My first collision

First off - I'm unhurt, although a little shaken.

I was cycling home from work, along a bus/taxi/cycle lane (BTCL).
There was a solid queue of slow-moving traffic in the outside lane. In
front of me were two vehicles - a bus and following that, contrary to
the regulations, a blue Mercedes. We had continued like that for
getting on for a kilometre, when we approached a car parked in the
BTCL, with me being 50ish metres behind them at that point. The bus
and car forced their way into the outside lane to overtake the parked
car. I slowed down behind the bus as it maneuvered back into our
lane. I went past the Merc in my lane, and then it pulled back into my
lane behind me, and drove into my rear, totally writing off my rear
wheel[1] . I wasn't travelling very fast, so stayed upright.

I called the police, who, since no-one was injured, advised me to get
his details and deal with it as a civil matter. He must have called
the police too(!), since sometime later two very friendly officers
turned up and helped sort things out, including giving me a lift home.

The good guys:

The police, as mentioned above.

The three people who approached me, one who had been driving a car and
had seen everything, and who gave me his business card, and two others
who had seen much of the incident and who stayed around, being
supportive and giving their contact details to the police.

The not so good guys:

A large insurance company, part of a large organisation whose
advertising tries to portray a friendly, helpful image, whose sole
response to my request for a claim form (as the police had advised me
to ask for) was to tell me to find a solicitor.

The consequences. I'll need a new rear wheel/tyre - no more than about
£70 pounds ish looking at the wiggle website. Anyone who thinks it's
worth involving a solicitor and the legal system to avoid paying out
that amount of money is a twit. What's the best way of getting the
money out of him? Given the lack of co-operation of his insurance
company, I won't feel at all bad about including in the claim such
things as cost of alternate transport, telephone calls, time wasted,
etc.


[1] Piccies, if anyone is interested, at
http://www.wylie.me.uk/static/20050413/

--
Alan J. Wylie http://www.wylie.me.uk/
"Perfection [in design] is achieved not when there is nothing left to add,
but rather when there is nothing left to take away."
-- Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Alan J. Wylie wrote:
First off - I'm unhurt, although a little shaken.


Glad to hear you are intact.

Are you a CTC member?

On 13 Apr 2005 20:22:58 +0100, (Alan J. Wylie) wrote:


First off - I'm unhurt, although a little shaken.

Good.

snip

I called the police, who, since no-one was injured, advised me to get
his details and deal with it as a civil matter. He must have called
the police too(!), since sometime later two very friendly officers
turned up and helped sort things out, including giving me a lift home.



The consequences. I'll need a new rear wheel/tyre - no more than about
£70 pounds ish looking at the wiggle website. Anyone who thinks it's
worth involving a solicitor and the legal system to avoid paying out
that amount of money is a twit. What's the best way of getting the
money out of him? Given the lack of co-operation of his insurance
company, I won't feel at all bad about including in the claim such
things as cost of alternate transport, telephone calls, time wasted,
etc.

I had a trip across the bonnet of an idiot who didn't look/didn't
demist his windows.

I spoke to the police afterwards, having got details of an independent
witness. I asked them to prosecute him from driving without due care,
which they did. I was slightly injured though.

With regard to recovering costs I just wrote to him. After 2 weeks I
didn't get an answer , so sent a more strongly worded letter
threatening legal action. I got a cheque by return with apologies from
his girlfriend saying he was out of the country. The cheque preceded
the prosecution by a few months.


Tim

In message , Alan J. Wylie
writes

First off - I'm unhurt, although a little shaken.

Glad of that

A large insurance company, part of a large organisation whose
advertising tries to portray a friendly, helpful image, whose sole
response to my request for a claim form (as the police had advised me
to ask for) was to tell me to find a solicitor.

It's worth joining the CTC for their legal assistance alone never mind
the other benefits. Try and get hold of one of their mags as several
solicitors specialising in such cases advertise their services on a no
fee basis. IIRC MBR also feature such adverts.
--
John B Wilkinson

On Wed, 13 Apr 2005 20:33:52 +0100, Chris said:

Are you a CTC member?

No - it's been on my to-do list for a long time, but I've never got
round to it. I probably will be next week, though, shutting the stable
door.


--
Alan J. Wylie http://www.wylie.me.uk/
"Perfection [in design] is achieved not when there is nothing left to add,
but rather when there is nothing left to take away."
-- Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Reply to Alan J. Wylie
Are you a CTC member?

No - it's been on my to-do list for a long time, but I've never got
round to it. I probably will be next week, though, shutting the stable
door.

ISTR hearing that the CTC will give possibly-useful support if you
join them *after* having an accident, though ICBW. Well worth
joining them anyway, so why not join and ask?


--
Mark, UK.
We hope to hear him swear, we love to hear him squeak,
We like to see him biting fingers in his horny beak.

in message , Alan J. Wylie
') wrote:

The consequences. I'll need a new rear wheel/tyre - no more than about
£70 pounds ish looking at the wiggle website. Anyone who thinks it's
worth involving a solicitor and the legal system to avoid paying out
that amount of money is a twit. What's the best way of getting the
money out of him? Given the lack of co-operation of his insurance
company, I won't feel at all bad about including in the claim such
things as cost of alternate transport, telephone calls, time wasted,
etc.

Whooh! That's the must buggered bicycle wheel I've seen in a long time -
he hit you quite hard. Must have been very scarey. Frankly I'd write to
or telephone the guy and ask him whether he'd prefer to pay for the
wheel directly or through his insurance. For £70 he isn't going to want
to damage his no-claims.

--
(Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

;; when in the ****, the wise man plants courgettes

Mark McNeill wrote:
Reply to Alan J. Wylie

Are you a CTC member?

No - it's been on my to-do list for a long time, but I've never got
round to it. I probably will be next week, though, shutting the stable
door.


ISTR hearing that the CTC will give possibly-useful support if you
join them *after* having an accident, though ICBW. Well worth
joining them anyway, so why not join and ask?



They are only really interested in helping personal injury cases.

Tony

On 13 Apr 2005 20:22:58 +0100,
Alan J. Wylie wrote:


The not so good guys:

A large insurance company, part of a large organisation whose
advertising tries to portray a friendly, helpful image, whose sole
response to my request for a claim form (as the police had advised me
to ask for) was to tell me to find a solicitor.

I'm assuming that this is the drivers insurance. In which case you don't
claim off them. You claim off the driver. I'm not even sure the
driver has to tell you who his insurance company is unless someone was
injured.

Hence they (probably) won't send you a claim form anyway as it is the
driver who would claim on his insurance to cover his liability to you
(although this is quite possibly less than his excess)

Tim.

--
God said, "div D = rho, div B = 0, curl E = - @B/@t, curl H = J + @D/@t,"
and there was light.

http://tjw.hn.org/ http://www.locofungus.btinternet.co.uk/

Alan J. Wylie wrote:


The consequences. I'll need a new rear wheel/tyre - no more than about
£70 pounds ish looking at the wiggle website. Anyone who thinks it's
worth involving a solicitor and the legal system to avoid paying out
that amount of money is a twit. What's the best way of getting the
money out of him? Given the lack of co-operation of his insurance
company, I won't feel at all bad about including in the claim such
things as cost of alternate transport, telephone calls, time wasted,
etc.


Your case is with the driver not his insurance company. Write to him
setting out your costs and ask him to settle them. If he declines or
doesn't answer it is fairly easy to start a claim in the Small Claims
Court - can be done on-line - its how I had to do it. Give him the
opportunity and if it doesn't work, come back and I'll give some more
advice on how to do the small claims claim.

Tony