Good Solicitor??

Andy Clarkecp

Hi,
I am looking for advice as to a good solicitor.
A nice guy didn't see me at a roundabout and after a rest on his bonnet and a lesson in gymnastics I managed to be helped up with two knees without skin and a sprained wrist.
He trashed my bike and most of the gear I was wearing.
An ambulance and the Police attended.
The guy admitted he didn't see me and the Police are charging him with careless driving.
I'm not after what isn't mine, however the LBS has estimated nearly £1k to replace said clothing and bike parts.
Anybody had experience of similar and know a good soilicitor?
Thanks for any advice.

feel

Motorcycle magazines have solicitors listed in the back who specialise in claims for motorbike riders. If you don't get any specific recommendations here it might be worth looking in the back of a cycling magazine.

good luck and a speedy recovery.

sonicred007

http://www.rjw.co.uk/

these helped me after a similar situation

don't be apologetic is my advice. you could have been killed and who is to know how you might feel as a result in the future

he hit you, it's a car insurance, get professional advice like I got

keep a diary of how you feel

Photograph your injuries and damage to the bike

although I had a witnessm the legal case fell down, but the injury/damages claim went through and these solicitors were v helpful and guided me ever step of the way

spen666

sonicred007 wrote:

...

although I had a witnessm the legal case fell down, but the injury/damages claim went through and these solicitors were v helpful and guided me ever step of the way

Surely some contradiction here?
legal case? Isn't the PI claim a legal case?

piedwagtail91

a bit late now but if you're in the ctc they handle it all for you, just a couple of forms to fill in and a few phone calls. i think they use russell jones and walker who are experienced in cycle claims, whether they take on other claims i don't know.
get and keep receipts for everything from painkillers to petrol, if they can help you they'll tell you to do that anyway.

edit see link above on sonicred007.

spasypaddy

http://www.cycle-claims.co.uk/

This is who is dealing with my claim, if its as simple as he has admitted liability then it will get dealt with quickly and efficiently by someone called Helen (very very helpful lady) if not it gets passed onto their legal team who work soley on a no-win no-fee basis!

My case has taken an age and im going to see a doctor tomorrow sent by the solicitor after my accident on june 1st

sonicred007

spen666 wrote:

sonicred007 wrote:

...

although I had a witnessm the legal case fell down, but the injury/damages claim went through and these solicitors were v helpful and guided me ever step of the way

Surely some contradiction here?
legal case? Isn't the PI claim a legal case?

Legal as in the law of the land. The driver wasn't punished for hitting me as the police couldn't prove it without a written statement from the witness and after a posting a second reminder, they do not go round a get one, they end the case.

Whereas my personal damages claim against the driver was claimed from the drivers insurance. I'm guessing the insurance comapny knows the solicitor will go to the witness for a statment if it got to court

Which for me was rewarding in terms of money, but I was ultimately disappointed that someone could admit at the scene, to a policeman, that he did not see me, but after wards the police can not punish him for driving without due care and attention

Does that make sense now?

Semantics are so confusing

top_bhoy

sonicred007 wrote:

spen666 wrote:

sonicred007 wrote:

...

although I had a witnessm the legal case fell down, but the injury/damages claim went through and these solicitors were v helpful and guided me ever step of the way

Surely some contradiction here?
legal case? Isn't the PI claim a legal case?

Legal as in the law of the land. The driver wasn't punished for hitting me as the police couldn't prove it without a written statement from the witness and after a posting a second reminder, they do not go round a get one, they end the case.

Whereas my personal damages claim against the driver was claimed from the drivers insurance. I'm guessing the insurance comapny knows the solicitor will go to the witness for a statment if it got to court

Which for me was rewarding in terms of money, but I was ultimately disappointed that someone could admit at the scene, to a policeman, that he did not see me, but after wards the police can not punish him for driving without due care and attention

Does that make sense now?

Semantics are so confusing

It all seems rather sad that a person can be pretty seriously injured and yet nothing is done, either from the point of view of the driver facing further investigation ie court, or the witness facing sanctions for ignoring prosecution requests. It doesn't give much confidence in the system. Is it possible the driver admitted guilt to a lesser charge and accepted a fixed penalty fine of some sort?

sonicred007

No. the police do keep in touch with you and they rang and wrote to confirm they would not be pursuing the prosecution any further after sending two letters to the witness and hearing nothing.

