your loss than find out afterwards.

--
Joe * If I cannot be free I'll be cheap

Tony Raven said:

Pete Biggs said:

Although you have the right to claim from and to sue the driver
directly, you CAN put in a claim to the driver's insurance company
if you wish. (I know a cyclist who did this successfully). There
may be a greater chance of actually getting some money this way.

You claim against the driver. In my Court case I claimed against both
the driver and the insurance company (since the latter was causing me
all the grief) but the judge removed the insurance company from the
case so it was me v the driver (who looked an awful lot like the
insurance company's solicitor to me and not at all like the driver
than hit me)

You don't *have* to take it to court to begin with. It is possible to get
the driver's insurance company to pay damages directly by writing to them
direct. This was the free advice given to the cyclist I mentioned from a
barrister friend specialising in personal injury, and it worked.

~PB

"Alan J. Wylie" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

The consequences. I'll need a new rear wheel/tyre - no more than about
£70 pounds ish looking at the wiggle website. >

[1] Piccies, if anyone is interested, at
<http://www.wylie.me.uk/static/20050413/>

I would strongly recommend that you get a LBS to look at your bike. The
damage shown in the picture is significant and I would be surprised if their
was not some damage to the rear traingle. Get the full quantity of damage
assessed.

Gavin

in message <[email hidden]>, JLB

(') said:

Simon Brooke wrote:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Whooh! That's the must buggered bicycle wheel I've seen in a long
time - he hit you quite hard. Must have been very scarey. Frankly I'd
write to or telephone the guy and ask him whether he'd prefer to pay
for the wheel directly or through his insurance. For £70 he isn't
going to want to damage his no-claims.

Yes, and if the wheel is that mangled it might be worth getting the
frame alignment checked too. Better to find out before you start moves
to claim for your loss than find out afterwards.

That's a very good point. Don't submit your claim until you're _sure_
you've assessed the full damage.

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

;; lovely alternative to rice.

Gavin Collinson said:

I would strongly recommend that you get a LBS to look at your bike.

Quoted message said:

The damage shown in the picture is significant and I would be
surprised if their was not some damage to the rear traingle. Get
the full quantity of damage assessed.

Indeed. The whole bike is back in the boot of the car, after being
photographed, for that very reason. I'm still a bit confused about the
collision - all I can remember is the bang as the inner tube popped,
and then being upright and stationary in front of the car. I have no
recollection of any impact at all, although there clearly was one, of
significant force, nor of coming to a stop. I can't work out how I
remained upright either. I can only assume that the impact was
directly from behind - if the car had hit me at even the slightest
angle, I'm sure I'd have been over.

Thanks for all the advice in the other replies. The police were very
friendly, but I'm not sure that their advice was entirely accurate.

They did all the talking to the other party, and all they gave me was
his name and the name of his insurance company, which, along with his
registration, they said was all I needed to contact his insurance
company and get things sorted. I'll be popping into the local police
station this lunchtime anyway, as agreed with the handler I spoke to
about the incident - I'll try and get the rest of his details then,
and then start off by writing him a letter with the invoice from by
LBS. Hopefully he'll realise that anything less than his insurance
excess isn't worth making a fuss over.

--
Alan J. Wylie http://www.wylie.me.uk/
"Perfection [in design] is achieved not when there is nothing left to add,
but rather when there is nothing left to take away."
-- Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Alan J. Wylie said:

I'll be popping into the local police
station this lunchtime anyway, as agreed with the handler I spoke to
about the incident - I'll try and get the rest of his details then,
and then start off by writing him a letter with the invoice from by
LBS. Hopefully he'll realise that anything less than his insurance
excess isn't worth making a fuss over.

When you do file an accident report (probably be a form to take away and
fill in). My witness didn't respond when I wrote to them, neither did
the driver but the police had interviewed and taken statements from
both. I was able to obtain a copy of the witness statement and it
confirmed my story against the driver. The police also had a file with
driver insurance details etc which the driver didn't have at the time.
So without the police file resulting from the accident report I would
probably have hit a wall in pursuing the case and winning.

Tony

"Alan J. Wylie" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

First off - I'm unhurt, although a little shaken.

Good

<snip>

Quoted message said:

[1] Piccies, if anyone is interested, at
<http://www.wylie.me.uk/static/20050413/>

Umm -- get the frame checked out. That amount of buggeration of the wheel
could have twisted the frame.

T

Alan J. Wylie said:

Indeed. The whole bike is back in the boot of the car, after being
photographed, for that very reason. I'm still a bit confused about
the collision - all I can remember is the bang as the inner tube
popped, and then being upright and stationary in front of the car.
I have no recollection of any impact at all, although there clearly
was one, of significant force, nor of coming to a stop. I can't work
out how I remained upright either. I can only assume that the impact
was directly from behind - if the car had hit me at even the
slightest angle, I'm sure I'd have been over.

I think he may have hit you at fairly low speed. He may even have given
you a deliberate nudge for having the temerity to be in "his" bus lane.
I've been deliberately rammed in the past in similar circumstances,
though by a much lighter car, and it's not pleasant. From the damage it
looks as though his bumper has ridden up over your wheel and trapped
it. This would have stopped the wheel rotating as well as your forward
progress. A couple of inches more and the rim folded with the loud bang
as the tyre and tube let go. This would explain why you didn't feel an
impact and how you were able to remain upright and, no thanks to the
pillock of a driver, remain unhurt. It's also possible that the wheel
took all the force and your frame is OK. It's a theory anyway.

Don't forget your out-of-pocket expenses are not just a new wheel.
You've had to make trips to the LBS, the police station and the doctor.
You've had to pay to have the alignment of your frame checked even if
it's not damaged. You may have had to take time off work. You've had to
use other means of transport while your bike is out of commission etc.
It's also possible you suffered delayed shock, in which case you're
entitled for something to compensate you for your pain and suffering.

I'm surprised the police aren't more interested. For a start he was
committing an offence simply by being in the bus lane. There must at
least be a possible charge of driving without due care, if not
dangerous driving. Personally I'd like to see charges of assault and
criminal damage but I think proving intent would be impossible, though
I strongly suspect it was there.

--
Dave...