Afternoon All,
I've been following your forum for a wee while now, intending to contribute but not quite getting around to it until now. It's a great thing - congrats to you all for making it so useful and informative. I'd hoped that my introductory post might have been on a more light-hearted subject, but unfortunately I'm instead prompted by the fact that my 15 year-old son was hit by a car last Friday afternoon.
He was cycling down into Portobello after rugby training at Cavalry Park. At the junction after Porty High (Duddingston Park/Baileyfield Road), he went straight across on green and the car opposite him (coming up from Porty along Brighton Place) turned right into him and hit him head on. He hit the windscreen hard enough to completely smash it, went over the roof and landed on the road at the back of the car. He was whisked off to the Royal braced on one of those rigid boards, his neck in a brace, but after a series of checks he was allowed home later that evening. Incredibly, he escaped with only a few cuts and scrapes, a couple of stitches above one eyebrow and a particularly spectacular black eye. He was wearing a rucksack which he had only a few minutes earlier stuffed with a giant bag of cheesy puffs and, with the initial impact being to his back, he thinks they acted like an airbag in absorbing the worst of the shock. He was also wearing a helmet which, judging by the damage to it, definitely prevented worse injuries.
The driver of the car has admitted liability (the sun was in his eyes, apparently!!) and the police have said that he will be charged with careless driving/driving without due care and attention.
Unfortunately, his bicycle wasn't as lucky. It was a lovely vintage Raleigh - dark blue skinny 531 steel frame - and even though it's on loan from ERC, with whom my son rides (along with the rest of my family) and he'd only been riding it for a few months, he'd kind of fallen in love with it. The frame is bent in several places, both wheels are buckled, the handlebars are bent, one crank is bent and the saddle is torn.
Anyway, being in the fortunate position of never having had to deal with this sort of thing before, I wondered if any of you had and if so what would be your advice on how to proceed. Specifically, do you think I should get a lawyer involved? I've always had a slightly jaundiced view of personal accident lawyers and am minded to just claim direct (particularly as my son's injuries are not too serious) but is that naive?
Any thoughts gratefully considered.
Hoping to contribute on more enjoyable topics in the future....
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Questions/Support/Help
Accident - advice on claiming
(11 posts)- Started 12 years ago by tj
- Latest reply from tj
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Posted 12 years ago #
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Welcome
Thanks for your initial remarks!
Glad your son is OK.
Now there will be a fashion for back-based snacks!
Nice to know there is a 15 year old who likes 531!
There's a bicycle claims lawyer on the forum who may be along to give advice.
It'll be a lot easier as the driver admitted liability.
I'm sure ERC via the British Cycling lawyers(?) can also help.
Posted 12 years ago # -
As chdot says, BicycleLegal may be along, and ERC may be able to help (though any specific insurance help is probably limited to when riding on a club run or the like).
That junction is just down from my house, ridden and driven through it lots of times, and it seems to create a 'must race for the lights' attitude. I think coming up from Porty it's because people have had to slow and (shock horror) possibly wait at the ceded priority bridge narrowing.
The most important thing, however, is that your son is okay (and probably bragging about it already to his mates).
Posted 12 years ago # -
I would get in touch with Bike Legal
the way you describe it and the fact the driver was charged
sounds like a good chance of a claim(and rightly so)Posted 12 years ago # -
Or try these guys.
http://www.cycling-accident-compensation.co.uk/Posted 12 years ago # -
Don't go it alone, because there's every chance you'll be given a massive runaround (regardless of who admitted liability - for instance, they can still tell you they want to make a 90% reduction for contributory negligence).
Having a professional on-side will make sure you aren't taken advantage of.
There's also the question of injury compensation (or, if it helps to think of it this way - don't make it harder for people with serious injuries to get the support they need from the other party's insurers by helping to create an environment where a hospital trip and treatment is considered "just what you have to put up with"...)
There are all sorts of implications, for instance if you tried just to claim for the bike, the driver may well be able to get re-insured with an at-fault claim where "nobody was injured", even though they were responsible for an ambulence ride, etc.
Posted 12 years ago # -
Not wishing to push you away from this forum, but the London fixed gear forum has an excellent thread on the various options. http://www.lfgss.com/thread4213.html. Well worth a read through.
And welcome!
Posted 12 years ago # -
I hope your son makes a speedy recovery!
Try and get the weather situation on that day, the time of the incident and where the sun was at that time of day. My suspision would be the driver is trying to shift the blame on the weather i.e the sun! If you have witnesses ask them whether it was cloudy or sunny at the time. If you need help with this I can come along and show you how, with a analogue watch set at the right time you can very easily show which direction the sun is. pm me if I can help.
Good luck with any prosecution and any other civil suit against the driver for damages.
Dave C
I think this also shows how important helmets are. I know I'll have detractors on this. I don't want to steer this thread off its original direction.
Posted 12 years ago # -
Shouldn't have mentioned it then ;-)
Posted 12 years ago # -
Hello tj.
Sorry to hear about your son's incident and glad to hear the injuries were not more severe. I expect sales of cheesy puffs in the Edinburgh area will experience a sudden spike over the next few days.
I would advise you to at least speak with a solicitor before proceeding further. Ideally, get a lawyer to represent your son in making a claim. I would really advise against trying to go it alone where injuries are involved.
You have a number of options for representation and it is possible to get a solicitor without having to pay something out of your son's compensation. I know of at least one other solicitors firm that offers this and there are routes you can take to firms through, for example, BC or CTC membership which might mean nothing comes out of compensation.
In relation to liability, it is good that the driver made an admission at the scene but sometimes the story changes once they speak with their insurance company. I had a case once where a driver signed a note admitting liability then later had the nerve to deny even being there. Liability should be straightforward here though unless the driver tells his insurance company that your son jumped a red light or something similar.
The insurance company is unlikely to defend it on the basis that the sun was in the driver's eyes so if the driver tells them that, there should not be a problem.
Hope this helps but feel free to PM me if you wish.
Posted 12 years ago # -
Thanks to everyone for all you helpful comments. Looks like the consensus is to get some legal advice, so I'll away and do that...
Posted 12 years ago #
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