Collision with car reversing off of driveway

[Cubist]

How would it prejudice your claim? If the evidence is as you describe it, posting it won't make any difference.

 

[Luke Redpath]

I suppose not...it's about 95% accurate as I've transcribed it as best I can. Obviously I have the video to back this up.

See if you can make sense of his argument, because I can't?

Me: Did you not see me, really?
Him: Huh? (looks up from his phone)
Me: Did you really not see me?
Him: *mumbles* no, there's no reflection on it or anything, I don't know what way you were coming from or what have you, there's no cars what way *points the direction I came from* theres no cars this way.
Me: If you're reversing off a drive...
Him: Absolutely
Me: You should always...you know, you should reverse on to your drive then you wouldn't have to reverse back out.
Him: I...I didn't know what direction you were coming...*inaudible*
Me: Traffic on this side of the road comes from this way *pointing in the direction I came*
Him: There was no cars coming either way...
Me: Well I was coming.
Him: Where where you...
Me: So you were looking out for cars but you weren't looking out for bikes?
Him: Absolutely I was looking out for you, of course I was.
Me: Then you wouldn't have hit me.
Him: There's blind spots on the car, there's noone there and noone there. You can see as good as me coming off the drive. It's a 50/50 decision isn't it?
Me: If you stop there...if you stop there *pointing at the kerb*, if you stop exactly where you car is now [where he'd moved back on to the pavement after hitting me], you can see along the road there.
Him: 'course you can. But where I was is here *points to middle of the road*...
Me: You'd already hit me by that point!
Him: You must have been in the middle of the road, musn't ya? *smirks*
Me: By the time I'd...yeah, because I had to swerve into the middle of the road
Him: How could ya have to swerve into the middle of the road? I was looking there and looking there.
Me: I'm about a metre out from the kerb. I can see you coming out, I'm shouting.
Him: We both have an argument, don't we.
Me: It's not an argument, the fact is you hit me. You're to blame.
Him: You wasn't on the floor, there's nothing wrong with you.
Me: You hit my bike! *getting quite angry now*
Him: Fine.
Me: It's only because I stopped...you really don't give a shoot do you?
Him: Of course I give a shoot. Your wellbeing is as good as my wellbeing.
Me: Except you're in a big metal box, you're not going to get hurt by hitting a cyclist...
Him: Right, and I hear what you're saying, there's adverts on the road discussing the er, cars, I totally appreciate your situation. However there's no more justification of me seeing these guys walking along the road as...*inaudible*. That's what's deemed an accident, isn't it? There was no car coming this way, no car coming that way so I...*inaudible as I talk over him*
Me: But there was a bike coming this way, so what were you looking for?
Him: Huh?
Me: There's no logic to this...if you stop there, you move out so slowly.
Him: Of course I was moving out slowly.
Me: Not slowly enough...you hit me, enough to damage my bike...
Him: [dismissively] there's no damage to your bike...*looks at bike*
Me: And if I hadn't have swerved, I'd have gone straight into the side of you.
Him: Let's have a look *looks at bike again*.
Me: I must have been...*notices police car approaching, so begin to wave car down*.

I've highlighted what I think are the important bits. The rest just gives you an idea of his attitude.

 

[vickster]

Was he on the phone? I would suggest therefore he should be questioned around that!

 

[GrumpyGregry]

Thanks for your comments everyone, glad that most of you agree that I'm not at fault.

Just a small update; I spoke with the British Cycling solicitors this morning on the phone and went through the details and they've sent me all of their forms to fill out. I'm also planning to attend the walk-in centre at my local GP tomorrow morning to get my back looked at because its got more painful, not better. All other soreness seems to have gone away, but my lower back is spasming so I'm assuming some kind of soft tissue injury - bruising or strain caused by the impact.

The solicitor I spoke to seemed to think its likely that the other party would be found liable given the circumstances of them reversing off their drive. Obviously it's down to his insurers to challenge this if he doesn't admit liability. He said I should be able to recover the costs of repairing my bike, related costs like extra travel (although the £11 for my cab journey might be challenged without a receipt) and if I want to persue a personal injury claim, I could be looking at around £500 if I recover within a few weeks (which seems the most likely), more if it takes longer. If I go this route it could take months to resolve, but that's fine by me.

