Frood42
I know where my towel is
- Location
- Magrathea, Horsehead Nebula
No insurance expert here, but reading this suggests it might be prudent:
http://content.met.police.uk/Article/Collision-forms-and-reports/1400005513174/1400005513174
.
My accident 2
- Thread starter Davidsw8
- Start date
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No insurance expert here, but reading this suggests it might be prudent:
http://content.met.police.uk/Article/Collision-forms-and-reports/1400005513174/1400005513174
glenn forger
Guest
Worth remembering that shunts like that would normally result in a £3k settlement for whiplash if he'd hit a car.
Well, he's paid up and it's in my bank account, woo-hoo! 
. Bit of an e-mail back and forth this afternoon though and at one point I was fuming with his attitude but I had my say and it's all done with now. If anyone's interested, below is the (redacted) e-mail convo:
*Bear in mind that I had previously mentioned travel costs but he ignored that...*
Him:
"Well, it seems that going with the insurance company would involve an investigation by them (or their agents ) of the damage done and the degree to which I was responsible for it. It would involve their lawyers and your insurance company – which would increase both of our premiums next year. I have no wish to go through that process, and I would guess that you do not want to either. Instead, I am prepared to pay you the amount of £234.74 that On Your Bike says the repairs will cost. I hope that will be sufficient to close the case."
Me:
"Even though I do have 3rd party insurance, as a cyclist I'm not obliged to be insured and as the injured party, any premium I would pay would be unaffected by any investigation. However, I would rather not draw this out either... As indicated in my previous e-mail, I have to take public transport until my cycle is returned (plus added daily inconveniences in not having it available), so it would be appreciated if you could cover my travel costs for the 8 working days it's likely to be at the repair shop. I worked this out to be £2.80/day for 8 days = £22.40. The total thus being £257.15 (£234.75 + £22.40). If you could let me know this acceptable, Ill give you my bank details and we can call this matter settled."
Him:
"I am not sure you are right about what insurance companies will do re: your premium even when you are the injured party. Mine has gone up after accidents when it has been admitted by all concerned that I have been the injured party! But anyway – be that as it may, I am pleased you do not wish to involve insurance companies. Can we settle on £250? After all, it is not my fault that On Your Bike don’t have the new back frame in stock, or that it takes so long for them to get hold of one!"
Me:
"I would rather you paid the full amount of £257.15. With regards to the insurance, I pay an annual subscription which includes 3rd party insurance so there is no premium as such. As I say, I'm not obliged to be insured the same way a motorist does so I don't have a problem going the insurance route. It isn't my fault either that the bike shop is taking this amount of time to fix my bike but the time taken is reflective of the damage, damage caused solely by your driving. I would also remind you that I'm suffering the daily inconvenience of not having access to my bike yet I'm the innocent party."
Him:
"I am surprised and depressed by your insistence on holding out for £257.15. However, I don’t wish to fight about £7:15p, and will pay you the full sum of £257:15p on condition that it is indeed the end of every issue between us relating to the incident last Thursday. Once you send me your bank details, I will arrange for the money to be transferred to your account."
Me:
"I was disappointed and depressed at my bike's rear end being crushed by your car last week (despite me doing nothing wrong) and that my confidence in cycling has been battered and now your attempt to make me feel bad for asking to be recompensed not a penny more than this incident has cost me but we'll both get over it I hope."
Him:
"Yes I hope we both shall. I didn't mean to make you feel bad. I was just expressing my frustration with the process - but I quite accept you have plenty to complain about! Once the money is in your account, I hope that will be the end of it. Could you just reassure me that that will be so?"
----
And then I reassured him and he transferred the money, it went in and I acknowledged it.
And they both lived happily ever after! I hope!!
. Bit of an e-mail back and forth this afternoon though and at one point I was fuming with his attitude but I had my say and it's all done with now. If anyone's interested, below is the (redacted) e-mail convo:*Bear in mind that I had previously mentioned travel costs but he ignored that...*
Him:
"Well, it seems that going with the insurance company would involve an investigation by them (or their agents ) of the damage done and the degree to which I was responsible for it. It would involve their lawyers and your insurance company – which would increase both of our premiums next year. I have no wish to go through that process, and I would guess that you do not want to either. Instead, I am prepared to pay you the amount of £234.74 that On Your Bike says the repairs will cost. I hope that will be sufficient to close the case."
