Forgive my ranting and a boring story, o'fellow forumites but I am fuming and boiling with anger for 2 days in the row and just have to vent out...
On March the 1st 2005 I was in an accident around Dartford Tunnel approach, south side of M25. Traveling in (previous) Nissan Almera dCi at approx 50 mph on the outside lane of four lane dual carriageway at some point I found myself being very slowly undertaken by 28 ton HGV with trailer full of stacked empty pallets. About 250 yards in front of us there was visible traffic joining inside lane via ramp. Without any hesitation or indication the HGV started slowly changing lanes into my lane. At that stage my car was next to back wheels of the truck and its trailer mounting point. I had two choices - accelerate or break hard. Turbo lag doesn't help, I decided to break. I kicked the pedal to the floor. Metal sidebars of the trailer hit left side of my car starting from passenger door down to the rear quarter panel and nudged my vehicle towards kerb, torn my nearside mirror and one of the massive wheels must have scrubbed against rear quarter panel because there was a big, black, rubber mark. As right front wheel of my car hit the high kerb and vehicle came to a stop I saw HGV speeding off on the outside lane. I restarted the car and chased the ******* to the toll booth queue, jumped out of the car, approached drivers cabin and said "dude, you crashed into my car!". "So?" Asked yobbish looking old driver. "So, what do you intend to do about it?". "Nothing, now get out of my ******* way" said driver. "Fine" I said "In that case I will have to report this to police" I said knowing there is usually cop patrol car parked to the left of the toll booths. As I walked to my car I recalled I have camera phone in my pocket, so I pulled it out, took pics of the HGV, registration number, company name on the door, then jumped into my car, indicated left and began changing lanes in order to get to emergency parking where I expected to find police car. As I changed lanes I saw HGV following me across lanes, driver flashed his lights and waved with hands which i understood as intention to follow me. We crossed the tunnel and stopped at emergency stop area before Lakeside exit. Got out of our cars, I looked at my Almera, it looked much better than I expected, massive scratch, torn off mirror, out of shape panels but could me much worse.
The guy admitted he didn't see me at all, asked me to jump into his cabin to show me blind spot in his mirror below door line, then wrote down address of the company for insurance purposes on the piece of paper. I took few more pictures - stripes of blue paint on the yellow sidebars of his lorry, etc and we parted.
Fast forward to a week later. Damage to the car, however artificial it looked, turned out to be a bit more extensive, rear panel was pushed inside body, causing damage to fuel inlet tube and fuel tank moved slighly, rear doors that looked scratched could't open or close anymore because frame was out of shape, etc. On top my insurance company calls to say they can't find street the driver put down as company address. I checked in streetmap, multimap, goodle - no such street exists. The guy crashed into my car, speed off and to add insult to injury left me with a fake address. Just imagine if the car couldn't move or I didn't have camera to take pictures.. Anyway. Insurance company requested details from DVLA.
Fast forward to almost a year later. This wednesday, March 8th 2006, Basildon Crown Court, after almost a year of correspondence with the other party and them denying any accident occured I take the other party to court.
Case of v0n vs Almeracrusher Transport represented by Mr. Yob Getoutofmyway himself.
Barrister provided by insurance company presents all the evidence, pictures, detailed desription, drawings, maps, repair costs etc. The other side has 2 minute, one line of defense "Mr. Getoutofmyway thinks he was stationary in traffic, and he presumes he looked in the mirror and doesn't recall seeing any vehicles behind him. He believes that as he pulled out Mr. v0n presumably decided to try his luck and overtake the HGV and that's how Mr. v0n damaged his car". We argue that if I pulled out there would be damage to the front of the car, not rear and doors, clearly from the pictures something driven into me, there is picture of paint on the sidebars and all...
The judge decides:
She understands it was hit and run and once caught driver left me with fake address. She understands I don't sue for whiplash. She understands that HGV shouldn't be attempting to use that lane at all (highway code). But she can't imagine a car of a size of my Almera being nudged off its course by 28 ton lorry and survive with just torn off mirror and scratches to the panels. And the fact the car was repairable and I am still alive after collision creates "reasonable doubt" in my version of events. Verdict in favour of defendant.
So this is what it comes down to:
- I was hit at 50 mph by 28 ton lorry that changed into outside lane event though
highway code clearly states:
Laws MT(E&W)R reg 12 & MT(S)R reg 11
"The right-hand lane of a motorway with three or more lanes MUST NOT be used (except in prescribed circumstances) if you are driving:-
* any vehicle drawing a trailer
* a goods vehicle with a maximum laden weight over 7.5 tonnes "
- The driver sped off after accident
- Once I cought up with him he tried to bully me out of his way
- And then provided me with fake address
- His defense was "presumptions about what happened"
But it is me who will loose my excess, no claims bonus and will have to report the accident as my fault for the next X years because.. ahem.. I am still alive. That's right - because the judge could not imagine how I could possibly survive the accident and how a brief "mad max style" contact with 28 ton lorry could do so little damage to the car.
I will pack my bags, move to Canada or Alaska, live in tent among bears and mooses, eat snow and grass and wipe my bottom with pine needles for the rest of my life because I will never ever come to terms with this ****. I refuse to comprehend HTF can court in allegedly civilised country let a scum like that go home clean, and tomorrow just go and drive his lorry into other people's car again.
Btw. Accident happened in front of at least 5 traffic cameras but you can't use tapes due to no serious crime, harm or loss of life being involved. So much for "it's for your own safety".
Pics to follow if anyone wants to see 'em.
