Knocked off by a car. Long read...

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classic33

Leg End Member
I told LD about the footage. And luckily I know an employee of the take away well enough to ask to see it and maybe record it on my phone as the police said they r struggling to download it to disc. Whether he will let me is another matter. I will pop in 2mos and have a chat with him.
Be careful how you access the footage. Doing it the wrong way may get it ruled inamissable as evidence.
 
I hope the injuries heal quickly @Doug87

I empathise with your plight. I was knocked off a couple of years back in a very similar situation to yours and, despite in my case the driver's insurance company trying to claim I was partially at fault, Leigh Day (via British Cycling) did a sound job and I came away with a payout for injuries and bike repairs which was far more than I expected (and far more than the costs I had incurred through the accident).

One bit of advice based on my experience (although it may not be applicable in your case as presumably the driver and their insurer will accept full responsibility?) - originally the driver's insurance came back with an offer of £600 and me taking 85% liability for the incident. A quick bit of case law research online and a discussion about my findings with Leigh Day and that was quickly revised to a £2,200 payout with driver taking full liability. So don't accept a first offer unless you're satisfied with it.

In terms of prosecution, it was never discussed by the police/insurance company in my case and it never occurred to me to ask about it. I'm not sure if I would have wanted to pursue that, though the arguments from others upthread are convincing.

I was knocked off again last Friday at a junction and I would certainly be happy to prosecute this time around - sadly I doubt I'll get the chance as the pr*ck taxi driver who did it implied he was going to pull out of the road to give me his insurance details and then wheelspan away. I've reported it to the police but I doubt they'll even follow it up - I've heard nothing 4 days later anyway, despite the fact that I gave them the make & model of the car, the taxi company, partial reg and distinctive driver description. :sad:

It's not a huge place where I live so hopefully I'll find myself in the back of his cab sometime.
 

classic33

Leg End Member
I hope the injuries heal quickly @Doug87

I empathise with your plight. I was knocked off a couple of years back in a very similar situation to yours and, despite in my case the driver's insurance company trying to claim I was partially at fault, Leigh Day (via British Cycling) did a sound job and I came away with a payout for injuries and bike repairs which was far more than I expected (and far more than the costs I had incurred through the accident).

One bit of advice based on my experience (although it may not be applicable in your case as presumably the driver and their insurer will accept full responsibility?) - originally the driver's insurance came back with an offer of £600 and me taking 85% liability for the incident. A quick bit of case law research online and a discussion about my findings with Leigh Day and that was quickly revised to a £2,200 payout with driver taking full liability. So don't accept a first offer unless you're satisfied with it.

In terms of prosecution, it was never discussed by the police/insurance company in my case and it never occurred to me to ask about it. I'm not sure if I would have wanted to pursue that, though the arguments from others upthread are convincing.

I was knocked off again last Friday at a junction and I would certainly be happy to prosecute this time around - sadly I doubt I'll get the chance as the pr*ck taxi driver who did it implied he was going to pull out of the road to give me his insurance details and then wheelspan away. I've reported it to the police but I doubt they'll even follow it up - I've heard nothing 4 days later anyway, despite the fact that I gave them the make & model of the car, the taxi company, partial reg and distinctive driver description. :sad:

It's not a huge place where I live so hopefully I'll find myself in the back of his cab sometime.
Report it to your local licencing unit. They can ask if any of the vehicles for which they've issued a plate, has been involved in any incident.
 
Report it to your local licencing unit. They can ask if any of the vehicles for which they've issued a plate, has been involved in any incident.
Sorry to be dim, but I'm not sure I follow - by licencing unit do you mean the department of the local authority that authorises taxi licences? If the driver hasn't reported being involved in an incident (which I presume he hasn't given he was happy to commit the crime of leaving the scene of an accident) and I only recall a partial reg plate, how would that work?
 

classic33

Leg End Member
Sorry to be dim, but I'm not sure I follow - by licencing unit do you mean the department of the local authority that authorises taxi licences? If the driver hasn't reported being involved in an incident (which I presume he hasn't given he was happy to commit the crime of leaving the scene of an accident) and I only recall a partial reg plate, how would that work?
Re-reading your post, you have the name of the company. It's very little work for the council department involved to find out which vehicle was involved.

