Am I liable??

aml1977

Just to clarify things - my husband was parked on the pavement as this is a street of terraced houses with no alternative way of parking
He did not know the boy over - when he pulled up to drop off his friend he put the car in park turned off the engine and put the handbreak on.
he then spoke to his friend for a few minutes as his sons were getting out of the car and this is a one way street by the way
he then realised his froend son had left the door open and called hime back to close the door - he then was still turned around to check our son had his seatbelt on
he turned around and started the car and edged the rignt front wheel off the pavement and heard the crunch of the bike
this boy had falled off his bike prior to my husband moving the car and probably while he was turned around asking for doors to be closed and checking seatbelts!!
the boy has downs syndrome and we have been told often falls of his bike and stays on the ground until his parents pick him up and he does not cry.
if he did not have this condition - he would have more than likely cried or got up by himself and this would not have happened - but this is not his fault!!
my husband never ran him down - this boy was already under our car!!!
if he was a crazy driver he would have just taken off at a regular speed and crushed the child

I wanted to remove the post as it was getting confusing trying to explian how this accident happened and people are getting it wrong and making my husband out to be a crazy driver

I asked am I liable as I just felt that there was no more he could have done before he moved the car - other than get out and check under it ( and how many of us do that??)
this is a crazy accident and I am just glad the boy has made a full recovery
thanks for the posts

aml1977

Dave101t wrote: »

bl00dy 4x4 drivers, ought to be shot.

NO Its Idiots who make pointless comments like you that should be shot !!
If you have nothing constructive to say - keep it shut!!

aml1977

ElkyElky wrote: »

The highway code also says vechicles should not mount onto the pavement unless accessing a drive. It doesn't matter if he was parked to allow other cars to pass, he should have parked in designated parking bays.

"the boy who was injured has downs syndrome" - If your child had downs syndrome, would you let him ride his bike on busy roads? He was riding on the pavement for his own safety. Should wheel chair users be forced to use the road aswell since the chairs have wheels?

It's shocking how you don't think you are liable.. don't you have a heart?

he was not riding on the pavement he had came in from the rd side !!

aml1977

Thanks you - This is my Point!!

aml1977

No he was not on the pavement

mynewusername25

Irrelevant, but I hope some day parking on the pavement is illegal everywhere, and parking on narrow residential streets is illegal. Roads are far too cluttered with parked cars wasting valuable space. Small parking lots every 1/4 mile or so is the way to go.

mikey72

If he was trapped under the doors, between the wheels, I still don't see how you think the parking sensors would have gone off?

If it was the roadside, there are at least two possible scenarios.
Either, as you summise, he fell off going past, rolled under the car with his bike, and lay there until the car drove over him and his bike.

The other possibility is your oh didn't see him coming along the road, started to roll forward, as the lad overtook the parked car, and the lad then either hit the car, or wobbled, and fell off and the car then ran over him.

If you didn't see it, you'll ever know what happened.
Just be thankful it wasn't worse, and let your insurance get on with it.

Gene_Hunt_2

aml1977 wrote: »

NO Its Idiots who make pointless comments like you that should be shot !!
If you have nothing constructive to say - keep it shut!!

19 posts don't make you a mod.;)

POPPYOSCAR

Just curious.

How old is the boy and where were his parents when all this was happening?

bigjl

aml1977 wrote: »

he was not riding on the pavement he had came in from the rd side !!

Lets get this right, your OH pulled away from stationary into the road, and a cyclist ended up under his rear wheels, with his arm trapped under the rear wheel so your OH had to reverse to free his arm?

Now I understand that you will be a bit biased towards your husband, this is natural.

But from your previous postings I assumed, as did many others, that the cyclist was on the pavement.

You have now confirmed that the cyclist was on the road.

The only opinion I can have from what I now think happened after this confirmation of the cyclists position is that your OH pulled into the road from his parked position and hit the cyclist which then caused him to fall under the turning vehicle and he bacame stuck under the rear wheels.

If your OH pulled away and didn't see him in his mirror then I think he is indeed liable.

I will again reiterate my previous statement that I think the Police didn't put charge your husband with any offence due to it not being in the public interest, the boy wasn't fatally injured, your husband didn't mean to do it and accidents do happen.

The Insurance will aportion blame in the same way they would do if a parked car had pulled out into the path of a passing car and caused damage, your OH was parked on the wrong side of the road really as it is always best practice to park on the left side of the road.

You have posted for advice on this forum, and many persons have been kind enough to offer an opinion, nobody asked you to ask for their opinion, but if you don't like the opinions given then whose fault is that exactly.

If the facts are correct as I now see them then your OH is liable and the cyclist should be compensated for their losses.

Would your opinion to the answers given be different if your OH was the cyclist and somebody else was driving the vehicle involved?





After reading your last post I think you will never listen to anything said on this thread, and are showing all the sign that many show these days of never being able to admit liability and that everything is somebody elses fault, it's the Polices fault, it's the parents fault, it's the child with downs syndromes fault etc, etc.

Here is the harsh reality, your husband pulled away then heard a crash, the most likely conclusion is that your husband was distracted slightly by his friends and was focused on making sure the door was shut, didn't check his N/S morror and pulled out an hit the child who was almost alongside him when he moved off, he may even have been in his blind spot when he checked his mirror. Ever wondered why a van or truck driver pulls away(especially when they have had to park on the O/S for some reason) and seems to still be looking in his mirror a lot, the simple answer is to make sure there isn't somebody in the blind spot.

And no you can't stop your Insurance from paying out, they have lawyers and access to Barristers to sort such things out. If they think they can fight a claim then they will, if they think they can't then they don't, simples.

And you don't know he was under the car, how would you know that? You weren't there, and your 4x4 sounds quite large and would have obstructed the view of the road from the persons standing on the pavement. The cyclist wasn't there when your OH parked, therefore he must have hit him and then drove slightly over him, or do you think a child could silently fall under a car without making a sound as he did so?

I think you are making too much about the childs disability, somebody with such a disability is allowed to use the road you know.