Personal injury claim for cycle accident

Hoggle

Hello MSE'ers

Just after a bit of advice. I was recently hit by a car whilst cycling across a roundabout. I was 3/4 of the way across when the driver hit me from my left. I'm not sure exactly how I fell, but I ended up with a broken foot and extensive tendon/ligament damage to my ankle. The police were called and an ambulance took me to A&E. Unfortunately I was too out of it at the time to think about getting the names of any witnesses.

I wasn't going to submit an injury claim initially as I'm not interested in making money out of the incident, but the costs are starting to rack up (cost of automatic hire car as I can no longer drive a manual, cost of taxis to work, help with getting children to school etc) and so I am now considering submitting a claim to cover these costs.

Just trying to work out the best way to go about it. I have legal expenses insurance (LEI) attached to my home insurance but I was concerned that if I use it, my case will be dealt with by a panel solicitor and could end up taking months to settle. Has anyone pursued a similar claim using their LEI and had a good experience?

The other option is to use one of the hundreds of "no win no fee" personal injury lawyers advertising on the web, who will no doubt be keen to take on the case, but will charge a 25% fee if I win (deducted from the damages).

Anyone have any advice as to the best route to take? Any advice gratefully received. Thanks

InsideInsurance

Are you actually claiming for your injury or just the out of pocket expenses?

If there is no injury claim then this is a small track case and solicitor fees are barred so your only option would be doing it yourself or use you LE cover.

If you are claiming for the injury then no win no fee becomes an option as its then a fast track case and fees are partially admissible (not the 25% they retain). Many of the companies you see advertising are just lead generation firms and they then pass you to one of their panel solicitors and so you may end up with the same firm as you'd have if you'd gone via the LE cover.

You will see on this forum there are plenty of people who post after having a good experience with panel solicitors as well as those that have had bad experiences. You get the same from those who've gone the other route too.

There are many many variables as to if you have a good or bad experience and often a lot of them are down to luck and/ or nothing to do with the choice of solicitor. TPI admit liability straight away, respond quickly to letters and make a reasonable offer = person saying their Sol was good. TP denies liability, drags out for months, TPI dont reply to letters etc and eventually make low ball offer = person complaining about their sol

Retrogamer

This isn't helpful for what's happened now but worth mentioning for when / if you go back to cyclist.

British Cycling Membership is £32 if i remember.
It gets you discounts in Halfords, Wiggle's website, events and more.

The important bit is that it gives you third party insurance cover. If you hit a car and it's your fault, then you're covered.

It also gives you access to a telephone number to contact people who specialise in cycling accidents who can give you good advise on these types of scenarios.

[Deleted User]

Did the police get the at fault party's details? If you can find out who they are you can just start a claim on their insurance for your costs. Might as well do it yourself, just collect receipts and submit invoices.

Poppie68

Hoggle wrote: »

Hello MSE'ers

Just after a bit of advice. I was recently hit by a car whilst cycling across a roundabout. I was 3/4 of the way across when the driver hit me from my left. I'm not sure exactly how I fell, but I ended up with a broken foot and extensive tendon/ligament damage to my ankle. The police were called and an ambulance took me to A&E. Unfortunately I was too out of it at the time to think about getting the names of any witnesses.

I wasn't going to submit an injury claim initially as I'm not interested in making money out of the incident, but the costs are starting to rack up (cost of automatic hire car as I can no longer drive a manual, cost of taxis to work, help with getting children to school etc) and so I am now considering submitting a claim to cover these costs.

Just trying to work out the best way to go about it. I have legal expenses insurance (LEI) attached to my home insurance but I was concerned that if I use it, my case will be dealt with by a panel solicitor and could end up taking months to settle. Has anyone pursued a similar claim using their LEI and had a good experience?

The other option is to use one of the hundreds of "no win no fee" personal injury lawyers advertising on the web, who will no doubt be keen to take on the case, but will charge a 25% fee if I win (deducted from the damages).

Anyone have any advice as to the best route to take? Any advice gratefully received. Thanks

Hiring an automatic, taxis to work and help getting the children to school?
Why would you need taxis and help doing the school run.....Isn't that why you hired a car?