motorbike accident advice ;) ....... Updated

im-lost

So a little update, my xrays show a slight fracture still, pretty much described the same as it was at the last appointment, 'light tibia fracture', so a bit of a bummer, thought it would have been different, but meh.

got home to a letter from the old solicirtors, and an offer of settlement from the other side, 25k, excluding what I owe to the DWP, and what ive already received for the bike, so say 4k on top of that sum.

Now my solicitors wont advise either way, for obvious reasons, lack of medical reports yet, but they do say a court is unlikely to find it unreasonable to wait for medicals etc before settling, if I were to decline the offer and a court rules I should get less, and I've yet to be able to contact them to discuss things, haven't long got home from hospital.

So, 25k on the table, despite a lack of medical reports etc, as an initial offer, to me would suggest that there's room to go higher, not that i'm a money grabber, its never been about money, although it is a bonus, but it does tie in with initial estimates put forward to me, but that was way back when it was to be 3 months of healing time.

whats worried me is all the bumph about if I don't accept and get lower at trial, I could be liable to costs on both sides, although I feel getting awarded less is unlikely due to the offer and where I am regarding 'healing' its more than I would have been happy to settle on if I were fully healed.

Its a sum that would get me back on my feet so to speak, and its a sum that I could really do with right now.

there's 2 options on the table

accept it and go on my merry way

or to decline it, go for my medicals, take up the other sides offer of rehab, probably some private physio etc and wait things out.

I honestly don't know what to do, I've never been in a position to have to make these types of choices, I know what my decision should be, I know what the right one should be, but my life is pretty screwed right now, and it would go a long way getting things sorted out.

Its horrible to be put in this position at this point, because its dangling a carrot, with the possibility of hitting you with the stick if you decline.

Nodding_Donkey

Don't accept yet, you're not fully healed so how can they hope to assess damages? They are trying it on in the hope that you are desperate for money and they will get a cheap settlement. Work out how much you have lost in earnings, that must be over £15k and going up every week.

Stoke

Agreed. They have to cover the amount you've lost in earnings + injury + the bike. 25k is a bit thin on the ground for me in this instance.

Crazy_Jamie

Whilst I appreciate the members that are commenting on that offer are doing so with the best intentions, you would be wise to ignore general comments regarding whether or not members think the offer is high or low. Because notwithstanding those intentions, we simply can't know enough to even vaguely accurately value this case with the information you have given.


Chances are the offer is low because the whole point of a pre medical offer is one that gets the insurance company out of the case with minimum exposure. On the other hand, it could be quite a good offer because the insurer is compensating for the legal costs that they won't have to pay out by settling early.


Your solicitors should be able to give you some general advice either way on this. At this stage you should know what your loss of earnings figure is, and you should also have a vague idea as to other areas of special damage, such as an gratuitous care claim. In terms of general damage your prognosis isn't known yet, but you do know that you have a leg fracture that has taken at least 9 months to fully heal, and will no doubt require further treatment before a full recovery is made.


All of those factors should at least give your solicitors an idea as to what your bottom line is in terms of damages, and whether or not that is likely to increase over that figure as time goes on. So at this stage I do appreciate why you're inviting thoughts from this forum, and with the right information there are certain members on this forum who could give you an idea as to valuation, but really you need to be pushing your solicitors for more definitive advice.

im-lost

Haven't got any questions, more of a moan to get things off my chest, and to think out loud.

Soooooo, as I approach the 11 month mark, there seems to be an end in sight.

Finally fully out of my boot, and tentatively wondering around as much as I'm able to, I still have some rather big issues with walking, and standing.

Had the medical, and various recommendations have been made in regards to physio and the like, because the NHS seems to have washed their hands of me, and seem unwilling to refer me for any.

Declined the offer of settlement at this time and the provider the other insurers have instucted have be come involved.

Had a visit from one of their case managers, really helpful lady, who would have been a lot of help getting involved earlier in the process, she seems to be wanting to do much more at this so stage than anybody has all the way through. Shes going to hound the other side to fund private physio, because it's needed now, and she says if it goes via the NHS I'll just be waiting and waiting.

She wants to arrange a consultation with a psychologist, for various reasons, because whether I like to admitted it or not, this has had a pretty major effect on all aspects of my life for neigh on a year.

But I do feel as though I may be seen as trying to milk this to get whatever settlement increased, but I'm really not, these people getting involved I would like to think they know what they're doing, and wouldn't recommend these things if they didn't feel they were needed or going to beneficial in the long term.

If you'd ask me, I'd say I'm getting by ok, muddling through, because that's just what I do.

But when people start to poke and go in to detail, it's like things clearly aren't ok right now, and everything has just been pushed to the side and just haven't been dealt with.

Do you take up this additional offer of support that you're extremely reluctant to do, that people outside looking in seem to think is needed, or do you just keep convincing yourself that you're ok, and some how you'll get back to how you were before.

AdrianC

im-lost wrote: »

Do you take up this additional offer of support that you're extremely reluctant to do, that people outside looking in seem to think is needed, or do you just keep convincing yourself that you're ok, and some how you'll get back to how you were before.

