Car & bicycle incident - claim question.

Car_54

Norman_Castle said:

Drivers are obliged to give name and address details, there's no obligation to give insurance details. Contact the police on 101 to report the accident. Find a legal company to represent you, preferably one experienced in cycling accidents. They will be able to advise what can be claimed. He should have told his insurer about this accident.  

Not so. If there is an injury (other than to the driver himself) he must produce his insurance certificate, either "(a) to a constable, or (b)to some person who, having reasonable grounds for so doing, has required him to produce it,

If it is not produced, he must report the accident to a constable or at a police station "as soon as is reasonably practicable and, in any case, within twenty-four hours of the occurrence of the accident", and produce the certificate within seven days. [Road Traffic Act 1988, s 170]

Further, section 165 requires a driver to provide his insurance details on demand to any person making a claim (i.e. the cyclist in this case).

lincroft1710

I wonder if the driver has reported this incident to his insurers. Although they can't refuse to reimburse the OP for their losses, if the driver hasn't notified them, they can in turn seek reimbursement from him as he breached the terms of his policy. The insurer won't be happy that the driver has paid for the damage to some of the OP's belongings, as that is an admission of guilt, which insurers don't like.


There is also a chance that as the OP didn't immediately seek medical treatment, some less scrupulous insurers may argue that this has exacerbated his injury and want to reduce the amount of his claim. But if it is a relatively small claim most insurers won't quibble.

olgadapolga

whatwasmyname said:

I'm just cautious about triggering my premiums going up just from a simply enquiry. I made that mistake with car insurance once. 

But surely that's the point of having insurance? Why pay the premiums otherwise?

I claimed from my home insurance when I was hit as my bike was not in a good way (neither was I but I was more repairable than the bike).

Had to pay the excess and yes, my premiums did go up.

It took nearly two years to sort out (it took the local police eighteen months to give my solicitor the details of the other party). I gave the other party's details to my insurer who then claimed from the other party's insurance, I got my excess back and two years premiums recalculated as it wasn't deemed to be a claim, being as they got the costs back.

Leigh Day may well discuss your case with you though, just to point you in the right direction.

DB1904

Norman_Castle said:

Drivers are obliged to give name and address details, there's no obligation to give insurance details. Contact the police on 101 to report the accident. Find a legal company to represent you, preferably one experienced in cycling accidents. They will be able to advise what can be claimed. He should have told his insurer about this accident.  

Section 154 of the Road Traffic Act suggests you're wrong. 

Given you're sure (but wrong) the driver has complied with their obligations why are you suggesting this be reported to the police?

user1977

whatwasmyname said:

olgadapolga said:

whatwasmyname said:

Ditzy_Mitzy said:

but took the wrong action by proceeding and attempting to assert yourself without evidence that the driver wasn't going to pull out.  

You'll have to explain this one to me i'm afraid. I'm more than happy to hold my hands up if i'm wrong but I still fail to see what I could've done differently.

If by me calling him a ditherer you had the image of him edging forwards, backwards, forwards, backwards then that's my fault for giving you the wrong picture.
He was stationary. 
If I was in his situation I would've gone, way before he did. There was ample time. But fact is he didn't go & then it got to the situation where it wasn't safe to go on both counts - I was now too close & (thinking again if i was the driver in his position) if I scooted out at that point I'd be expecting a beep from the oncoming traffic because I'd (he'd) left it a bit late to go. 
For the sake of waiting (at this point now) a further 3-5 seconds, i'd continue to wait as i'd (he'd) been waiting long enough so another 3-5 secs is nothing.

If i was to ease off or stop in that situation (& please don't take this the wrong way as i don't mean it with attitude) then I would have to stop every single time I was approaching a junction that had a car at it & question if they were going to let me pass or not.

I appreciate it's the internet & you only have my description of the event & I have to hope i've described it in a manner that has you visualising what happened accurately. Unfortunately a camera is one of the things i meant to get round to getting but never got round to getting due to 1) cost and 2) figuring out how/where to mount without it being awkward/in the way.

Anyway, I take on board what you say. It wont put me off going back out on the bike when i'm able to. I've got it booked in to get checked over as I think it's ok. Nothing obvious but it is now making a bit of a grating noise. I just can't see anything rubbing so i'm at a loss.

Norman_Castle said:

Drivers are obliged to give name and address details, there's no obligation to give insurance details. Contact the police on 101 to report the accident. Find a legal company to represent you, preferably one experienced in cycling accidents. They will be able to advise what can be claimed. He should have told his insurer about this accident.  

At risk of sounding a bit stupid, I've never had to deal with solicitors before. How do you go about finding one specialising in cycling accidents?

Do you have legal cover with your house insurance as that might be s good place to start? 

I would recommend Leigh Day but I only used them because they are the firm used by British Cycling (I'm a BC member). They know their stuff and are very good. No idea what it cost as that was covered by the claim I made when hit by an intoxicated driver. 

