A Public Bus Hit My Car, Can I Do Anything? *RESOLVED*

sperre

This was resolved and the bus company have agreed (rightfully) to pay for repair of the damages. I couldn't have done it without MSE forum members. THANK YOU.


I was driving in Bradford earlier today and at a busy junction while I was stationary a public bus scraped the back of my car while turning. Due to traffic conditions at the junction (I assume) the bus didn’t stop, so I’m now left with a severely scratched rear car.

Extra details:

- I know the rough time it happened
- I know the exact junction it happened
- I have pictures of the damage to my car
- I don’t have any pictures or video of the bus as it happened while I was stationary at the junction and the bus was moving (don’t have your phone out while driving they say)

Is there anything I can do?

neilmcl

Why are you asking here rather than contacting the bus company directly. Treat it as any road accident, the fact that it's a bus makes no difference, you contact them and/or your insurer and take it from there.

Shaun_of_the_Dead

neilmcl wrote: »

Why are you asking here rather than contacting the bus company directly. Treat it as any road accident, the fact that it's a bus makes no difference, you contact them and/or your insurer and take it from there.

What about advising the OP to report it to the police?

born_again

Busses have CCTV covering everything outside from pretty much all angles. To protect them.

Contact bus company give them the details and they will know which bus it was.

Your lucky it was a bus and not a taxi.....

sperre

neilmcl wrote: »

Why are you asking here rather than contacting the bus company directly. Treat it as any road accident, the fact that it's a bus makes no difference, you contact them and/or your insurer and take it from there.

I have no idea what bus it was other than the shape and size. I wouldn't know who to contact. I've never had an accident before, so I wasn't sure if I contacting my insurer would be a waste of time given the information I have.

sperre

born_again wrote: »

Busses have CCTV covering everything outside from pretty much all angles. To protect them.

Contact bus company give them the details and they will know which bus it was.

Your lucky it was a bus and not a taxi.....

This was really helpful. Thank you.

chrisw

I would weigh up my options before informing my insurance company.

If you can track down the bus that hit you then go ahead. However, if it's unlikely you will get anywhere and the incident will never otherwise come to light, I would decide whether to leave it as it is, pay to get it repaired myself or claim on my insurance bearing in mind I would lose my no claim bonus and pay an increased premium for the next few years.

fimacdoodle

I would check the location for cctv, that is independent. Council cctv is generally kept for 30 days only.
I think it unlikely that the bus would have side CCTV that would be any use and you’d have to jump through lots of hoops to access it.

Mercdriver

You didn't get the reg number of the bus then. Needle in haystack springs to mind. Short of getting CCTV, you might have chalk this one down to experience.

NeilCr

My partner's son is a bus driver and there is 360 degrees CCTV on all the buses down here. Roads are very narrow with bad parking and there are quite a lot of incidents involving buses

If you know the bus company (possibly FirstBus if it is Bradford) then ring them with the time and place (as born again says they will be able to track down the bus). They'll have a look at the CCTV and - from what I know, anyway - if it is the driver at fault they'll sort it out. They won't want any adverse publicity,

missile

You know the time and where the accident happened. Presumably you noticed the colour of the bus?
This should enable you to identify the bus company and the bus which hit your vehicle.
If you post that info, we might be able to assist.