injured in a head on collision after police chase.. legal advice please!

rob_sri

Traffic officers were chasing an someone in a stolen hire car wrong way down a dual carriage way early hours of the morning..

I saw blue lights flicking off the trees round the bend and covered the brakes..

next thing as i entered the bend I saw head lights baring down on us with a traffic police vehicle in the very near background, I tried to swerve but it was a blind bend with very little room and we both had little time to move..

as I moved left he moved right and as i pulled left again at the last second we hit on the passenger side bonnet the car went spinning 180 degrees and came to rest against the curb..he went through a fence after spinning a complete 360..

We are just so so lucky to be Alive I was doing 40.. the other idiot was doing about 70.. we were taken to hospital and admitted overnight

I've got a broken collarbone back and neck pain and some nasty bruising.. its unclear at this stage if i am going to have to have surgery to reset my bone

My girlfriend has the same back and neck pain some nasty bruising on her stomach, concussion from the airbag and a sprained ankle but she is relatively okay thank god after spending god knows how long on a spinal board in the resus area I don't think I've ever been so scared..

aside from the insurance claim with the car.. i wish to persue compensation against both the 3rd party and the police if possible..

there is no way the police should of been chasing him down the wrong side of the dual carriageway especially in the dark, wet and blind bend.. i also know that west midlands police has a specific persuit policy in order to avoid these kinds of things.

i dont know where to start or who to contact.. there has already been one company claiming they can get up to £4000 pounds for personal injury within 8 weeks.. this almost seems a little low compared to some of the poxy whiplash claims i have heard about but then i dont know what to expect or who to trust..

i am usually a big hater of this culture of suing people and personal injury claims.. but due to the nature of this i dont have a problem at all! one of the scariest and traumatic experiences of my life and I will certainly think twice before getting behind the wheel again..my car was my pride and joy but that night we were lucky to get away with our lives

any advice or suggestions would be greatly received..

thank you all in advance

Lum

Get a proper lawyer, not one that touts for business by spam text messages or at a stand in your local shopping district. This kind of thing is way beyond the point where random people on an internet forum can give good advice.

HappyMJ

Claim from the other driver's insurance company. If the other driver does not hold insurance then claim from MIB. You can use a claims management company if you don't feel confident dealing with insurers yourself.....or claim through your own insurance.

I don't think the police will be responsible for the other drivers actions. The police would have called their superiors out to the incident. What did they say?

Sgt_Pepper_2

rob_sri wrote: »

Traffic officers were chasing an someone in a stolen hire car wrong way down a dual carriage way early hours of the morning..

I saw blue lights flicking off the trees round the bend and covered the brakes..

next thing as i entered the bend I saw head lights baring down on us with a traffic police vehicle in the very near background, I tried to swerve but it was a blind bend with very little room and we both had little time to move..

as I moved left he moved right and as i pulled left again at the last second we hit on the passenger side bonnet the car went spinning 180 degrees and came to rest against the curb..he went through a fence after spinning a complete 360..

We are just so so lucky to be Alive I was doing 40.. the other idiot was doing about 70.. we were taken to hospital and admitted overnight

I've got a broken collarbone back and neck pain and some nasty bruising.. its unclear at this stage if i am going to have to have surgery to reset my bone

My girlfriend has the same back and neck pain some nasty bruising on her stomach, concussion from the airbag and a sprained ankle but she is relatively okay thank god after spending god knows how long on a spinal board in the resus area I don't think I've ever been so scared..

aside from the insurance claim with the car.. i wish to persue compensation against both the 3rd party and the police if possible..

there is no way the police should of been chasing him down the wrong side of the dual carriageway especially in the dark, wet and blind bend.. i also know that west midlands police has a specific persuit policy in order to avoid these kinds of things.

i dont know where to start or who to contact.. there has already been one company claiming they can get up to £4000 pounds for personal injury within 8 weeks.. this almost seems a little low compared to some of the poxy whiplash claims i have heard about but then i dont know what to expect or who to trust..

i am usually a big hater of this culture of suing people and personal injury claims.. but due to the nature of this i dont have a problem at all! one of the scariest and traumatic experiences of my life and I will certainly think twice before getting behind the wheel again..my car was my pride and joy but that night we were lucky to get away with our lives

any advice or suggestions would be greatly received..

thank you all in advance

You may get compensation from one or the other but I doubt it will be both.

