False accusation

Didier2000

Hi everyone


I hope this message finds you well. I wanted to share my story regarding an incident I was involved in recently. While driving, I had an encounter with a cyclist who attempted to undertake me from the inside lane on a busy and narrow road with no designated cycling lane. Unfortunately, the cyclist fell, and his bike was damaged. I immediately offered assistance, including calling emergency services, but he refused and started blaming me for the accident.

I did my due diligence by exchanging contact details and reporting the incident to both my insurance company and the police. I also have dashcam footage that captures the entire incident. The situation took an unexpected turn when the cyclist reached out, asking to settle the matter outside of insurance and demanding money. I declined this request, urging him to follow the proper channels through insurance.

A week later, I received a letter from the police, accusing me of dangerous driving and failing to stop after an accident, despite my attempts to help. However, I promptly filled out the necessary forms and provided the police with the video evidence. After a month of investigation, the police concluded that no further action was required on my part.

While my insurance company recognized that I was not at fault and refused the cyclist's claim, it seems that the other party remains dissatisfied and has hinted at taking the matter to court. I am not overly concerned about the court proceedings, given the evidence and police statement in my favor.

Nonetheless, this entire ordeal has been immensely frustrating, consuming both my time and emotions. I am considering pursuing legal action against the cyclist for falsely accusing me and causing unnecessary stress and financial strain, especially in light of the police's conclusion.

I would greatly appreciate any guidance or advice on how to initiate a legal process against this individual for their actions. Your input is highly valued.

Thank you for your support and understanding.

Best regards,

Grumpy_chap

All you can do is to continue to let your insurer manage everything and pass any further communication for, or on behalf of, the cyclist to the insurers.  They will support the process through any court case, though from what you have said, any such case sounds unlikely.

You probably cannot do anything about the inconvenience and stress arising.  This comes down to taking what life throws at you.

If there is a claim made, then be sure to decline any options to settle out of court (half-and-half) as that would be a "fault" claim on your insurance.  Given you have the evidence there was no incident, you an be firm on this.

Didier2000 said:

Hi everyone


I hope this message finds you well. I wanted to share my story regarding an incident I was involved in recently. While driving, I had an encounter with a cyclist who attempted to undertake me from the inside lane on a busy and narrow road with no designated cycling lane. Unfortunately, the cyclist fell, and his bike was damaged. I immediately offered assistance, including calling emergency services, but he refused and started blaming me for the accident.

I did my due diligence by exchanging contact details and reporting the incident to both my insurance company and the police. I also have dashcam footage that captures the entire incident. The situation took an unexpected turn when the cyclist reached out, asking to settle the matter outside of insurance and demanding money. I declined this request, urging him to follow the proper channels through insurance.

A week later, I received a letter from the police, accusing me of dangerous driving and failing to stop after an accident, despite my attempts to help. However, I promptly filled out the necessary forms and provided the police with the video evidence. After a month of investigation, the police concluded that no further action was required on my part.

While my insurance company recognized that I was not at fault and refused the cyclist's claim, it seems that the other party remains dissatisfied and has hinted at taking the matter to court. I am not overly concerned about the court proceedings, given the evidence and police statement in my favor.

Nonetheless, this entire ordeal has been immensely frustrating, consuming both my time and emotions. I am considering pursuing legal action against the cyclist for falsely accusing me and causing unnecessary stress and financial strain, especially in light of the police's conclusion.

I would greatly appreciate any guidance or advice on how to initiate a legal process against this individual for their actions. Your input is highly valued.

Thank you for your support and understanding.

Best regards,

DullGreyGuy

Didier2000 said:

I am considering pursuing legal action against the cyclist for falsely accusing me and causing unnecessary stress and financial strain, especially in light of the police's conclusion.

I would greatly appreciate any guidance or advice on how to initiate a legal process against this individual for their actions. Your input is highly valued.

What financial strain?

