Push Bike accident

dseventy

Hi all

Will try and give the facts and no opinions.

A 7 year old boy was riding his bike in a public place. He lost control and fell off the bike. In doing so he managed to scratch a nearby properly parked car.

The result of the collision is about £700 worth of damage.

What are the legalities here?

1) Should the 7 year old parents pay for the damage?
2) If so, would this be covered by an insurance policy?
3) Is there any law or case law regarding this?

Any help / advice appreciated as the situation is getting messy.

(I am independant of the situation, just looking for advice).
D70

Annisele

I'm not a lawyer, but I suspect it depends on whether or not the 7 year old was negligent.

CAB has some info here - including a mention of "a child riding a bicycle in a manner which results in ... damage to property".

If the 7 year old was negligent but his parents weren't, then unless the 7 year old is very rich or has insurance then there's no point taking him to court. According to CAB, if the parent "did not take reasonable steps to see that their child did not cause harm to others" then you might be able to go after the parent.

If the car's owner had fully comp insurance, it might be easiest for the car owner to claim on his insurance. If the insurance company thinks it has a case against the child/child's insurer/parents/parents' insurer, it will make that case.

MacMickster

I doubt that the car owner could sue the 7 year old for damages, BUT any decent parent should consider themselves responsible for damage done to someone else's property by their child and should pay without hesitation.

bungle4by4

isn;t this why you buy car insurance?

vaio

Should? Maybe.

Must? Nope.

7 year olds aren’t responsible (in the legal sense) for their actions & parents aren’t responsible for the actions of their children.

Having said that, there have been a few cases, mostly involving local authority (acting as “parents”) where it has been found that there is liability where the child has a habit of doing something bad and the “parents” don’t take reasonable steps to prevent a recurrence.

You can’t sue a child and you can’t sue a parent for what sounds like an accident. You might be able to sue a parent if the child makes a habit of crashing into parked cars and the parents don’t do something to prevent it happening again.