Sgt_Pepper_2

HappyMJ wrote: »

Claim from the other driver's insurance company. If the other driver does not hold insurance then claim from MIB. You can use a claims management company if you don't feel confident dealing with insurers yourself.....or claim through your own insurance.

I don't think the police will be responsible for the other drivers actions. The police would have called their superiors out to the incident. What did they say?

Who are superior to the police then?

forgotmyname

The car may have been on the wrong side of the road before they gave chase.

Personally i think they need to start using the US tactics. Just ram them off the road. You as a victim have less rights than the criminal.

Cant see how the police were at fault here, Unless they rammed him into you.

3rd party maybe the sort that will laugh at you in court. Not a bean to their name. And probably done the same thing many times.

Oli.s

Sorry to hear about your injuries Rob, but it does raise the question that if the police don't pursue people who drive the wrong way down a road, what is to stop every criminal in a car who they try to stop just driving the wrong way down the road and getting away.

As far as i recall they don't pursue motorbikes because it is deemed too dangerous hence criminals who commit serious offences use them as get away vehicles.

They have the helicopter but I knew someone who was an observer on one and the weather often prohibits it from flying for something as simple as low cloud which most would think of as not being bad weather, let alone the fog which saw the London crash yesterday.

The question would be where the line is drawn and the balance is made between the risk to the public, versus just letting everyone who didn't pull straight over when requested just drive away.

To answer your original question, you'll be covered by either your insurance, the other drivers or by the government im sure, but i dont think you'll be able to claim from all three and get three times as much.

Im sure you'll be able to take your pick from ambulance chasers though when they hear the circumstances, my advice would be to take your time and research the firms properly, don't just pick the one that will give you a free ipad up front and then use you to make a quick buck instead of actually giving a dam what you want.

Best of luck with the recovery.

Lum

If the stolen car was insured then the insurer is usually liable for anything done in the car while it is stolen.

If you want to go after the Police, you really do need to lawyer up. The usual argument is that they should have abandoned the pursuit as it was too dangerous and they have been done for this in the past. This is, however, why so many criminals can get away with stuff as some forces are now too scared to give chase.

Sgt_Pepper_2

forgotmyname wrote: »

The car may have been on the wrong side of the road before they gave chase.

Personally i think they need to start using the US tactics. Just ram them off the road. You as a victim have less rights than the criminal.

Cant see how the police were at fault here, Unless they rammed him into you.

3rd party maybe the sort that will laugh at you in court. Not a bean to their name. And probably done the same thing many times.

If the car was on the wrong side before they began to pursue it, they shouldn't have gone onto the wrong side too.

For your information tactical contact is an option in the UK.


There maybe numerous reasons why the police are at fault.

OP which dual carriageway was it?

spacey2012

If it was a hire car, the car will have the level of insurance you require.
So the claim will be against the insurance company covering the stolen car for purposes of cover for the road traffic act. not the other driver.
This will be a very long case, what type of insurance do you hold and do you have any legal cover ?

Sgt_Pepper_2

Oli.s wrote: »

Sorry to hear about your injuries Rob, but it does raise the question that if the police don't pursue people who drive the wrong way down a road, what is to stop every criminal in a car who they try to stop just driving the wrong way down the road and getting away.

As far as i recall they don't pursue motorbikes because it is deemed too dangerous hence criminals who commit serious offences use them as get away vehicles.

They have the helicopter but I knew someone who was an observer on one and the weather often prohibits it from flying for something as simple as low cloud which most would think of as not being bad weather, let alone the fog which saw the London crash yesterday.

The question would be where the line is drawn and the balance is made between the risk to the public, versus just letting everyone who didn't pull straight over when requested just drive away.

To answer your original question, you'll be covered by either your insurance, the other drivers or by the government im sure, but i dont think you'll be able to claim from all three and get three times as much.

Im sure you'll be able to take your pick from ambulance chasers though when they hear the circumstances, my advice would be to take your time and research the firms properly, don't just pick the one that will give you a free ipad up front and then use you to make a quick buck instead of actually giving a dam what you want.

Best of luck with the recovery.

If he claims off his own insurance he won't get paid for his injuries.