Third party denies liability!!

KamCopas

Hi all,

I'll try and keep this short - on the 28th June 2013, I was involved in a traffic accident in chiswick. I was filtering past stationary traffic whilst I was on my scooter, when all of a sudden a car pulled out into my path from the line of traffic, I went straight into him and I was thrown from my scooter and my bike went into the other lane of traffic causing some serious damage to my bike- luckily the oncoming lane was clear at that point.

The third party accepted liability at the scene and even asked if I could get quotes for the repairs to be done privately. All this was done after we exchanged details...

When I spoke to him and gave home the quotes, he then asked if I would go through his insurance, as he was at fault.

I contacted my insurence and told them to claim from the third party as he has accepted liability.

To my horror, I have since received responses from the other side - the third party is claiming I hit him, whilst he was following the road!

I was so shocked at the accident, that I didn't take any witness details (there were 10+ witnesses) and as the TP accepted it was his fault, I never thought of it at the time!

I have instructed my solicitors to press on for full liability, I have even had an independent engineer out to look at the bike.

I am pulling my hair out over this ( what's left of it), not sure how to prove that he has changed his story.

I have instructed the sols to go to court if ness!

I'm so angry about this, as I could have been killed, that's what annoys me most and the fact the TP DOESN'T REALISE THIS ANNOYS ME EVEN MORE.

If anyone has any advice on how to proceed, I would be truly great full.:mad::mad::mad:

Strider590

Doesn't matter what he says, 3rd party insurance company will initially blame you, it almost always happens. It's like a bartering process between the two insurers.

Just ride it out.......

Quentin

You cannot rely on any acceptance of liability made at the scene of an accident, as you have discovered, they don't count.

Your insurer should be arguing the liability issue for you rather than you having to instruct your own solicitor (assuming you have comprehensive cover)

Strider590

Something you should also consider is an accident that happened fairly recently, where a biker was killed by a car driver that swerved into his path to stop him filtering.
If you feel this is what happened to you, then the Police need to be involved.

http://www.motorcyclenews.com/MCN/News/newsresults/General-news/2010/April/apr0910-Driver-who-blocked-overtaking-biker-jailed/

forgotmyname

Filtering a dodgy area. I can see it going 50/50.

You should have taken more care whilst doing it and he should have looked before making the manouvre.

Although he initially thought he pulled out without looking properly. His insurance who dont want to pay out if they dont have to will have said should you have been filtering at that point.

smashingyour...

Strider590 wrote: »

Something you should also consider is an accident that happened fairly recently, where a biker was killed by a car driver that swerved into his path to stop him filtering.
If you feel this is what happened to you, then the Police need to be involved.

http://www.motorcyclenews.com/MCN/News/newsresults/General-news/2010/April/apr0910-Driver-who-blocked-overtaking-biker-jailed/

What would you expect the police to do about it 1 month on?

jonathon

Strider590 wrote: »

Something you should also consider is an accident that happened fairly recently, where a biker was killed by a car driver that swerved into his path to stop him filtering.
If you feel this is what happened to you, then the Police need to be involved.

http://www.motorcyclenews.com/MCN/News/newsresults/General-news/2010/April/apr0910-Driver-who-blocked-overtaking-biker-jailed/

where does it say he was killed

Jamie_Carter

If you read your insurance documents you will see that they instruct you not to admit liability. So the change in what they admit is probably just down to their own insurance telling them to deny liability.

missile

With no witnesses you will find it very difficult to prove he was at fault. A hard lesson to learn, always take photos and get witness statements. Call police if anyone is injured. See RAC advice here > http://www.rac.co.uk/advice/car-knowledge/what-to-do-if/i-ve-had-an-accident-what-now/

Guest101

Check local CCTV.

I agree it could go 50/50 with no witnesses, and you've admited you were filtering, not stationary in a lane.

InsideInsurance

Where did the TP pull out from? Was he changing lane or turning right from a side road?

Either way you almost certainly are looking at a split liability situation and depending on the exact circumstances will dictate the split.

Ultimately "filtering" is overtaking and overtaking is considered by the courts as a high risk activity and thus requires a much higher duty of care. As such most accidents involving an overtaking vehicle when not in a separate lane in the right direction will mean the overtaking vehicle takes a share of the responsibility.

Powell -v- Moody is a commonly used case where a car was turning right out of a side road which had queuing traffic. A motorbike was filtering/ overtaking the queue in the middle of the road and the two vehicles collided. The motorbike in this case was found 80% to blame