Your take on this minor accident

derrick

somech wrote: »

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

Nilrem wrote: »

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).

tobeloy wrote: »

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. .

Pretty well stuffed there I would think.

Hintza

neilmcl wrote: »

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

But proving it will be hard, OP I think you will really struggle here without a witness.

tobeloy

thanks ppl, i am sitting here feeling like i am being screwed really, probably going to lose my no claims if the other party carries on with her lie, i cannot believe the way this can be easily swung around on me......my last hope is a visit to the bus depot again and request video from the actual bus...will update if anything new develops

Hintza

How much are the repairs? Do you have legal cover?

You need to try and get some idea if the costs stack up.

My one thought though is "What she claims happened reasonable?" if not then you might have a case (and from picture it doesn't sound reasonable or logical), but how much time, effort and money will be required?

Of course her nxt defence will be you drove into the back of her so get her original statement in writing.

cit_k

tobeloy wrote: »

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

If its a camera operated by a business, or a public authority then they are lying to you. You are well within your rights to request footage from a public authority/business owned cctv system, under the Data Protection Act.

I would go as far as to say they are in breach of the data protection act if they are telling you they are unwilling to even attempt to provide you with the footage unless you go through the insurance company.

I would get back to them asap to ensure they are made aware of this, as if your insurance company drags its heels, the footage may be overwritten/deleted before they get round to requesting it.

If you require more details about the DPA, pm me and I will return to the thread.

cit_k

tobeloy wrote: »

thanks ppl, i am sitting here feeling like i am being screwed really, probably going to lose my no claims if the other party carries on with her lie, i cannot believe the way this can be easily swung around on me......my last hope is a visit to the bus depot again and request video from the actual bus...will update if anything new develops

If the bus has cctv fitted, you need to request it now.

Not later, as again, the footage wont be stored for ever.

kwaks

All good points regarding getting the footage.

However if the road is only thin enough for one vehicle, a simple picture of the junction would show her story to be unbelievable, no one would attempt to squeeze past where there is patently not enough room to do so.

Even if this causes her to change her story to you running into the back of her, her credibility should be shot.

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

Insurance investigators will probably work it all out very quickly with that sort of detail available. They are used to people changing their stories, and combined with a picture of a junction with no right turn, so no reason for someone to try and squeeze past and a driver using a LHD car, they should be able to assess the situation pretty fast.

tobeloy

update: have been in touch with her insurance today, they have not spoken to her again but are going to at some point, they will not request any cctv from bus or fixed road camera even though I have clearly stated the credibility of their insured is dubious. they suggested I speak to my insurance which I did and they will not help unless I submit a claim and they said if I am proved innocent then I will retain my ncb, my excess would be £350 for doing this.

I spoke to bus company about cctv and they say only police can request it, they also say they only keep cctv for 7 days, I went back to the bus depot and the bloke there said write in and request a formal interview of the driver ( it seems initially they just had a quick chat to the driver who said he did not see anything) I am going to do this and I was also going to include a picture of the junction from his position and a picture of the bright yellow car that he was letting out as this may jog his memory.

Back to her insurance, they did say I should submit diagrams of the junction and car positions and a statement of what happened and they will look at all this. I have decided I will take photos of the junction I am also going to get measurements of the width of the road at the junction and at the rear of her car at the furthest point back from the junction, also both cars length and width in order to try to show that it was virtually impossible for me to physically get past her without causing major damage to both vehicles, this would also show how she come to hit me at the angle she did.

As for the DPA as I believe I am stuck in trying to obtain this cctv evidence. all the help, suggestions and support is appreciated, thanks ppl

cit_k

pm sent about the DPA.