Knocked off by car

rodders

rodders

rodders

Soldato
Joined
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Car passed way too close and took me out yesterday. Bruised and battered this morning. Guy was very sorry etc... and offered to pay. A women I heard said he passed too close, but once I dragged myself out the road, she drove off before I even realised.
Reported it to the police when I got to work, but not heard back yet, did it online as the phone where busy and they said too.
All my clothing and helmet etc.. is damaged

Do I A) Take up the guys offer and he gives me cash, or he might not. Then it's too late to goto a solicitor?

B) Go straight to a no win no fee solicitor and claim?
 
Got any insurance? Legal protection through your home insurance?

Get the bike properly checked over, as said. Get sensible quotes for all the work, clothes, etc. Chances are you'll be into the hundreds, at which point the driver will contest paying and you'll need to be pursuing insurance or the police or a solicitor, or all of the above.

Bear in mind that he'll want to buy you off so it doesn't hit his insurance.
 
Clothing alone is hundreds, he probably thinks 50quid will sort it out.
Bike has some damage to rear derailleur but the rest looks OK. Will have another look today. I guess it landed on me to be that undamaged.
I don't have any bike specific insurance. Not sure about through my house insurance.
The solicitor I'm using for a car accident is no win no fee. So I thought about calling them and not bothering to contact the driver.
Just wish I had the witnesses contact details...
 
I would try a specialist bike solicitor (like Bikeline) if you want to pursue a claim. Prepare for the driver to try and weasel out of things after the event though.

If he's willing to pay for actual clothing and bike damage and you're not injured (no broken bones), it may be easiest to settle between the two of you.

Glad to hear you didn't come off too badly.
 
tom_e said:
With no witnesses it's going to be you said he said I'm not sure a no win no fee place would ever bother giving you the time of day.
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Not necessarily if the driver admits liability, however the hassle of going no win no fee is not worth it if you're just recovering bike and equipment costs. It would only be worth it if you're pursuing a personal injury element which I'm not sure is the case here.
 
I have plenty of injuries, but I can manage with them. Some things hurt to do, but its mostly 'cosmetic' damage to me, lol.
I kind of have a witness, some chap that works where I do recognised me and stopped, when he asked what happend I said this guys knocked me off and he didnt disagree.
But I dont see the point of an injury claim unless I'm off work or bed bound.

I think in this situation I should present the cost of replacement to the guy and see what he says.
 
rodders said:
I have plenty of injuries, but I can manage with them. Some things hurt to do, but its mostly 'cosmetic' damage to me, lol.
I kind of have a witness, some chap that works where I do recognised me and stopped, when he asked what happend I said this guys knocked me off and he didnt disagree.
But I dont see the point of an injury claim unless I'm off work or bed bound.

I think in this situation I should present the cost of replacement to the guy and see what he says.
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Seems like a sensible way forward, IME there is minimal compensation available for cosmetic damage unfortunately, no matter how much the road rash/bruising hurts!

Get a comprehensive quote and present it to the driver and go from there.
 
This thread made me think about whether my Nexus 7, which I often have with me on the road, has a voice recorder app installed by default (it does not, from what I can tell).

I'm wondering if I would be thinking logically enough to think to turn the app on ASAP, after having an accident like this. What the driver says could be golden in terms of any future claim, especially if there are a lack of other witnesses.
 
UTmaniac said:
This thread made me think about whether my Nexus 7, which I often have with me on the road, has a voice recorder app installed by default (it does not, from what I can tell).

I'm wondering if I would be thinking logically enough to think to turn the app on ASAP, after having an accident like this. What the driver says could be golden in terms of any future claim, especially if there are a lack of other witnesses.
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Yes, I always think of good things like that after the accident
 
I was knocked off my bike as a 16 year old, the guy helped me up and drove me home, no witnesses but he did leave his home address and reg details. My parents informed the police and they also went to a solicitor who took it on a no win no fee basis.

I was offered £100 towards a new bike and clothing and £1,500 compensation maybe due to me suffering bad bruising and difficulty walking for a few days around the time of school exams. This was back in 1983 - Several people told my parents they were mad accepting the first offer.

I guess the case for this one would depend on if the car actually struck you? If it did I'm sure it would be an easy case and you would probably get damages too, if it didn't hit you and you came off as it was too close it might be one word against another.

Keep his replies, he only has to say he thinks it is too much for the damage caused and that is as good as accepting fault.

UTmaniac said:
This thread made me think about whether my Nexus 7, which I often have with me on the road, has a voice recorder app installed by default (it does not, from what I can tell).

I'm wondering if I would be thinking logically enough to think to turn the app on ASAP, after having an accident like this. What the driver says could be golden in terms of any future claim, especially if there are a lack of other witnesses.
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At least take a picture of the vehicle involved, get the person responsible to write down their details for you, I would imagine those two things alone would be enough evidence.
 
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Hes accepted to pay £380 cash for my clothing and bike bits. I'm pretty happy as all my gear can be replaced.

I probably could go down the whole injury route, but to be fair, im walking and able to move. If I'd broken something, it would be a different story. Sure it will all clear up in a week or so and back to normal.
 
He agreed in under 5 minutes and meeting this weekend. Obviously he could not show, but he seems to be decent so far.
He sid say it's about the price of his excess
 
With most insurers he wouldn't have to pay an excess unless claiming for damage to his own vehicle... though there are a few that charge the excess for third party claims too.
 
Good you have it sorted
Did you need to replace cycle helmet ?
will you jointly sign something to acknowledge receipt of damages without his formal admittance of guilt ?

I suppose police records are never shared - if I were in a similar situation as a motorist, do not see how you can hide such an incident such that if you had another accident and then claimed, insurance company might not void the claim if they discovered previous incident - their risk I suppose.

This was an interesting article on passing distances - good on W.Mid police

Motorists caught overtaking cyclists closely but not life-threatingly-close will still be offered education. "If the opposite carriageway is available for an overtake and isn’t used in its entirety the driver will be pulled and shown why they should utilise all the available road room available to facilitate a safe overtake," says the force's statement.
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was not aware of this either that it linked too - where do I sign up
Gov't is "interested" in minimum distance cyclist overtaking law
 
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