*** UPDATE ***
Wrote to the bus company and claimed £70 odd for the wheel – got a call from their insurance department to say they had received the claim and then heard nothing for a couple of months.
In the end I called them and spoke to the claims handler, who was pretty adamant the accident was my fault - quote “because the bus driver and the witness (another bus driver) said it was your fault.”
There then followed a rather lengthy exchange during which I was assured the accident was defiantly my fault because i “slowed down rather quickly and didn’t give the bus driver a chance – and I think you’ll find, in a court of law, the judge will side with us…” to which I begged to differ; “So if I hit a pot hole and fell off, stopping suddenly, and one of your drivers was following me so close behind that they couldn’t stop and ran over me, that would be my fault as well would it?”
Claims bloke said that wasn’t what he had said and remained adamant that if a bus went into the back of a cyclist it would, in the eyes of a court, be seen as the cyclist’s fault. So I said I’d like to go up in front of a judge and let him/her decide the matter. Claims bloke replied that the cheque would be in the post that afternoon – “even though the “accident” was your fault” - lol
Can’t help but think that London Buses/Transdev are a load of self-gratification artists based on my experience…