Your take on this minor accident

tobeloy

Hi I wanted your take on a minor bump I had the other day, bear with me as I feel I am in the wrong yet I have not done nothing wrong, any advice is appreciated.

I pulled up behind a car at a junction, the car was trying to turn right but there is markings on the road and also a traffic sign that states you must go left and there is also a island that guides you to turn left.
A bus on the main road that crosses the road we was coming out of stopped for the driver in front of me to let her out, because he thoughshe was going left he had actually prevented her from going right, due to the position of her car at the junction because of the island that sort of prevents you going right she now had to reverse a bit to actually go left as she realised she could not get round the bus. She reversed into me then pulled forward after she hit me, she then moved off turning left and I followed, the bus driver let us both out and we went down the road and I beckoned her to pull into a side street.

We both got out and inspecting my car she has damaged paint work on my bumper and possibly damaged my headlamp washers also on the bumper, she did not speak english so her friend was translating and she said it was only minor damage and tried to rub the bumper on my car however this was not going to make any difference as the paint was damaged, I would not have been bothered normally however I was driving my brand new car so I do want the paint work repaired. to cut it short I eventually got her details from her as she had to call her bf to bring them as she had no ID, he also took photos of the damage and tried to dispute the damage caused by her car. I did explain because of her angle at the junction this is why.

We then parted and I rang my insurance the next day informed them I was going to claim off her as she reversed into me, I then rang her insurance up and was passed to liability who have said that they have to look over the case as this lady is now saying that I was trying to squeeze past her and this is how my car is damaged !!!! I was flabbergasted as the road we were coming out of is only wide enough for one car at the actual junction. I have given them my account and been told to call back in about 5 days.

My thoughts are she was breaking the law turning right and would not have had to reverse if she had not contravened the rule of the road therfore she would not have hit me. If we are both disputing liability then how would this be resolved ?? would they use an investigator etc I just feel like I am being accused and I was the victim, oh and I did take the bus drivers reg plate down and visited the depot who located the driver but he claims he did not see anything, funny that seeing how he stopped to let her out then let us both out after she hit me.

So its basically her word against me as I have no other witnesses as I had to go after her to get her to stop.

Any thoughts or anyone had a similar experience that they cou;d offer advice from is really appreciated.

SillyStudent_3

When they inspect the cars I'm hoping it will be clear that this was impact caused by a reversal and not a crash.

tobeloy

so they will want to inspect both cars then, i know its still early days but i have not been involved in any bump or accident so i am not sure of the procedure,

somech

could try contacting the bus depot and get a statement from the driver

Nilrem

somech wrote: »

could try contacting the bus depot and get a statement from the driver

This, also if the op acts fast she may be able to get a copy of any camera footage if the bus is fitted with one (a lot of busses now have forward facing cameras in some areas to assist in accident claims involving the bus, or in obtaining convictions for people driving in bus lanes).

The problem is going to be getting the proof that the other car reversed back into the op, as normally that sort of damage is extremely hard to prove wasn't a case of the rear vehicle going into the back of the front one
Hence it's very important to get independent witness evidences ASAP, especially any camera footage.

SillyStudent_3

The OP said that upon contacting the Bus Driver, he has claimed he didn't see anything. Highly unlikely, I'm guessing he just wants nothing to do with it. Are you aware of any CCTV in the crash area?

skiddlydiddly

Which part of her car was damaged?It could help prove she is lying eg if its the rear offside of her car and front offside of your car then its going to be hard for her to prove you were trying to squeeze past as that would be more likely to be her rear nearside and your front offside if she says you were going by on the left and vice versa if going by on the right.

tobeloy

Thanks ppl, there is a cctv cam on the corner of the actual road it happened and i did contact them, they said its the insurance companies job to contact them for any evidence so I have provided her insurance company with details of this but I am not too reliant on this as the camera would have to be pointing at a sharp angle downwards to probably catch this, i think the camera is there to monitor the main road.

The damage to my car is on the off side as the angle she reversed at she turned her car right hand down so the damage to her car was on her nearside bumper, she was in a left hand drive plus when she hit me her bumper sort of mounted mine and this is what caused the damage to the top of my bumper and the washer so i cannot see how she can say i scraped past her, yes the buses do have cameras on them and I may go back the bus station and request the video off the actual bus as then the driver may have a hard time proving he didnt see it.

on the actual law side of it this accident would not have happened if she had not been turning right as she was ignoring a traffic sign that states its left turn only, I have posted a link here courtesy of google street map to show you the junction.

When i spoke to her insurance company they said she stated she was turning right in her statement to them surely this could prove the angle she would have had to turn her car back to when reversing???

This shows the junction i was coming out of as street map doesnt cover the road so this is from the main road

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&q=st+aldhelms+road+poole&fb=1&gl=uk&hq=st+aldhelms+road&hnear=poole&cid=0,0,527309434892213857&ei=EZ7YS-fpKoLu0wSKsOn3Bw&ved=0CAoQnwIwAA&ll=50.726476,-1.918595&spn=0,0.003449&t=h&z=18&layer=c&cbll=50.726508,-1.918738&panoid=1SiohQC_W1pptqRzlnolfw&cbp=12,204.8,,0,7.8

tobeloy

if you use the link you may have to turn the camera right a bit

neilmcl

The fact that she was attempting to make an illegal manoeuvre initially is irrelevent, the salient point is she reversed into you.

tobeloy

it seems i have to prove it which may be harder to do looking at the alternative view of her saying i tried to squeeze past her