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Opinions - Legal or Otherwise

(11 posts)
  • Started 11 years ago by ProntoPedalPower
  • Latest reply from ProntoPedalPower

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  1. ProntoPedalPower
    Member

    Let me describe a scenario and I'd invite your views on the legality of the situation.

    Man parks cargo bike momentarily on double yellow lines behind a van. Man on cargo bike leaves bike momentarily and returns one minute later to find that van man has reversed over said cargo bike and snapped the front fork (and bike is shunted a couple of metres back).

    Van man departs the scene without acknowledging incident and leaves cargo bike man perplexed, frustrated and angry.

    What are the legal repercussions of this e.g. has the van driver left the scene of an accident? Should he be liable to recompense cargo bike man? Does the fact that the cargo bike was situated on double yellow lines make any difference? Presumably irrelevant as a non motorised form of transport?

    Hmmmmm.

    Posted 11 years ago #

  2. crowriver
    Member

    Did the man riding the bike get the van's license plate number?

    Has the incident been reported to police?

    Is this about the bike rider's insurance or claiming on the van driver's insurance?

    Posted 11 years ago #

  3. Dave
    Member

    Failure to stop and failure to report, plus obviously civil liability. Simple thing to do would be to get one of the cycling lawyer firms on the case.

    I doubt it's significant that there are motorised vehicle restrictions since you have a bike.

    Posted 11 years ago #

  4. ProntoPedalPower
    Member

    I know who did it and I'm in correspondence. They are trying to claim some sort of partial liability because the bike was parked on yellow lines, which I'm disputing. The front fork is now fixed and didn't cost a lot but there was a reasonable amount of inconvenience as you'd expect.

    It's not just about the damage costs, it's also about the dismissive nature of the correspondence, given we're dealing with a cargo bike here.

    Posted 11 years ago #

  5. ProntoPedalPower
    Member

    @crowriver, it's really about them admitting some sort of blame in the face of overwhelming evidence. And it'd be helpful if they'd accept responsibility for the bill, given they are at fault here.

    Posted 11 years ago #

  6. ProntoPedalPower
    Member

    Oh, sorry for numerous posts, I didn't report to police because I assumed (probably rather stupidly) that the party involved would just cover the costs of damage and that would be the end of it.

    Posted 11 years ago #

  7. crowriver
    Member

    The cargo bike rider's insurers will surely chase the van driver's insurers rather vigorously?

    Posted 11 years ago #

  8. Morningsider
    Member

    The main thing isn't to worry about the legal niceties of this - report the incident to the police as soon as you can (even just to get the relevant reference numbers) and contact your insurance company - I'm assuming you have one, since you are operating a business.

    Don't worry about the fact you had stopped on yellow lines (stopping to load/unload is allowed unless there are yellow markings on the kerb) - that is entirely separate from the fact the guy crushed your bike.

    Posted 11 years ago #

  9. bdellar
    Member

    Report it to the Polis. That should be the starting point.

    Posted 11 years ago #

  10. kaputnik
    Moderator

    Having a crime reference number will show you mean business and want to do it by the book and hopefully lead to a positive, timely conclusion in your favour.

    Also, you don't know that you aren't the first person to have reported this company for similar offences, so always worthwhile getting them on record. Next time it could be a kid they reverse over.

    Posted 11 years ago #

  11. ProntoPedalPower
    Member

    Thanks chaps, I'll let you know how things proceed.

    Posted 11 years ago #

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