TAKE IT. !!!!!!, take it. You need it. You might not realise it, but you really do. Your life has been on pause for a year because of some muppet's moment of inattention... and you DESERVE, no, NEED as much professional, quality help as possible to try to get you as close to where you were as you can get. You are NOT milking.

im-lost

AdrianC wrote: »

TAKE IT. !!!!!!, take it. You need it. You might not realise it, but you really do. Your life has been on pause for a year because of some muppet's moment of inattention... and you DESERVE, no, NEED as much professional, quality help as possible to try to get you as close to where you were as you can get. You are NOT milking.

I know what you're saying, and if I'm honest I know I need to talk things through with people who aren't actually so close, who seem to think that a cheque will solve everything.

But I'm one of those people that don't really like to make a fuss or have people fussing over them, take this woman who I seen, she had to drive down for nearly 7 hours to see me, and I felt so guilty over it, thinking why all of this fuss over me :rotfl: I know it's her job and all, and she probably does it every day, but

You just feel as though all these people could be spending time and helping those in a much worse position than you, Yeah the last year has been complete hell, but you're over the worst of it, and you just want to say, don't fuss over me.

im-lost

So a bit more to help me keep track....

Physio appointments etc have been arranged, and had my initial physio assessments, and just need to wait for a report to be done and for them to be given the ok to proceed, I cant see any issue with the other insurers agreeing to funding it, but every !!!!!! does seem to love their reports im feeling slightly guilty about the amount of trees I must be using.

But yeah, I think the consensus amongst people ive seen, who have done their things, seems to be yes my lower leg and ankle seem to be rather majorly borked right now, and is going to take quite some work to shake off the endless months of being with limited use, so a good few months of physio ahead, yeah they don't have magic hands and all that and i need to do my bit, but its good to have some guidance and assistance

And then the likelihood of gaining full movement is fairly slim at this point, but, I guess only time will tell, and the pain im experiencing will likely fade with time as in her opinion its likely down to the amount of soft tissue damage and the scar tissue that's present, evidenced by the thickness of that area compared to the other, which i paid little attention to before, but now its been pointed out, its like woha.

But on a positive note, the physio woman is rather nice, now im no expert with physio type people, but she was a little more touchy feely than she ought to have been :whistle:

UsernameAlreadyExists

How have you got on with the physio woman?

im-lost

UsernameAlreadyExists wrote: »

How have you got on with the physio woman?

So an update, you cheeky scamp you.

The physio woman, yeah, it's just physio haha anyway, it seemed to be going ok, but haven't really seen many improvements with the physio sessions alone, think it's more deep tissue massages, and some work on how my ankle flexes and getting the movement back, but I can see an improvement from since coming out of my boot etc, more walking etc there is less pain there when walking, although the distances are still relatively short before the pain becomes noticeable, hills are my downfall, I'm getting quite a bit if movement back in my ankle, but the last 5 or so degrees of flexion, or lack of, seem to be causing 'issues', my physical health (read being a fat knacker) hasn't helped, neigh on a year not really doing much, and the excess weight slowly creeps in.

Aside from that, got some help from my gp finally, namely some happy pills, not that I like to paper over the cracks, but they've given a bit of a boost or a pick me up if you will, to begin to get myself together once again, although it still seems like I have a mountain to climb to get myself back on track. Have me a bit of a boost to start driving lessons, which went surprisingly well after initially being extremely nervous, done a shortish course over 7 weeks and a test, failed on a couple of small things.

And i think that's broke the camels back, I think I built it up in to being the first steps to getting by life together, transport is needed etc, needing it to get a job and all of that mumbo jumbo, and rightly or wrongly, returning to biking isn't what I want to do right now, for obvious reasons, maybe it's a flirtation I'll revisit later on.

The last few weeks I've kind of slipped back, hopefully just temporarily, got another test booked in a few weeks to work towards, fingers crossed for a pass.

Maybe it was just the realisation that getting back on track isn't going to plain sailing, and the smallest setback right now, seems to be blown out of proportion.

What am I on now, 15 months or so, people might say oh just go out there and get a job, get your own place again etc etc, but it's really not that easy, this past year and a bit has obviously left me battered and bruised, yeah there's the accident and all that, the length of time to heal, but on top of that pretty much anything that could go wrong in my life, it has, relationship breakdown, moving back with my parents after the accident (couldn't manage the 3 flights at the ex's place) obviously losing my job and that, and being 'broken', but worst of all, I was laying in the street in my undercrackers, I can only thank God that I didn't go commando on 'that' day, with people I know driving past, the shame, the horror, it'll leave me scarred for life :rotfl:

But yeah, other than that, things are hunky dory.

The insurance claim and all that, haven't really given it a second thought, I presume it's going OK, not that much can be done, I'm just coming to the end of these sessions of physio, more reports, maybe some more sessions need arranging, then medicals etc etc need to get back in touch with the people dealing with this and my physio person, I went off radar for a couple of weeks, because, well because I couldn't be arsed with anything....

But yeah, nearly a year and a half and things are slowly getting better, I think, well, that's what I'm telling myself band-aid for a gaping wound springs to mind..... But what can you do, it's been hell going through this, and I wouldn't wish the last year on anyone, but I just have to crack on and start over.

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