As I said there were no witnesses but between my video of the conversation with the driver where we discuss the incident and the police incident number its very unlikely the driver will be able to deny what happened I think.

I'm going to get my bike back from Halfords today and see what the result of their inspection was. As advised above, I'm going to take it to another shop for a second opinion and quote - no good local bike shops around here unfortunately however I do have a friend that works at Snow & Rock and they have a Cycle Surgery workshop and I'm happy to trust his judgment, so I'm going to take it to them to be looked at and hopefully fixed.

Someone should report those solicitors to the Law Society. They should have simply told you that you were to blame and sent you on your way.

 

[benb]

sorry to say but sounds like a fail on your part ,you seen the guy reversing with limited vision and u think it was his fault ?
epic fail

 

[benb]

You should in no way be out of pocket on this, so claim for:
Your taxi ride
Any additional travel expenses you have had to bear due to being without the bike
Any and all repairs to the bike and its components
Any new equipment or clothes damaged in the incident
Reasonable compensation for injuries sustained

Anyone putting this as 50/50 is a moron. He reversed onto the road without looking properly. End of.

 

[vickster]

Indeed. If you had been driving down the road rather than cycling there'd be no question as to fault

 

[Luke Redpath]

Was he on the phone? I would suggest therefore he should be questioned around that!

Not whilst driving as far as I'm aware. If he wasn't I didn't see. The transcript conversation took place with him out of the car.

 

[Luke Redpath]

So...I just picked up my bike from Halfords and annoyingly, instead of inspecting and quoting like I asked, they've gone ahead and fixed it! On the plus side, it's fixed. I took it to Cycle Surgery anyway to see the guy my friend recommended and he inspected the repair and said they had done a decent job of truing it. He also gave me a written quote for what they'd charge (only £1 more) and also included a note to say that a trued wheel might not be perfect and gave me a quote for a replacement wheel too.

I gave it a brief ride in the car park and have to say it seemed fine to me.

 

[vickster]

Did you get a bill from halfords presumably?

 

[GrumpyGregry]

Indeed. If you had been driving down the road rather than cycling there'd be no question as to fault

he'd still be a cyclist driving. Cyclists are always to blame.

 

[vickster]

So it seems, although personally I (and bupa) are hoping not!!!

 

[Luke Redpath]

Did you get a bill from halfords presumably?

I have the receipt, yes.

To be honest, when it comes to repair and travel costs, I'd be very surprised if the other guys insurer disputes it as its unlikely to cost them anything directly as it will likely fall within his excess anyway.

If there's a personal injury claim then I imagine they might challenge it. I'll let Leigh Day deal with that and take their advice on how to proceed.

 

[Luke Redpath]

Out of interest, has anybody else on here had any experience with making a claim with Leigh Day? If so, how did it go?

The solicitor I spoke to this morning indicated that for a simple claim without personal injury, it normally takes about 3 weeks. If there is a personal injury claim or its disputed, it can take longer.

I'm not too fussed about how long it takes, my bike is fixed at relatively low cost and apart from my back, no major injuries...so life goes on. If it takes 6 months to settle the claim, so be it, I was just wondering...

 

[vickster]

I am in the process, paperwork went last week, but as my injuries ended up being rather more serious and complicated than at first glance and the police appear quite heavily involved now, I expect it'll take a while

Being in a new job I am financially out of pocket due to unpaid sick leave and Bupa have spent many thousands for my surgeon to put me back together via my private healthcare (2 days in hospital for starters)...and that's before we get into personal injury per se! Plus expenses for clothing, helmet, expenses. I sent a lot of supporting information (medical, police), so they'll be wading through that!

I am anticipating a good 6 months. Apparently, the other parties insurers have 15 days to respond once the claim is filed and then I expect the fun and games start!

Complete with gory pictures (of my hairy leg ) !
http://www.cyclechat.net/threads/vickster-otp-down-but-on-the-mend.150003/