Me:
"Even though I do have 3rd party insurance, as a cyclist I'm not obliged to be insured and as the injured party, any premium I would pay would be unaffected by any investigation. However, I would rather not draw this out either... As indicated in my previous e-mail, I have to take public transport until my cycle is returned (plus added daily inconveniences in not having it available), so it would be appreciated if you could cover my travel costs for the 8 working days it's likely to be at the repair shop. I worked this out to be £2.80/day for 8 days = £22.40. The total thus being £257.15 (£234.75 + £22.40). If you could let me know this acceptable, Ill give you my bank details and we can call this matter settled."
Him:
"I am not sure you are right about what insurance companies will do re: your premium even when you are the injured party. Mine has gone up after accidents when it has been admitted by all concerned that I have been the injured party! But anyway – be that as it may, I am pleased you do not wish to involve insurance companies. Can we settle on £250? After all, it is not my fault that On Your Bike don’t have the new back frame in stock, or that it takes so long for them to get hold of one!"
Me:
"I would rather you paid the full amount of £257.15. With regards to the insurance, I pay an annual subscription which includes 3rd party insurance so there is no premium as such. As I say, I'm not obliged to be insured the same way a motorist does so I don't have a problem going the insurance route. It isn't my fault either that the bike shop is taking this amount of time to fix my bike but the time taken is reflective of the damage, damage caused solely by your driving. I would also remind you that I'm suffering the daily inconvenience of not having access to my bike yet I'm the innocent party."
Him:
"I am surprised and depressed by your insistence on holding out for £257.15. However, I don’t wish to fight about £7:15p, and will pay you the full sum of £257:15p on condition that it is indeed the end of every issue between us relating to the incident last Thursday. Once you send me your bank details, I will arrange for the money to be transferred to your account."
Me:
"I was disappointed and depressed at my bike's rear end being crushed by your car last week (despite me doing nothing wrong) and that my confidence in cycling has been battered and now your attempt to make me feel bad for asking to be recompensed not a penny more than this incident has cost me but we'll both get over it I hope."
Him:
"Yes I hope we both shall. I didn't mean to make you feel bad. I was just expressing my frustration with the process - but I quite accept you have plenty to complain about! Once the money is in your account, I hope that will be the end of it. Could you just reassure me that that will be so?"
----
And then I reassured him and he transferred the money, it went in and I acknowledged it.
And they both lived happily ever after! I hope!!
2804308 said:
Adrian, you can be such a sweetheart
I'll be ok, I just need to get my bike back, get cycling again and get back to my routine.
I will be walking over both sides of Lambeth Bridge from now on but I'd decided to do that just days before this incident anyway.
glenn forger
Guest
"It's not my fault repairs to the bike I smashed into are taking too long"
glasgowcyclist
Charming but somewhat feckless
- Location
- Scotland
Bravo for sticking to your guns. You remained civil far longer than I would have done.
I say, is this fellow suggesting he's not going to inform his insurers of a crash he was involved in, indeed caused?
Tut, tut.
I know what I'd do...
GC
Didn't it sound like he took some advice from the insurance company but didn't make it official? Not being a car driver, I don't know much about that side of things.
Anyway, having reported an incident to the police last year and put up with that lenghthy, stressful, unpleasant process, I just wanted my money this time. I imagine he has to pay to have his front bumper sorted out too, I didn't take a good look at the time but it must be scratched and dented a bit....
Frood42
I know where my towel is
- Location
- Magrathea, Horsehead Nebula
Glad to hear that the money side is sorted (and sorted quite quickly it would appear, so a bonus there 
).
Here's to a happily ever after for you and your bike
You mentioned walking across Lambeth Bridge instead of cycling it, if we ignore this incident, may I ask what prompted that decision?
Is it just the general attitude of traffic around there that was putting you off before this happened?
.
).Here's to a happily ever after for you and your bike
You mentioned walking across Lambeth Bridge instead of cycling it, if we ignore this incident, may I ask what prompted that decision?
Is it just the general attitude of traffic around there that was putting you off before this happened?
.
Glad to hear that the money side is sorted (and sorted quite quickly it would appear, so a bonus there
Here's to a happily ever after for you and your bike
You mentioned walking across Lambeth Bridge instead of cycling it, if we ignore this incident, may I ask what prompted that decision?
