Cyclopathic
Veteran
- Location
- Leicester.
On Tuesday afternoon I was knocked off my bike by a woman in a BMW who turned right without bothering to look properly. I don't think that she is contesting that it wasn't her fault and the driver of a subsequent car that I bounced off on my way to the floor said that it wan't my fault.
My injuries though very painful at the time were mercifully not serious and consist of very badly strained abdominal muscles which has hampered movement and been very painful, some wicked looking bruises and some road rash on my arms, shoulders and head.
The police attended very quickly and must have been passing. The ambulance proper (a small ambucar with a paramedic arrived after 10 minutes) was not so fast and arrived after about 20 minutes.
I have not been in this position before and really want some advice on certain aspects of it all. The police have given me some leaflets with the details of the car that hit me and the car that I subsequently hit. The area that I most want advice about is the insurance. I am working from the assumption that the woman that hit me is insured, if not then it's a whole different matter. My main questions are as follows:
1) Do I contact the woman herself or do I contact her insurance company.
2) What will I need to prove the worth of my bike. It was second hand but also custom made. I got it from Cyclemagic in Leicester and had a lot of work done on it to make it exactly how I wanted it. I am fairly sure that I can put my hands on the receipts for the bike and the work. Where do I stand.
3) Can I make a personal injury claim? On the whole I am against the compensation culture so if I was eligable I would not be looking for anything over the odds. I have no wish to embelish my story or to make out that my injuries are worse than they really are, however I have suffered quite a bit of pain at someone elses hand and it has affected me to an extent.
I am really torn about this because as I said I don't really approve of how we have all been encouraged to be more litigious and I certainly do not approve of lawyers making themselves rich off the back of the whole compensation culture. On the other hand I do feel like I have been wronged and more to the point it has had a real and painful effect on my life. I really wouldn't be looking for the big bucks because my suffering is really quite minor compared to what many people suffer, nevetheless I do feel that some token would be apropriate. Can anybody please help me through the moral and practical issues of personal injury claims. Is there any company that are better than others for bike related claims and so on.
In short, help, what do I do?
My injuries though very painful at the time were mercifully not serious and consist of very badly strained abdominal muscles which has hampered movement and been very painful, some wicked looking bruises and some road rash on my arms, shoulders and head.
The police attended very quickly and must have been passing. The ambulance proper (a small ambucar with a paramedic arrived after 10 minutes) was not so fast and arrived after about 20 minutes.
I have not been in this position before and really want some advice on certain aspects of it all. The police have given me some leaflets with the details of the car that hit me and the car that I subsequently hit. The area that I most want advice about is the insurance. I am working from the assumption that the woman that hit me is insured, if not then it's a whole different matter. My main questions are as follows:
1) Do I contact the woman herself or do I contact her insurance company.
2) What will I need to prove the worth of my bike. It was second hand but also custom made. I got it from Cyclemagic in Leicester and had a lot of work done on it to make it exactly how I wanted it. I am fairly sure that I can put my hands on the receipts for the bike and the work. Where do I stand.
3) Can I make a personal injury claim? On the whole I am against the compensation culture so if I was eligable I would not be looking for anything over the odds. I have no wish to embelish my story or to make out that my injuries are worse than they really are, however I have suffered quite a bit of pain at someone elses hand and it has affected me to an extent.
I am really torn about this because as I said I don't really approve of how we have all been encouraged to be more litigious and I certainly do not approve of lawyers making themselves rich off the back of the whole compensation culture. On the other hand I do feel like I have been wronged and more to the point it has had a real and painful effect on my life. I really wouldn't be looking for the big bucks because my suffering is really quite minor compared to what many people suffer, nevetheless I do feel that some token would be apropriate. Can anybody please help me through the moral and practical issues of personal injury claims. Is there any company that are better than others for bike related claims and so on.
In short, help, what do I do?