Having not seen the video footage makes things a little difficult but having dealt with disputed liability cases in Motor (mainly before dash cam was a thing) the reality is two people can genuinely come away from the same incident with different views of what happened. The classic is the narrow lane collision when both are positive they stopped in time and it was the other party that went into them... clearly two stationary cars cannot hit each other so one or both are mistaken. 

You apparent agree the cyclist did fall and damage was done, if it wasnt you then why did this happen? What are their allocations against you? You dont have to make contact to be liable for an accident. 

As to your court case... dont bother. Libel claims cannot be heard in the Small Track and so you are exposing yourself to the risk of having to pay their lawyers fees to defend the case. Its going to be hard to prove their intent and you've not provided any evidence of actual financial loss as a consequence of it ("stress", unless involving medication, psychiatrists, therapy etc, is seen as part of life and not a valid head of claim). 

You'll end up spending vast sums of money and never getting anything back.

user1977

Didier2000 said:

I am considering pursuing legal action against the cyclist for falsely accusing me and causing unnecessary stress and financial strain, especially in light of the police's conclusion.

Where did you get that idea from? Have you ever heard of anyone doing something similar?

Aretnap

Didier2000 said:

 I am considering pursuing legal action against the cyclist for falsely accusing me and causing unnecessary stress and financial strain, especially in light of the police's conclusion.

I would greatly appreciate any guidance or advice on how to initiate a legal process against this individual for their actions. 

You can't. If he has a different view of the accident than you, he's entitled to put his side of things and to take the matter to court if necessary. You can't take someone to court for threatening to take you to court.

As an aside the police's conclusion is not very relevant so far as insurance/court claims go. The police only look for evidence of criminal offences and do not make judgements on civil liability.

If he does take you to court then contact your insurance company immediately and let them deal with things for you - that's what you pay then for. If he just continues to huff and puff give him your insurance company's details of you haven't already, ask him to deal directly with them and block his number.

[Deleted User]

DullGreyGuy said:

Didier2000 said:

I am considering pursuing legal action against the cyclist for falsely accusing me and causing unnecessary stress and financial strain, especially in light of the police's conclusion.

I would greatly appreciate any guidance or advice on how to initiate a legal process against this individual for their actions. Your input is highly valued.

What financial strain?

Having not seen the video footage makes things a little difficult but having dealt with disputed liability cases in Motor (mainly before dash cam was a thing) the reality is two people can genuinely come away from the same incident with different views of what happened. The classic is the narrow lane collision when both are positive they stopped in time and it was the other party that went into them... clearly two stationary cars cannot hit each other so one or both are mistaken. 

You apparent agree the cyclist did fall and damage was done, if it wasnt you then why did this happen? What are their allocations against you? You dont have to make contact to be liable for an accident. 

As to your court case... dont bother. Libel claims cannot be heard in the Small Track and so you are exposing yourself to the risk of having to pay their lawyers fees to defend the case. Its going to be hard to prove their intent and you've not provided any evidence of actual financial loss as a consequence of it ("stress", unless involving medication, psychiatrists, therapy etc, is seen as part of life and not a valid head of claim). 

You'll end up spending vast sums of money and never getting anything back.

It sounds like the cyclist tried to undertake when there wasn't space. It's an extremely stupid thing to do, but also very common.

Entering a space where there isn't adequate room, and where the driver has a blind spot, and where a slight moment can result in an accident. Entirely the cyclist's fault.

Android07

You should have stayed in your car and drove off. Trying to be a good person lands in you all sorts of trouble.

When the police contacted you, you could have given the dashcam footage and that's it. Cyclists do not have insurance and you certainly don't need to exchange details.

Goudy

As others have said, sit tight and wait.

The other party are frustrated due to failing with an attempted claim and are making noise about it as they have yet to accept it's really looks like the end of the road for them on the matter.

The stress is on them to start court proceedings, probably off their own back and once they realise what that means their hints will probably dry up.
All you have to do is pass all this noise onto your insurance company and get on with your life.