From there you can get the registered owner and continue as an ordinary claim.

Many local councils now have in vehicle cameras fitted as part of the licencing rules.
 
Many local councils now have in vehicle cameras fitted as part of the licencing rules

I asked the taxi firm about this; their response was that having a camera was at the driver's discretion and if he did have one he would have the ability to turn it on/off, delete footage etc.

you have the name of the company. It's very little work for the council department involved to find out which vehicle was involved. From there you can get the registered owner and continue as an ordinary claim
I'll contact the local authority licencing dept and see what they say. My presumption would be that they would only give info to the police due to data protection regs - I can't see them giving me the full reg and owner's name etc. Will give it a try though, thanks for the tip.
 

Pale Rider

Legendary Member
I asked the taxi firm about this; their response was that having a camera was at the driver's discretion and if he did have one he would have the ability to turn it on/off, delete footage etc.


I'll contact the local authority licencing dept and see what they say. My presumption would be that they would only give info to the police due to data protection regs - I can't see them giving me the full reg and owner's name etc. Will give it a try though, thanks for the tip.

Does the company have more than one office?

If not, I would consider camping outside it for a few hours to see if chummy turns up.

It's legwork you shouldn't have to do, but practically might be the most effective way of progressing things.

If the driver 'cannot remember' your next step is taxi licensing at the local authority - the taxi company/driver will listen to what they say even though they may ignore you.

As ever, I think you need to set a personal guillotine on how much time and trouble you are prepared to invest.
 

glasgowcyclist

Charming but somewhat feckless
Location
Scotland
@Doug87 If you believe that footage of you is on CCTV of a shop or dashcam of a taxi, you have the right to a copy of that. Make a formal request to the relevant party by submitting a subject access request. The information about this is here https://ico.org.uk/your-data-matters/cctv/ .

Make it easy for them to narrow it down by giving them the date, time and location and your description of what you were wearing and doing at the time.

They have 30 days to provide you with a copy.
 
OP
OP
Doug87

Doug87

Regular
Location
Isle of wight
@Doug87 If you believe that footage of you is on CCTV of a shop or dashcam of a taxi, you have the right to a copy of that. Make a formal request to the relevant party by submitting a subject access request. The information about this is here https://ico.org.uk/your-data-matters/cctv/ .

Make it easy for them to narrow it down by giving them the date, time and location and your description of what you were wearing and doing at the time.

They have 30 days to provide you with a copy.
Cheers for the info. The police woman has been round and told me she has seen the footage and has a copy. She said it looks like it's the driver fault. Unfortunately she is attending the iow festival (on duty) so wont be back to me until wednesday. I asked if I could have a copy but she said no due to data protection.
 

classic33

Leg End Member
Cheers for the info. The police woman has been round and told me she has seen the footage and has a copy. She said it looks like it's the driver fault. Unfortunately she is attending the iow festival (on duty) so wont be back to me until wednesday. I asked if I could have a copy but she said no due to data protection.
Nothing stopping you doing what @glasgowcyclist said about putting in a request for yourself.
 

glasgowcyclist

Charming but somewhat feckless
Location
Scotland
Cheers for the info. The police woman has been round and told me she has seen the footage and has a copy. She said it looks like it's the driver fault. Unfortunately she is attending the iow festival (on duty) so wont be back to me until wednesday. I asked if I could have a copy but she said no due to data protection.

Good stuff.

There's still nothing stopping you from requesting a copy from whoever has the film. It's your data and they are obliged to provide it. Might be good to have that in case anything goes wrong at the police end. Evidence can go missing.
 
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