Next time FULLY star out swear words. Sorry to hear about your experience though.
On March the 1st 2005 I was in an accident around Dartford Tunnel approach, south side of M25. Traveling in (previous) Nissan Almera dCi at approx 50 mph on the outside lane of four lane dual carriageway at some point I found myself being very slowly undertaken by 28 ton HGV with trailer full of stacked empty pallets. About 250 yards in front of us there was visible traffic joining inside lane via ramp. Without any hesitation or indication the HGV started slowly changing lanes into my lane. At that stage my car was next to back wheels of the truck and its trailer mounting point. I had two choices - accelerate or break hard. Turbo lag doesn't help, I decided to break. I kicked the pedal to the floor. Metal sidebars of the trailer hit left side of my car starting from passenger door down to the rear quarter panel and nudged my vehicle towards kerb, torn my nearside mirror and one of the massive wheels must have scrubbed against rear quarter panel because there was a big, black, rubber mark. As right front wheel of my car hit the high kerb and vehicle came to a stop I saw HGV speeding off on the outside lane. I restarted the car and chased the ******* to the toll booth queue, jumped out of the car, approached drivers cabin and said "dude, you crashed into my car!". "So?" Asked yobbish looking old driver. "So, what do you intend to do about it?". "Nothing, now get out of my ******* way" said driver. "Fine" I said "In that case I will have to report this to police" I said knowing there is usually cop patrol car parked to the left of the toll booths. As I walked to my car I recalled I have camera phone in my pocket, so I pulled it out, took pics of the HGV, registration number, company name on the door, then jumped into my car, indicated left and began changing lanes in order to get to emergency parking where I expected to find police car. As I changed lanes I saw HGV following me across lanes, driver flashed his lights and waved with hands which i understood as intention to follow me. We crossed the tunnel and stopped at emergency stop area before Lakeside exit. Got out of our cars, I looked at my Almera, it looked much better than I expected, massive scratch, torn off mirror, out of shape panels but could me much worse.
The guy admitted he didn't see me at all, asked me to jump into his cabin to show me blind spot in his mirror below door line, then wrote down address of the company for insurance purposes on the piece of paper. I took few more pictures - stripes of blue paint on the yellow sidebars of his lorry, etc and we parted.
Fast forward to a week later. Damage to the car, however artificial it looked, turned out to be a bit more extensive, rear panel was pushed inside body, causing damage to fuel inlet tube and fuel tank moved slighly, rear doors that looked scratched could't open or close anymore because frame was out of shape, etc. On top my insurance company calls to say they can't find street the driver put down as company address. I checked in streetmap, multimap, goodle - no such street exists. The guy crashed into my car, speed off and to add insult to injury left me with a fake address. Just imagine if the car couldn't move or I didn't have camera to take pictures.. Anyway. Insurance company requested details from DVLA.
Fast forward to almost a year later. This wednesday, March 8th 2006, Basildon Crown Court, after almost a year of correspondence with the other party and them denying any accident occured I take the other party to court.
Case of v0n vs Almeracrusher Transport represented by Mr. Yob Getoutofmyway himself.
Barrister provided by insurance company presents all the evidence, pictures, detailed desription, drawings, maps, repair costs etc. The other side has 2 minute, one line of defense "Mr. Getoutofmyway thinks he was stationary in traffic, and he presumes he looked in the mirror and doesn't recall seeing any vehicles behind him. He believes that as he pulled out Mr. v0n presumably decided to try his luck and overtake the HGV and that's how Mr. v0n damaged his car". We argue that if I pulled out there would be damage to the front of the car, not rear and doors, clearly from the pictures something driven into me, there is picture of paint on the sidebars and all...
The judge decides:
She understands it was hit and run and once caught driver left me with fake address. She understands I don't sue for whiplash. She understands that HGV shouldn't be attempting to use that lane at all (highway code). But she can't imagine a car of a size of my Almera being nudged off its course by 28 ton lorry and survive with just torn off mirror and scratches to the panels. And the fact the car was repairable and I am still alive after collision creates "reasonable doubt" in my version of events. Verdict in favour of defendant.
So this is what it comes down to:
- I was hit at 50 mph by 28 ton lorry that changed into outside lane event though
highway code clearly states:
Laws MT(E&W)R reg 12 & MT(S)R reg 11
"The right-hand lane of a motorway with three or more lanes MUST NOT be used (except in prescribed circumstances) if you are driving:-
* any vehicle drawing a trailer
* a goods vehicle with a maximum laden weight over 7.5 tonnes "
- The driver sped off after accident
- Once I cought up with him he tried to bully me out of his way
- And then provided me with fake address
- His defense was "presumptions about what happened"
But it is me who will loose my excess, no claims bonus and will have to report the accident as my fault for the next X years because.. ahem.. I am still alive. That's right - because the judge could not imagine how I could possibly survive the accident and how a brief "mad max style" contact with 28 ton lorry could do so little damage to the car.
I will pack my bags, move to Canada or Alaska, live in tent among bears and mooses, eat snow and grass and wipe my bottom with pine needles for the rest of my life because I will never ever come to terms with this ****. I refuse to comprehend HTF can court in allegedly civilised country let a scum like that go home clean, and tomorrow just go and drive his lorry into other people's car again.
Btw. Accident happened in front of at least 5 traffic cameras but you can't use tapes due to no serious crime, harm or loss of life being involved. So much for "it's for your own safety".
Pics to follow if anyone wants to see 'em.
Next time FULLY star out swear words. Sorry to hear about your experience though.
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