Although cyclists can undertake (filter or lane split) the highway code states cyclists should avoid it if their path comes into "issue" with other road users, like approaching junctions.

It also states overtaking on the right is generally safer than undertaking on the left in most circumstances. However, undertaking on the left can be carried out when traffic is stationary or moving very slowly.

You obviously wasn't stationary and by the sounds of it the traffic speed on the road might not have been significantly slower than the set speed limit to be classed as moving very slowly.
They have took the risk and will have to live with it.

The_Unready

Android07 said:

You should have stayed in your car and drove off. Trying to be a good person lands in you all sorts of trouble.

When the police contacted you, you could have given the dashcam footage and that's it. Cyclists do not have insurance and you certainly don't need to exchange details.

That bit is incorrect. I, and many others like me, have 3rd party liability insurance through my membership of British Cycling. See here:

https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/thirdpartyliability

Other cyclists will have similar policies with other insurers/organisations. I'm not saying that it would cover the scenario above, but I need to correct your statement, which is just plain wrong..

DullGreyGuy

[Deleted User] said:

DullGreyGuy said:

Didier2000 said:

I am considering pursuing legal action against the cyclist for falsely accusing me and causing unnecessary stress and financial strain, especially in light of the police's conclusion.

I would greatly appreciate any guidance or advice on how to initiate a legal process against this individual for their actions. Your input is highly valued.

What financial strain?

Having not seen the video footage makes things a little difficult but having dealt with disputed liability cases in Motor (mainly before dash cam was a thing) the reality is two people can genuinely come away from the same incident with different views of what happened. The classic is the narrow lane collision when both are positive they stopped in time and it was the other party that went into them... clearly two stationary cars cannot hit each other so one or both are mistaken. 

You apparent agree the cyclist did fall and damage was done, if it wasnt you then why did this happen? What are their allocations against you? You dont have to make contact to be liable for an accident. 

As to your court case... dont bother. Libel claims cannot be heard in the Small Track and so you are exposing yourself to the risk of having to pay their lawyers fees to defend the case. Its going to be hard to prove their intent and you've not provided any evidence of actual financial loss as a consequence of it ("stress", unless involving medication, psychiatrists, therapy etc, is seen as part of life and not a valid head of claim). 

You'll end up spending vast sums of money and never getting anything back.

It sounds like the cyclist tried to undertake when there wasn't space. It's an extremely stupid thing to do, but also very common.

Entering a space where there isn't adequate room, and where the driver has a blind spot, and where a slight moment can result in an accident. Entirely the cyclist's fault.

Cyclists are vulnerable road users and whilst as a pedestrian I truly believe I am much more likely to be hit by a cyclist running a red light etc than a car the reality of courts is that the driver of the 2 tonne metal box has the greater duty of care. 

Cyclists tend to be fairly squishy and so didn't get that many cases back in my claims days as many end up in Multi-Track as a consequence but often cases end up being the driver 100% liable but the cyclist having contributory negligence applied. In one case where the insured was turning onto a driveway and cyclist going along the pavement went into the side of them it was deemed 50% contributory negligence.

The difference between liability and contributory negligence is the first determines how much of each others claim the parties get (so with the driver 100% liable they cannot claim for damage to their vehicle) whereas contributory negligence reduces part or all of the parties claim (so the cyclist only gets 50% of the normal payout). Contributory negligence is often used in accidents where the claimant wasnt wearing a seatbelt so still the fault of the person that rear ended them, their car damage is covered in full but their injury settlement is reduced as a seatbelt would have reduced the likely injuries (on the balance of probability which the civil courts use).


Ultimately though you would need to see the video and what it actually shows. I have been sent many videos that our insured said proved it wasnt their fault and the video captured nothing. Others were self incriminating as the insured said they'd left an appropriate gap but the video shows they cut a corner etc

caprikid1

"Some Cyclists do not have insurance" Corrected that for you

"Cyclists do not have insurance and you certainly don't need to exchange details." Probably need to revisit the law on this one.