Bicycle accident help

rev_henry

I'm not doing very well with my bike at the moment.

I was coming down this road:
http://goo.gl/maps/Y5my

In the advisory cycle lane, going past queuing traffic of which there was a lot. A car coming the other way decided to perform a U turn - another car on my side of the road flashed him to come across IIRC, and he came across, pulling across my cycle lane, into the taxi rank onto the left but stopped taking up pretty much all the cycle lane, signalling to pull out.
He did this right in front of me and I could not stop in time; I swerved, slammed on my brakes and went over the handlebars, somehow I managed to avoid going head first into a Range Rover that was in the main traffic queue.

I got up, and asked the driver for his insurance details, which he refused to give me, an argument ensued, then he drove off without a care in the world for my safety.

A few seconds later, very luckily a police car came past and I stopped them and they took down all details. Two lads also kindly came forward as witnesses. The police then went to try and find the offending vehicle.

My bike suffered some damage, and I may be yet to discover damage to myself.

My question is whether I can claim damages from the driver's insurance, bearing in mind we did not actually collide?
And what else can I do if the police don't find the driver? There was some uncertainty over the reg number between myself and the witnesses, but having got home and checked it I am sure of it, so can't they go round to his home and interview him?

Oh and I have contacted my home insurance legal cover people - they will get back to me within 5 days.
Thanks.

johnfarquhar74

I wouldn't have thought that a 3rd party has to hit you before the insurance pays out. If their actions directly cause an accident that results in damage to you or your property then they must suitably compensate?!?

asbokid

rev_henry wrote: »

I'm not doing very well with my bike at the moment. I was coming down this road:http://goo.gl/maps/Y5my

Do not adjust your set. This is Manchester. It is meant to be grey and grim.

what else can I do if the police don't find the driver? There was some uncertainty over the reg number between myself and the witnesses, but having got home and checked it I am sure of it, so can't they go round to his home and interview him?

If you know the make and you think you know the plate, you can confirm that with DVLA..

http://www.taxdisc.direct.gov.uk/EvlPortalApp/application?origin=vehicleEnquiryInfo_en.jsp&event=bea.portal.framework.internal.portlet.event&pageid=Vehicle+Enquiry&portletid=VehicleEnquiry&portletns=VehicleEnquiry_en&wfevent=link.next

Otherwise, go through the motions of getting a quote for the car using one of the online insurers... Once you have provided the plate, the insurer's servlet will give you the vehicle details...

forgotmyname

If you had crashed into him then you could have your own private nurse to mop your sweaty
brow and read this back to you all at his expense.

But by avoiding him its not clear if he is fully or partly responsible, If the police decide he was and
refused to give insurance details he could be prosecuted for that. If i were the driver i would have called
the police and waited. I would not have driven off.

Any camera's watching over that spot?

Might be worth waiting a couple of days to see what the police have to say.

rev_henry

asbokid wrote: »

Do not adjust your set. This is Manchester. It is meant to be grey and grim.



If you know the make and you think you know the plate, you can confirm that with DVLA..

http://www.taxdisc.direct.gov.uk/EvlPortalApp/application?origin=vehicleEnquiryInfo_en.jsp&event=bea.portal.framework.internal.portlet.event&pageid=Vehicle+Enquiry&portletid=VehicleEnquiry&portletns=VehicleEnquiry_en&wfevent=link.next

Otherwise, go through the motions of getting a quote for the car using one of the online insurers... Once you have provided the plate, the insurer's servlet will give you the vehicle details...

It was actually a nice afternoon today! Bizarrely if you 'walk' down that road on google maps it suddenly becomes sunny! I've done that, comes back to the right car.

Tigsteroonie

Your description of what happened brought to mind a radio advert I've heard by Sorrymate (insurers of motorbikes, producers of the SMIDSY card ) which says that you don't necessarily have to collide with a car for that car to have caused your accident.

See what your home insurer's legal team have to say.

rev_henry

forgotmyname wrote: »

If you had crashed into him then you could have your own private nurse to mop your sweaty
brow and read this back to you all at his expense.

But by avoiding him its not clear if he is fully or partly responsible, If the police decide he was and
refused to give insurance details he could be prosecuted for that. If i were the driver i would have called
the police and waited. I would not have driven off.

Any camera's watching over that spot?

Might be worth waiting a couple of days to see what the police have to say.

The police went off to look for him to see what he had to say and whether he would admit to anything. Don't think they found him because they said they'd call me later if they did. He (and his wife) seemed more concerned with arguing that it was my fault - apparently signalling to pull out now gives right of way, and anyway it was my fault because I was going too quickly to be able to stop at the pedestrian crossing, which they claimed was red!

dacouch

You can obtain the Insurance details (For a small fee) along with the contact number of the Insurer from https://www.askmid.com

Did you get the witnesses contact details ?

Did you sustain any injuries ?

rev_henry

dacouch wrote: »

You can obtain the Insurance details (For a small fee) along with the contact number of the Insurer from https://www.askmid.com

Did you get the witnesses contact details ?

Did you sustain any injuries ?

The police have one of the witnesses details, who also kindly found me on facebook earlier, so yes I do.

Not that I know of yet. Not quite sure how not though. Just a very superficial scrape on my elbow - didn't even break the skin. I told my insurance 'none that I know of yet' in case whiplash or whatever becomes apparent in the next few days...

dacouch

What do you need to claim for

Norman_Castle

He (and his wife) seemed more concerned with arguing that it was my fault - apparently signalling to pull out now gives right of way, and anyway it was my fault because I was going too quickly to be able to stop at the pedestrian crossing, which they claimed was red!

It was your fault. You were riding a pushbike on the road. You are irrelevent and should have been on the pavement. Havent you read the ignoramus code?

I've got a pen clipped to my bike after similar incidents. The police may take a while to get back to you. They will try to match all reg no's with the cars description. Good luck