MIB - cyclist claim

suziequ

In short, my son had an accident last year. He was riding his bike and as he crossed the road, a car came from his left and he hit the drivers door. There was a van parked on the side of the road and he checked first for traffic.

We made a claim against the MIB through a reputable company, but the claim has been rejected.

In hindsight and reading back, perhaps the documents we sent in were not worded correctly.

We can appeal, just wondering if any body has any experience of this and is it worth appealing. The company that we used say that we MAY have to pay costs of £600 if the appeal is rejected again.

Any advise greatly appreciated.

tykesi

Description of the event isn't anywhere near clear enough. I think we'll need more information before anyone can offer any meaningful advice.

suziequ

My son is 16 and was crossing a side road, he was coming off a path, he remembers there being a van on the side of the road and some guys doing some work, he doesn't know what company they were from. He stopped and looked, and the road was clear so he got back onto his bike to ride across the road.

Just as he moved onto the road a car with two young lads in, came from the left and he hit the drivers door. He managed to stay upright and his wheel buckled to the right. The lads stopped and got out to see if he was ok, and he felt fine so they drove off.

As he got back on his bike he had a sharp pain in his left shoulder and he collapsed to the floor. The guy in the van ran over to him and helped him to the grass verge.

The police came and called an ambulance as he had passed out.

The police didn't file a report.

He had broken his collar bone and had to have a plate with 8 screws put into his shoulder. Which will have to be taken out around 18 months after the accident.

I hope this is enough information for somebody to advise me.

Many thanks

burlington6

Sounds like it was your sons fault

JP08

I'm going to resist the temptation to judge the situation - though there is a great temptation on this one.

What I will ask though, as it has a direct bearing on your original question OP, is ...
Does the MIB gives a reason for the rejection of the claim ?

I suspect this will have a great bearing on whether you should or should not proceed with an appeal.

Silver-Surfer_2

Why was the claim rejected?

George_Michael

suziequ wrote: »

He stopped and looked, and the road was clear so he got back onto his bike to ride across the road.

Just as he moved onto the road a car with two young lads in, came from the left and he hit the drivers door.

If the road was clear, where exactly did the car come from?

dannyrst

George_Michael wrote: »

If the road was clear, where exactly did the car come from?

From reading the story posted, it would appear the OPs son checked the road whilst walking with his bike, then got on his bike (10-15 seconds?) then proceeded without checking the road again? Apologies if this is incorrect OP, but this is how I read what you put.

Without knowing road layout of where this happened, perhaps the car came round a corner? Or simply pulled out from being parked?

suziequ

Yes this is what happened, the road curved to the left. So the car must of been going quick, and this is why he didn't see the car.

suziequ

In all honesty, I think it was worded incorrectly. Never having had this happen before, we maybe naively made a few errors, one being we didn't go along with the photographer to take photos of the area, I need to go to the area myself and compare photos to ensure that she has the correct part of the street.

Secondly the nurses report from the hospital says " he rode into the car" ....he collided with the car he didn't ride into it !!!

George_Michael

suziequ wrote: »

Yes this is what happened, the road curved to the left. So the car must of been going quick, and this is why he didn't see the car.

Even if the car was only travelling at 30mph and it took your son 10 seconds to get on his bike and start moving after checking that the road was clear, that car would still have travelled about 120m in those 10 seconds.