Car Accident caused by a Local Council Dustbin Lorry

Annielou

Hi there - my mother was in her car when a dustbin lorry started reversing into her car. She instinctively starting to reverse herself to stop it hitting her and in the process she then backed into the car behind her! Amazingly no damage was done to her car, but the car behind her was damaged. The dustbin lorry however pulled away without even realising what he had done and nobody had any time to get his/her number plate. Anyway, long story short, the Local Council and their insurers have subsequently refused to accept any responsibility (even though the car behind my mother saw the whole thing happening and has made a full statement saying my mother had no options but to get out of the way). As no damage was done to my mother's car she wants to keep it off insurance and just pay out of her own pocket for the car behind her to be fixed (£1,000 is the quote from the garage). However I think we should take this further with the Council and have written to complain about the unfairness here, but their insurers are adamant that they won't accept any responsibility. I was thinking of taking it to somewhere like the small claims court (because I firmly believe the principle here is not right or fair to my mother), but they don't access cases against government bodies apparently. So my question is, how do we make a claim against a Council when we think they are being unfair and unreasonable? If anyone has any similar experiences or advice or pointers I would be very grateful to hear from you. Thanks in advance!

Browntoa

She reversed without due care

She had the accident so it's her fault

The council insurance company are correct unless she has dash cam footage to prove otherwise

Annielou

OK I get that, but wouldn't the witness be just as good as Dashcam? She has a witness to say she had no choice but to reverse or get crushed?

custardy

Annielou wrote: »

OK I get that, but wouldn't the witness be just as good as Dashcam? She has a witness to say she had no choice but to reverse or get crushed?

Sounded her horn?
Was the witness in the car?

Would you be blaming the council if she had reversed over a person?

AdrianC

Annielou wrote: »

OK I get that, but wouldn't the witness be just as good as Dashcam? She has a witness to say she had no choice but to reverse or get crushed?

It's very simple...
Only two vehicles were involved in the collision.
One of them was stationary, the other was reversing.

However I think we should take this further with the Council and have written to complain about the unfairness here, but their insurers are adamant that they won't accept any responsibility.

So my question is, how do we make a claim against a Council when we think they are being unfair and unreasonable?

I'm surprised if the bin wagons in your area are actually operated by the council, rather than by a third-party contractor. Your claim would be against them, as the operator of the vehicle.

But with nothing bar the testimony of those involved, and acknowledgement from all involved that the bin wagon was not even directly involved in the collision, it really is on your mother.

But there are so many questions which are unlikely to help her point of view:
If impact was so apparently inevitable, then why didn't the bin wagon hit her car...? Did she use the horn to make the driver of the wagon aware of her presence? Was the wagon reversing with none of the crew acting as a banksman? Was the driver well aware of her presence via the almost inevitable rear-view camera and dash-mounted screen? Might footage from that camera actually exist, confirming that the wagon was not involved in the collision...?

Sorry, but it does sound as if she panicked and simply reversed into another car.

Annielou

No she didn't sound her horn, I guess she acted instinctively to get out of the way. She had 2 witnesses in her car with her however, plus the witness in the car behind her who has backed her all the way with her account of what occurred. He said she had no choice as it happened so fast, but if its a slam dunk "her fault" for reversing then I will drop it. Just seems really unfair when someone in a tiny car is forced to do something out of fear to get out of the way of a huge great big dustbin cart that hasn't even seen her. Seems completely their negligence to me.

AdrianC

Annielou wrote: »

No she didn't sound her horn

Why on earth wasn't that her first reaction?

Just seems really unfair when someone in a tiny car is forced to do something out of fear to get out of the way of a huge great big dustbin cart that hasn't even seen her.

She assumes he hadn't seen her...

She hit the car behind. Her car was undamaged. Yet the wagon didn't hit her.
If she'd not reversed into the other car, but stopped short of it, would the wagon have hit her?

Stoke

Annielou wrote: »

No she didn't sound her horn, I guess she acted instinctively to get out of the way. She had 2 witnesses in her car with her however, plus the witness in the car behind her who has backed her all the way with her account of what occurred. He said she had no choice as it happened so fast, but if its a slam dunk "her fault" for reversing then I will drop it. Just seems really unfair when someone in a tiny car is forced to do something out of fear to get out of the way of a huge great big dustbin cart that hasn't even seen her. Seems completely their negligence to me.

That is what the horn is for though? Alerting other drivers of your presence right?

Annielou

Thanks everyone for your help. I am happy to admit defeat on this one as that seems to be the overall opinion! At least hearing other points of view might have stopped me all the hassle of taking it further. Cheers

Johno100

Browntoa wrote: »

She reversed without due care

She had the accident so it's her fault

The council insurance company are correct unless she has dash cam footage to prove otherwise

Be interesting to find out if the refuse lorry had CCTV that recorded the accident. But it sounds like the OP's mother has probably left it too late to go down that avenue.

Annielou

In answer to a question above, yes she firmly believes that if she hadn't have reversed the lorry would have hit her. Although that is no just conjecture of course. In some ways it might have been better if she had remained stationary and let the lorry reverse into her, however I guess in the heat of the moment you just do what you can to get out of the way. And my parents did write to the Council who run the bin lorries but their insurers did not mention any CCTV from the lorry. Perhaps a request could be made for that now, although as you say its probably way too late now for that.