Injury claim for bike accident

Nd1990

Hi all, apologies in advance if this is in the wrong section. On Monday evening, after visiting my parents, i left their house on my motorbike and a mile down the road had an accident. I came around a corner and slid on mud on the road.

This happened right at an entrance to a field where a farmers employees have been going in and out of all week in their tractors and machinery and caused the mud on the road. I have suffered a broken hand and dislocated finger.

Upon speaking to my insurance company, they informed me i have personal accident cover included in my policy. How ever, it was later established that they will only pay injury claims for permanent injuries (Amputation, Loss of sight / hearing etc) 

I am now off work due to my injuries and truly believe i am entitled to compensation due the the lack of consideration and the mess on the road caused by the farmers. (There were no warning signs placed on the road etc)

I contacted the police who told me the mess on the road is a council problem. They were contacted and sent workmen out later that evening to put warning signs in place.

I have legal aid as part of my insurance policy who i will be contacting tomorrow (4th Dimension) Is this something they would likely to pursue and claim on my behalf?

What would my next steps be?

Kind Regards and thank you for any input. 

[Deleted User]

Do you know who the farm belongs to? If you can find out then you can contact them and ask for details of their commercial liability insurance.

Nd1990

I know the details of the farmer that the field belongs to yes. Would i then need to write to their insurance to start a claim?

Kind Regards

user1977

Or just write to the farmer and ask them to pass it to their insurer.

DullGreyGuy

[Deleted User] said:

Do you know who the farm belongs to? If you can find out then you can contact them and ask for details of their commercial liability insurance.

You can ask them for it but they are under no obligation to inform you... EL and Motor are compulsory insurance and the laws around them are different. They are there to protect the potentially injured third party or employee. GL/PL insurance is there to protect the insured and it is purely their decision on if they want to deal with matters themselves or pass it to their insurers... as non-compulsory insurance (in 99% of cases) it may be a case that the farmer doesn't have any PL cover.

Ultimately the OP needs to speak to their insurers and legal expenses provider. Presumably there is damage to the bike too and their insurers will advise if they intend to attempt a recovery from any other party or if they feel the chances are too remote. Similarly the LE cover will make a decision on the prospects of success... you'd hope the two come to the same conclusion but inevitably its two different people making a decision so its not guaranteed but if one says yes and one says no you certainly need to let the nay sayer know that the other half of the insurance is pursuing it. 

[Deleted User]

Nd1990 said:

I know the details of the farmer that the field belongs to yes. Would i then need to write to their insurance to start a claim?

Kind Regards

Did you have legal cover on your insurance? If so, ask them.

If not, you can ask the farmer. If they won't engage then you would have to start a legal claim, which they would put through their insurance. You should get legal advice before doing that.

unforeseen

This happened right at an entrance to a field where a farmers employees have been going in and out of all week in their tractors and machinery and caused the mud on the road. 

So you knew about the risk of mud on the road beforehand since you were aware of them being there all week. 

Alderbank

unforeseen said:

This happened right at an entrance to a field where a farmers employees have been going in and out of all week in their tractors and machinery and caused the mud on the road. 

So you knew about the risk of mud on the road beforehand since you were aware of them being there all week. 

Possibly, but it reads to me as though the OP made enquiries and learned about the source of the mud after the accident.

The farmer might claim that he made reasonable attempts to wash away the mud. It is not clear whether the police visited the scene of the accident (probably not) or just expressed an opinion about liability. If the OP has been able to persuade them to visit at the time of the accident and they had prepared a report blaming the mud that would have been useful.

It's not a black and white situation. It might be difficult now for even an expert to say how much the accident was due to excessive mud on the road and how much was due to the skill and judgement of the rider when cornering, unfortunately.

What was visibility like? Do you have pictures?

TELLIT01

As you have legal cover on your insurance, let them handle it.  It won't be quick and any payout is likely to be small.