Car & bicycle incident - claim question.

whatwasmyname

If the answer is tough luck / no chance / it'll be a long drawn out 10yr process / you may win a claim but you probably wont get any cash or anything along those lines then that's what the answer is & I'll just have to move on. 

Right now I'm only here asking the question as I don't know. 

Ok so at the weekend I was taken out by a guy in a car who didn't look my way at a crossroads. 
I was hurt but at the time I thought a bit of a scrape, not too bad, so I declined the witnesses offer of contacting police & ambulance. Truth be told I didn't want the fuss and was also embarrassed as daft as it sounds. Yes looking back I'm well aware that was a stupid decision to make.

I never got the witnesses details. Again, another stupid mistake. One of them was a physio and after spending 20mins or so with me said she didn't think I had broken or dislocated anything. She went on her way. 
I do know where the guy who hit me lives as my bike computer was broken so we went back there & he bank transferred me funds for a new one.

I thought it'll all ease off in a few hours. Looks like that was shock/adrenaline as an hour or so later the pain and swelling starts coming out. A&E visit says soft tissue injury.

I do a physical manual job. My grip is no chance. I've the starts of a cold so my nose is getting itchy. I keep going to itch it but can't as i'm still struggling to bend my arm. Everything has to be slow. 

The result is i've now missed 2 days of work (employed, not self employed). We get basic SSP where I work so as it stands I've earned £0 for yesterday & today. 

My pay varies, so taking my net pay / by the number of days I worked in that pay period equated to each day being worth £86.89 (net) to me or £111.71 (gross) if i've worked it out right.


I'm hoping to be back in work ASAP but with the work I do (and no there's no option of light duties - if you're in you're expected to perform at 100%) it's not looking good.


Various folk have said to me i should still go to the police but unless there's chance of compensation for me then I don't see what the point is at this stage - what do I gain? Top & bottom is, I'm wondering what the chances are I could claim loss of earnings from this situation?
I'm not looking for one of these ridiculous £10,000 payouts because someone stubbed their toe kind of thing, I would just be happy with my loss of earnings covered but don't know if there's any chance of that or not.

biscan25

You should always go to the police. The driver actually had an obligation to report the incident so I wouldn't be surprised if they already have it logged.
Loss of earnings is probably the easiest thing to claim back, being an absolutely quantifiable loss. I'm not sure what the exact process of claiming is but I expect their insurer would offer a settlement, rather than having to go to court.

Herzlos

I'd report the accident to the police anyway, because you'll need that reference if anything happens later.

Then I'd look for a lawyer that specializes or is experienced with cycling. I don't suppose you're a paying member of any clubs?

I think most likely you'd need to suffer the expense now and then try and claim it back from the driver (and their insurance) later, given that you don't know how much you need to claim yet. But the legal advice you'll get from here is worth what you paid for it so definitely talk to an expert. Most will give you a free consultation.

Grey_Critic

Are you a member of a Ctcling Club - if so you should be insured, it is a condition of membership. Alternative are you a member of British Cycling? again you are normally insured.

How long is a claim? My grandson got taken out by a van in November 2020 and was off work for about 4 months. He is insured and his cover includes commuting.

He made a claim and in December last year he was paid out, originally the other paries insurance were not playing ball but when his insurers said they would go to court they paid up in full. He claimed for Loss of earnings (£90 per week sick pay is no much good when your rent etc is double that. He was lucky insofar as his house was owned by Mum & Dad and he did have savings.

He could not submit a full claim until he was signed off sick and his employer did keep his job open even though they were in the process of making people redundent.

From what I have been told you can expect a claim to take around 12/18 months and yes you should claim.

whatwasmyname

Thanks very much for the responses. 

So by the sounds of it then - go to the police (I assume 101 is it these days?) and wait to see how long I end up having off work.

I know where the guy lives so I can easily get his reg plate (providing he hasn't sold it in the past couple days) but question is getting his insurance details. Is that something you'd expect the police to help with?

Thankfully i don't live payslip to payslip but it's not the point. If i'd been looking around at the scenery not paying attention then I'd take it on the chin as it'd be my fault but I had eyes on the guy the entire time & not once did he even so much as glance in my direction. 

Later on he's telling me he was too busy following "the other car". I'd approached on a long straight so had good view. There was no other car. He was too busy looking at the approaching traffic coming in my direction and was clearly dilly dallying thinking should I go, should i stay. He could've gone safely but dilly dallied too long. Then when it was really too late he went for it but by that point i was basically entering the main section of the crossroad. 

biscan25 - don't be so sure that the police will already know about this. People should report it yes. Maybe i'm wrong for not being as trusting of others doing the right thing but then it only comes from the experience I have of other people - so no, I don't believe he will have reported it. Again, I could be wrong.



No i'm not a member of any cycling club / community / insurance. 

I know my bike is insured against theft via my house insurance but I have no separate policy on it.

sevenhills

whatwasmyname said:

So by the sounds of it then - go to the police (I assume 101 is it these days?) and wait to see how long I end up having off work

You are being too nice, people learn a better lesson if they remember that accident for years to come.

Report it to the police.

Ant555

Do you have legal cover with your house insurance?

My house legal cover says it doesn't cover anything involving my car but I cant see anything specifically excluding travelling by bike.

biscan25

whatwasmyname said:

Thanks very much for the responses. 

So by the sounds of it then - go to the police (I assume 101 is it these days?) and wait to see how long I end up having off work.

I know where the guy lives so I can easily get his reg plate (providing he hasn't sold it in the past couple days) but question is getting his insurance details. Is that something you'd expect the police to help with?

Thankfully i don't live payslip to payslip but it's not the point. If i'd been looking around at the scenery not paying attention then I'd take it on the chin as it'd be my fault but I had eyes on the guy the entire time & not once did he even so much as glance in my direction. 

Later on he's telling me he was too busy following "the other car". I'd approached on a long straight so had good view. There was no other car. He was too busy looking at the approaching traffic coming in my direction and was clearly dilly dallying thinking should I go, should i stay. He could've gone safely but dilly dallied too long. Then when it was really too late he went for it but by that point i was basically entering the main section of the crossroad. 

biscan25 - don't be so sure that the police will already know about this. People should report it yes. Maybe i'm wrong for not being as trusting of others doing the right thing but then it only comes from the experience I have of other people - so no, I don't believe he will have reported it. Again, I could be wrong.



No i'm not a member of any cycling club / community / insurance. 

I know my bike is insured against theft via my house insurance but I have no separate policy on it.

My comment was half tongue in cheek. I don't expect him to have reported it since he paid you off, so you would be getting him into trouble.

Grey_Critic

**** question is getting his insurance details. Is that something you'd expect the police to help with?****

My Grandson had that problem - they refused to give him it until the Police got involved.

As for insurance I suggest people have a look here.

https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/membership/benefits

Not expensive

whatwasmyname

Thanks

Well if the worst comes to the worst I know once you have their reg there's that website you can (for a fee) get their insurance details for. I had to do it many moons ago when someone hit me and didn't stop.

DB1904

sevenhills said:

whatwasmyname said:

So by the sounds of it then - go to the police (I assume 101 is it these days?) and wait to see how long I end up having off work

You are being too nice, people learn a better lesson if they remember that accident for years to come.

Report it to the police.

No they don't, they get a better lesson once they understand what they did wrong and why the accident happened.