I've a lot to sort out but it's something I need to look at that's for sure.

I'm just cautious about triggering my premiums going up just from a simply enquiry. I made that mistake with car insurance once. 

Well, the basic question of whether or not you have legal cover is something you can find out by reading your policy, you don't need to ask your insurers. If you don't, then obviously there's no point contacting them.

DB1904

Car_54 said:

Norman_Castle said:

Drivers are obliged to give name and address details, there's no obligation to give insurance details. Contact the police on 101 to report the accident. Find a legal company to represent you, preferably one experienced in cycling accidents. They will be able to advise what can be claimed. He should have told his insurer about this accident.  

Not so. If there is an injury (other than to the driver himself) he must produce his insurance certificate, either "(a) to a constable, or (b)to some person who, having reasonable grounds for so doing, has required him to produce it,

If it is not produced, he must report the accident to a constable or at a police station "as soon as is reasonably practicable and, in any case, within twenty-four hours of the occurrence of the accident", and produce the certificate within seven days. [Road Traffic Act 1988, s 170]

Further, section 165 requires a driver to provide his insurance details on demand to any person making a claim (i.e. the cyclist in this case).

Are you sure?

Is 165 not a power for constables to obtain names and addresses of drivers and others, and to require production of evidence of insurance and test certificates?

Grey_Critic

I said before my Grandson was knocked off his bike and off work for 4 months.

At the time of the incident the driver of the van actually took him and his bike home. My son then took him to A&E.

He contacted the company asking for insurance details which they refused to give, he also contacted the Police to report the incident (the company had informed the Police) - when my son spoke with the Police and said that they had refused to give the insurance details he was told that they cannot refuse where there is injury but they gave him the details anyway.

He then contacted British Cycling and began a claim giving the details of the other parties insurance.

We can argue the toss about the Road Traffic Act until kingdom come but at some point you will have to supply the information. Refusal just gives everyone the impression you have something to hide.

Possibly no insurance/Mot/Licence etc.

I have already given the best advice. Join British Cycling with the insurance and then ask for their advice of how to proceed - get the advice from the real experts instead of internet forums where many of the answers are are just opinions of little worth.

Car_54

DB1904 said:

Car_54 said:

Norman_Castle said:

Drivers are obliged to give name and address details, there's no obligation to give insurance details. Contact the police on 101 to report the accident. Find a legal company to represent you, preferably one experienced in cycling accidents. They will be able to advise what can be claimed. He should have told his insurer about this accident.  

Not so. If there is an injury (other than to the driver himself) he must produce his insurance certificate, either "(a) to a constable, or (b)to some person who, having reasonable grounds for so doing, has required him to produce it,

If it is not produced, he must report the accident to a constable or at a police station "as soon as is reasonably practicable and, in any case, within twenty-four hours of the occurrence of the accident", and produce the certificate within seven days. [Road Traffic Act 1988, s 170]

Further, section 165 requires a driver to provide his insurance details on demand to any person making a claim (i.e. the cyclist in this case).

Are you sure?

Is 165 not a power for constables to obtain names and addresses of drivers and others, and to require production of evidence of insurance and test certificates?

You're right. Finger trouble!

whatwasmyname

Well I've been in touch with the police & story short I have his insurance details & they've logged the incident. No mention of them getting in touch with him asking why he'd not reported it but at least I got his details.

Phoned his insurance company just now. He hadn't contacted them.

Took my details. Not keen on how they kept referring to me "When you pulled out on to the crossroads". Maybe that's legally speaking what I did, I don't know. In my eyes I did no 'pulling out', I just continued on the road I was on which then entered the crossroad. Anyway, I wont get hung up on minor details.

They talked about liability so I said I should probably let you know right now that he's already paid me for some money lost. Seemed to change things slightly.

Asked if i would be looking at making an injury claim. 

Not really being too sure of where I stand with it all, I didn't yet want to commit and shoot myself in the foot later so just said I was calling them to inform them and that at the very least I have lost money where my wages are concerned which is still ongoing and my bike is booked in at a local shop to get checked over which will initially cost & then if there's any damage there'll be extra cost. If not then it'll just be the cost of the check. So for now I am certainly letting you know I'll want compensating for those two things when we have an end figure. Anything beyond that I don't yet know.

They've actually just called me back now to tell me they'll be calling him within the next hour or so & then opening up a claim.


Just posting back here as I think when reading threads myself it's always nice to see the progress, good or bad. Maybe some of you are the same way, maybe you're not fussed. Who knows But in case anyone wanted updating, there it is.

Herzlos

They've maybe not understood your description properly, but from the street view it looks like you are on the major road and they crossed from the minor. So it's a major/minor junction that happens to look like a cross (with the side streets marked with dashed white lines) and not a cross roads (which would have all roads marked with lines).