Advice Need on Police Response - Cycling Accident

[MCRCyclist]

NB: Sorry if this is in the wrong forum!

Hey guys,

I was recently involved in a cycling accident. I was cycling along a main road (within the cycleway) when a car failed to stop at a "give way". He took me out. I ended up in in the middle of the road. Luckily I'm not too badly injured.

I have (and I was hoping never to) never had any experience of being involved in an accident or how to handle the police.

So, my questions:

Q1. After the collision a witness asked if I was OK and do I need an ambulance. I was in shock and refused (in hindsight I really should have sat down and said "yes"). The witness then called for the police to attend, we were blocking the road and the damage to the bike/car sustained concerned her. The police refused to come out unless I asked for an ambulance.

Should they still not come out?

Q2. It then get's better. On Thursday I went in to the police station to provide a statement. But more important, to state that I caught the whole incident on camera. The police told me "we are treating this as injury only and are not interested in the video footage". They point blank refused to even take a copy! Even before they spoken to the driver or any witnesses!

Surely they should review the footage? I mean, in my view the driver failed to give way! How do I get them to take a look?

Advice would be greatly appreciated.

Dan

 

[vickster]

Take legal advice. Are you a British Cycling or CTC member?

If you were injured, go to your GP and get your injuries documented asap

@Drago or @CopperCyclist for a view on what the police should / should not do. Frankly, I'd go to the local police station and ask to speak to the Inspector

Based on my experience, the police will write to the driver and witness and ask for their statements, same for yourself

 

[MCRCyclist]

@vickster Thanks for the reply. I've spoken to BC who've put me in touch with a solicitor to claim for my bike. I've been to the hospital twice with injuries and the GP. So I've got them recorded. I guess I may need to look at personal injuries.

I was tempted to go in next week, to the police station, to kick up a fuss about it. I just wanted some advice before I did (make sure I'm actually making sense)

Its scary. You hear in the news about cyclists getting hit and you never think that it will happen to you.

 

[vickster]

Unfortunately it did happen to me, 7 months ago, still having issues (I needed surgery on my injured leg), full claim being pursued through LeighDay (BC) too

Certainly give all details of injuries - nothing broken I hope? Get the solicitor to sort out physio etc asap if required, don't let any injuries become chronic

 

[Sara_H]

Police response when a cyclist has been knocked over is pretty poor from what I read on the interwebs and from my own experience.

When I was knocked over in July in a deliberate hit and run, the police didn't attend and only turned up after I rang them and made a fuss when I'd been discharged from hospital.
A few days later I witnessed a collision between two cars and rang the police. Two cars turned up with lights and sirens within about four minutes. It made me smile wryly!

 

[vickster]

Just to balance the books, I have to say the Met police were faultless for me, attended the scene, were really caring, and from then on communicated appropriately and informed me of the outcome of the investigation

 

[steveindenmark]

It depends what result you want.

If the driver is not contesting that he was to blame. Let the solicitors sort it out. Forget the police. Unless you are intent on making the driver pay even more for his mistake.

Steve

 

[boydj]

The important thing for you at this point is to claim the necessary compensation for damage and injuries from the driver. It would have helped your case if the police had charged the driver, but, since they decided not to attend, they will not want to be involved. Hopefully you got the driver's details and the witness details to allow you to make a claim against the driver.

My advice to anyone involved in a collision with a car through no fault of their own is to go down and stay down (as long as it is safe) until the police and ambulance turn up, since the adrenaline produced at the time will mask any pain and cause poor decisions to be made.

 

[classic33]

@MCRCyclist see
http://www.cyclechat.net/threads/accident-advice.151618/
for some help.
If you wish to make a complaint about the way in which were treated, you will have to make a Formal Complaint. Not all forces may like these being made, so don't be put off.

 

[MCRCyclist]

Thank you all for providing comments on the situation.

I will try to follow up again with the police. While not wanting to be vindictive, the driver is a professional taxi driver - he really should have known better.

 

[400bhp]

the driver is a professional taxi driver

The driver is a taxi driver. Professional is a superfluous word.

Do you want him to get points/fine/lose his job?

 

[MCRCyclist]

Honestly. No idea. All I want is my bike fixing and for him to be spoken to. Main thing he needs to learn is not to pull out from a minor road onto a main road when a cyclist is coming. But, his attitude at the scene was appalling. After it happened. He never asked how I was, but he did ask if "can we sort this out between us and not involve the police or insurers".

 

[glenn forger]

If you post the clip don't add anything prejudicial like "Look at this idiot".

Makes you wonder how many times he's hit people then asked not to involve insurers..

 

[MCRCyclist]

I intend not to post it. Not until everything has been resolved While the injuries will heal. The bike can be fixed. My major concern right now, as you've mentioned, is I wonder how many other people he's hit and asked to sort it out "cash in hand".

Luckily, on this incident I walked away. I'm actually concerned for other cyclists he may come into contact with. But I'll leave it for now. I need to recover. A battle for another month.

 

[400bhp]

Where was the accident in Manc? Quite a few of us on here are locals.