Help Please! partner studying abroad, had cycle accident, now liable to pay E899???!

foreign_correspondent

I dont know if I am posting this in the right place, but here goes anyway!

If anyone has any experience in this area I would be so grateful. At the moment I am abroad in the netherlands with my partner who is studying here.

I am taking a break from work to finish my masters degree which I have had to defer several times dut to health problems.

A couple of months ago he had a cycle accident, he was cycling accross a junction on a marked cycle path, when the car in front of him (also crossing the junction) which was turning right, stopped suddenly, instead of turning off as he expected.

He hit the rear corner of the car, causing a couple of small dents and scratches. He wasnt really hurt but he was shaken up and his bike was wrecked. He hasnt been able to get on a bike since.

The driver of the car turned out to be an english expat who lives over here.
She told him that the system over here was that both parties have to get together and fill the insurance forms in. He did this, but as his dutch is very limited, and she was fluent, had to rely on her to assist him by translating the questions etc.

We really didnt feel he was solely liable for the accident, but we have just had a letter in dutch from the insurance comapny requesting over E800 (about £600).

Firstly, do you think he was liable? Does anyone know if we can contest this? we have no insurance which covers cycling (although OH was insured to drive a car at the time)

And finally, we have so little money, we have no way of paying for this, we havent even been out for a drink in months and I am cooking everything from scratch out of veg from the market just so we can survive.

I am so fed up that we are trying so hard not to get into any more debt (other than student loans!) and now this. I could cry!

Please, any advice?

Lorian

I know you say you don't have cover, but are you sure you don't have 3rd party liability cover on any house insurance policy, or travel insurance?

Also, you asked is he's liable, well, IANAL, but I'm a cyclist, and my opinion from your brief description of the incident, is Yes, he probably is. The clues were:

"...of turning off as he expected."
"He hit the rear corner of the car..."

I have no knowledge of the dutch system, as to if you can contest this etc.

foreign_correspondent

thanks. As the car driver was signalling to turn (and had bagun turning) right my partner glanced the other way to check for other traffic, when the car driver slammed her brakes on and stopped bang in the middle of the cycle path... is this ok? I am always extra careful crossing cycle paths in the car.

foreign_correspondent

also, £600 seems excessive for the small amount of damage caused to the car?? any ideas?

mikey-mike_2

If the impact was enough to write his bike off then I can easily see that £600 of damage could be caused to the car

tripled

So basically the car if front stopped and he went straight into the back? Even though the car was turning across the cycle path, provided your OH could have stopped it would probably come down to him, as the car was ahead and had clearly signalled it was crossing. It might be possible to argue 50:50 though.

As for 'parties have to fill in the forms together' and 'she was fluent' I'd say he got conned.

Lorian

foreign_correspondent wrote:

thanks. As the car driver was signalling to turn (and had bagun turning) right my partner glanced the other way to check for other traffic, when the car driver slammed her brakes on and stopped bang in the middle of the cycle path... is this ok? I am always extra careful crossing cycle paths in the car.

It's difficult to visualise without being there.

I suggest you find the dutch equivalent of citizen's advice bureau, which looking at this document is called the "Municipal Citizens advice Department". Try the local town hall, or their association's phone number towards the end of the document.

http://english.justitie.nl/images/Rechtsbij%20ENG_tcm75-28557_tcm35-14164.pdf

It also mentions free legal advice for traffic matters from "ANWB", not sure if that applies for cycle riders.

MyUserNamesTaken

I think you need someone who is familiar with Dutch law to help you with this one. My OH says that in the Netherlands, the cyclist has priority most of the time.

Money_saving_Martyn

foreign_correspondent wrote:

thanks. As the car driver was signalling to turn (and had bagun turning) right my partner glanced the other way to check for other traffic, when the car driver slammed her brakes on and stopped bang in the middle of the cycle path... is this ok? I am always extra careful crossing cycle paths in the car.

Firstly, I'm sorry to hear about the accident. I'm a language student and even I would be nervous about filling in official forms without a dictionary - but at least I can get the gist. I've got this (living abroad) all to look forward to as have many languages students so this might be helpful generally.

If your partner was following in a car, a police driver would say that he hadn't left enough gap between himself and the vehicle infront, but as someone else says, it's hard to comment without being there. People involved in accidents generally use words like "suddenly" (slammed on the brakes etc) and the other side will generally deny even knowing what brakes are! If he'd seen the car signalling, it might also be said he should expect a change of speed (there might have been a brink/body in the road she was turning into!)

I not writing to blame your partner - just to give u an idea of the other side. Of course, if she already had damage to her car, a low speed inpact caused by turning into a cyclist is a great way to get them to pay for it instead of her.... who knows?

The fact that he speaks no Dutch will surely be obvious..... so there's no way he could have admitted liability in a Dutch form!! If he hasn't aldready, tell him to sign nothing he doesn't understand. Maybe he can make a few friends over there and use their language skills? Join a club! It's cheaper than translators!