Is it just the general attitude of traffic around there that was putting you off before this happened?
.
Thanks Frood, yeh I wasn't expecting the money until I'd got the bike back and given him a copy of the receipt. I think he knows he's got out of this very lightly indeed so just wanted to close the deal asap!
With regards to Lambeth Bridge, I've had a lot of very close shaves on the roundabouts either side and I just decided that for the sake of an extra 5 minutes, it really isn't worth risking my safety over. The south side roundabout is bad because it's light controlled so everyone races to beat the lights and when they can't, they just sail through on red. However, in doing that, they can't beat the second set of lights in the middle and so the roundabout gets clogged up. I also don't understand how that cycle through the middle thing works and I rarely see anyone use it.
Then the north side (where I got hit) is just a free for all. Maybe it's roundabouts in general but when I'm cycling, I don't want to be traveling between 2 vehicles.
The ironic thing is, out of Westminster, Lambeth and Vauxhall bridges, this is probably the safest bridge.
Frood42
I know where my towel is
- Location
- Magrathea, Horsehead Nebula
Ok, good to know.
Cycle through the middle?
Going around roundabouts I always take primary before entry, go round in primary and then exit in primary, and do not move to secondary until I have exited and checked it is safe to move back over to the left (undertaking cyclists
).I essentially pretend I am a car or motorbike (which assumes you have driven or ridden before
).No major issues doing this, you get the odd impatient "person"
, but I find it far safer, especially on roundabouts like this one (which is every morning for me):http://goo.gl/maps/GlxdB
Personally I do this (YMMV, and some may disagree):
http://goo.gl/maps/wmYg5 - primary at lights (normally in queue with over vehicles, ASL rarely used)
http://goo.gl/maps/70pnT - primary in left hand lane
http://goo.gl/maps/cVN4y - shoulder checking and signal communication to show movement to middle lane at lights
http://goo.gl/maps/HexyH - primary in centre lane as going to L'Stone
http://goo.gl/maps/HlLnT - primary to L'Stone
http://goo.gl/maps/50vVR - primary to L'Stone/Forest Gate, primary at lights
http://goo.gl/maps/eNeUL - when exiting the roundabout stay in primary and take the middle lane in primary as going to L'Stone (left lane is Forest Gate and I ain't going there).
http://goo.gl/maps/rFwl3 - primary in centre lane to L'Stone at lights, go through junction in primary checking if bus stop clear
http://goo.gl/maps/Zw86Z - move to secondary if bus stop clear
http://goo.gl/maps/WpRPN - if clear and not full of rubbish there is a cycle lane if you need to take a quick recovery break
The theory is, if you take the same line as a car or motorbike you are much more visible and it is much easier for people to read your intentions.
That is all fine in theory, but of course you cannot account for those impatient "people", so constant shoulder checking to control traffic and covering of the brakes is a must .
I do have to admit that not everyone may want to do this, as it can be mentally tiring having to do it day in day out.
.
Yeh, through the raised central bit of the south side of the roundabout is a cycle lane that cuts through it but it looks more awkward than going round the thing properly.
Interestingly TFL had a consultation on improving the layout of the north side, they drew up plans, different stakeholders offered suggested improvements and instead of taking anything them on board, they just scrapped the whole thing and decided to do nothing. This is how TFL spends the revenue generated from those fare increases...
You can read the feedback here: https://consultations.tfl.gov.uk/streets/betterjunctions-lambethbridgenorth
I know you can't account for buffoons but taking primary was what got my bike smashed last week and with regards to the whole roundabout issue, thankfully it's only lambeth bridge and parliament square that I really have to deal with - P'ment square doesn't seem too bad really...
Interestingly TFL had a consultation on improving the layout of the north side, they drew up plans, different stakeholders offered suggested improvements and instead of taking anything them on board, they just scrapped the whole thing and decided to do nothing. This is how TFL spends the revenue generated from those fare increases...
You can read the feedback here: https://consultations.tfl.gov.uk/streets/betterjunctions-lambethbridgenorth
I know you can't account for buffoons but taking primary was what got my bike smashed last week
and with regards to the whole roundabout issue, thankfully it's only lambeth bridge and parliament square that I really have to deal with - P'ment square doesn't seem too bad really...
