Cyclist Incident and an unreliable witness!

Belenus

ps124 said:

Hi guys, I appreciate all the responses.

So the consensus seems to be a report into 101, and log it with the insurance company?

With 101, it has been more then 24hours as this happened on Sunday so will this be a problem? We honestly didn't think or feel at the time the cyclist would make any further issue about this, especially with the witness situation.

with insurance, the incident happened on Sunday, and we switched to the new insurers yesterday, so I assume I would inform the old insurance company? Both policies had legal protection.

Report it now to cover yourself.

I doubt if the police will care that you are late but better to be told off for being late than for never telling them.

There must be hundreds of such minor incidents every day that are never reported.

PS: Use the online link I posted above instead of 101 as then there will be nobody on the other end of a phone to tell you off. 


You need to tell your new insurance company too as they will not have factored this incident into their quote.

williamgriffin

Belenus said:

williamgriffin said:

Belenus said:

Car_54 said:

Belenus said:

Inform the police immediately, perhaps via 101.

101 isn't good enough. OP's wife needs to produce her insurance cerificate to the police ASAP, and in any case within 24 hours of the accident.

What law or rule is that?

As far as I am aware, the police should be informed within 24 hours. It is then presumably up to the police to request insurance details if they wish. 

The driver should inform the police in case this incident gets messy and the cyclist claims injury.

However I doubt if the police will be in the slightest interested in following up this incident.

If they requested insurance details after every minor incident they would be overwhelmed in paper work and checking insurance. Although these days perhaps they can check insurance details online.

All road traffic accidents are to be reported to the police within 24 hours of the incident taking place. You can call 101, the non-emergency police number to do this.

The Road Traffic Act states that as their is an injury and no insurance certificate was produced the accident should be reported to the police as soon as is practicable and any case within 24 hours. 

Calling 101 within 24 hours fulfils that requirement.

There is no requirement to provide insurance details to the police unless requested. 

OP, are you still within 24 hours of the incident? If not then do it now.

I doubt if the police will care even if you are days late. They have far more serious matters to deal with.

It may well do but calling them after 23 hours and 59 minutes you may need an answer as to why it took you so long.

Of course you will also have an answer to say driving past a police officer or police station on the was home from an accident and not reporting it isn't an offence. 

williamgriffin

ps124 said:

Hi guys, I appreciate all the responses.

So the consensus seems to be a report into 101, and log it with the insurance company?

With 101, it has been more then 24hours as this happened on Sunday so will this be a problem? We honestly didn't think or feel at the time the cyclist would make any further issue about this, especially with the witness situation.

with insurance, the incident happened on Sunday, and we switched to the new insurers yesterday, so I assume I would inform the old insurance company? Both policies had legal protection.

It's up to your wife but if the matter later gets reported to the police it will be her licence that the points go onto. 

I would advise she reports it and informing the police why there is a delay.

KimJongUn88

Jenni_D said:

If your wife pulled out in front of the cyclist then she was the party at fault - even if the cyclist ran into her car. (The cyclist probably won't have insurance so her insurance would become liable for any future claim. In theory your wife could sue the cyclist personally for contributory negligence but this would be a very difficult claim to prove so probably not worth it).

Sorry to be the bearer of (potential) bad news. It might be a "scam" in the making but your wife's position is not very good as she caused it by pulling out

You’re half right regards the contributory negligence. This is raised as part of the defence of the claim brought by the cyclist. Not a separate action. If you can successfully argue contrib, the damages awarded by the Court will be reduced by a percentage.

In any event, I doubt such an argument would be successful in this case as you’ve got to accept that the brakes on a bike will not be as good as those on a car.

mattyprice4004

If you haven't already, get a dashcam! Nothing better as a witness than video footage with audio.

AdrianC

Cyclist proceeding along road.
Car pulling out of parking space.
Impact.
Injury to cyclist, believed minor at scene, later found to be more serious.
Only witness "unreliable".

Hands up who thinks this is going to be open-and-shut in favour of the driver...?

[Deleted User]

If you're hit when cycling, there can be injuries that aren't apparent immediately. I came off on ice once and cycled the final mile or so to work, showered, changed etc and within a couple of hours was nauseous and had a huge headache and got taken off to A&E by a colleague, got home and slept for hours (may not have been the greatest idea...). Another time a car pulled across the road to turn into a side road and drove into me, I did a 40 odd mile ride as planned after but next day could hardly walk from the impact side

In this case, it sounds like you're lucky it wasn't a cyclist, merely some random on a bike. An actual cyclist may well have legal cover through something like British Cycling membership, the legal firm may well be rubbing their hands at a damages claim, some random on a bike might be tempted with no win no fee style claims but they might not take it on for a minor injury.

Car_54

Belenus said:

williamgriffin said:

Belenus said:

Car_54 said:

Belenus said:

Inform the police immediately, perhaps via 101.

101 isn't good enough. OP's wife needs to produce her insurance cerificate to the police ASAP, and in any case within 24 hours of the accident.

What law or rule is that?

As far as I am aware, the police should be informed within 24 hours. It is then presumably up to the police to request insurance details if they wish. 

The driver should inform the police in case this incident gets messy and the cyclist claims injury.

However I doubt if the police will be in the slightest interested in following up this incident.

If they requested insurance details after every minor incident they would be overwhelmed in paper work and checking insurance. Although these days perhaps they can check insurance details online.

All road traffic accidents are to be reported to the police within 24 hours of the incident taking place. You can call 101, the non-emergency police number to do this.

The Road Traffic Act states that as their is an injury and no insurance certificate was produced the accident should be reported to the police as soon as is practicable and any case within 24 hours. 

There is no requirement to provide insurance details to the police unless requested.

I'm afraid there is. Road Traffic Act 1988 section 170. The simplifed version from the HC is:

"Rule 287

If another person is injured and you do not produce your insurance certificate at the time of the crash to a police officer or to anyone having reasonable grounds to request it, you MUST

• report it to the police as soon as possible and in any case within 24 hours
• produce your insurance certificate for the police within seven days."

AdrianC

Deleted_User said:

In this case, it sounds like you're lucky it wasn't a cyclist, merely some random on a bike.

An interesting distinction...

KimJongUn88

AdrianC said:

Deleted_User said:

In this case, it sounds like you're lucky it wasn't a cyclist, merely some random on a bike.

An interesting distinction...

noun

1. a person who rides a bicycle.