Seems to me that if I was killed then they might do it, but if you're not at least maimed, human resources mean more than the law

piedwagtail91

i got the same police treatment when i was knocked off.
the woman went through a non existant gap between me and an on coming car, knocked me off and drove away, i got a reg. no. and a following motorist was a witness. the police found her later that day, decided not to bring charges because it would "serve no purpose" and i would be ok because i "could claim from her insurance".
i made an offiical complaint but still got nowhere, the Criminal Protection Service was the problem i was told.
thing is when the cop arrived at the scene and i told him i was suprised he'd turned up at all, he siad we should report all near misses and bad driving.
i said we'd need two way radio to do that as it occurred regularly and that the police did nothing anyway.
he siad that wasn't true.
when i put that to him when he told me that no charges were being brought he went very quiet and was called away.

McBain_v1

wagtail - the Police have more pressing problems at the moment, like how to protect their over-inflated salaries and stupdendously generous pension provisions :evil:

orv

McBain_v1 wrote:

the Police have more pressing problems at the moment, like how to protect their over-inflated salaries and stupdendously generous pension provisions :evil:

couldn't disagree with you more. :x

they have a crap job to do and are treating like crap most of the time. they are poorly looked after for what they have to go through and most of them do it because they want to make a difference and do the right thing, not because of the pay.
most of the problems of the police are created by the whims of successive governments introducing crackpot schemes, initiatives and arbitrary targets.

NFMC

It's almost always the CPS where criminal cases fall down. They have to apply a 'reasonable chance of success' test and if some paperwork or evidence is missing then they won't go forward. It would be very easy for any motorist to say that they admitted fault immediately to the policeman but that was because of the immediate shock of hitting someone and, on reflection, maybe they weren't to blame.

Anyway.

My advice to the original poster is to find a local solicitor. Even though this involves a bike it's still a relatively straightforward personal injury claim. The benefits of having someone you can sit down with probably outweigh any specialist knowledge that some of the firms here may have.

Speak to family and friends or even to your own insurers (home insurers) or employer and they'll point you to someone locally.

That's my advice. Please feel free to disregard if you wish!

alfablue

McBain_v1 wrote:

wagtail - the Police have more pressing problems at the moment, like how to protect their over-inflated salaries and stupdendously generous pension provisions :evil:

Another one that couldn't disagree with you more!

Their salaries are modest, their job is at times, horrendous!

jellybellywmb

I got knocked off and simply contacted his insurance company (these have to be subbmitted to the police) and they made me gate 2 quotes and settled full amount without inspections or anything.
It was very simple and painless really (Apart from a numb arse for 3 weeks where I landed on his bonnet)

Read in the paper a few months on that he got 9 points and £420 fine for driving without due care.

Try and keep it freindly to start with before involving solicitors.
I wouldn't try claiming personal injury really unless your injuries left you out of pocket in someway just seems like a lot of stress for a bit of money

DavidTQ

jellybellywmb wrote:

I got knocked off and simply contacted his insurance company (these have to be subbmitted to the police) and they made me gate 2 quotes and settled full amount without inspections or anything.
It was very simple and painless really (Apart from a numb ars* for 3 weeks where I landed on his bonnet)

Read in the paper a few months on that he got 9 points and £420 fine for driving without due care.

Try and keep it freindly to start with before involving solicitors.
I wouldn't try claiming personal injury really unless your injuries left you out of pocket in someway just seems like a lot of stress for a bit of money

Was that for your crash or a seperate incident?

passout

The adjective ('good') doesn't match the noun.

sonicred007

orv wrote:

McBain_v1 wrote:

the Police have more pressing problems at the moment, like how to protect their over-inflated salaries and stupdendously generous pension provisions :evil:

couldn't disagree with you more. :x

they have a crap job to do and are treating like crap most of the time. they are poorly looked after for what they have to go through and most of them do it because they want to make a difference and do the right thing, not because of the pay.
most of the problems of the police are created by the whims of successive governments introducing crackpot schemes, initiatives and arbitrary targets.

Most of them... ?

What we're talking about is an accident, a witness and then nothing more than mailing out a letter and then giving up

What has that to do with successive governments

spen666

sonicred007 wrote:

...

Legal as in the law of the land. The driver wasn't punished for hitting me as the police couldn't prove it without a written statement from the witness and after a posting a second reminder, they do not go round a get one, they end the case.

Whereas my personal damages claim against the driver was claimed from the drivers insurance. I'm guessing the insurance comapny knows the solicitor will go to the witness for a statment if it got to court

Which for me was rewarding in terms of money, but I was ultimately disappointed that someone could admit at the scene, to a policeman, that he did not see me, but after wards the police can not punish him for driving without due care and attention

Does that make sense now?

Semantics are so confusing

civil cases are legal cases as are criminal cases.

I presume you are trying to say he was not successfully prosecuted, but you were able to recover compensation in a civil case.

spen666

NFMC wrote:

It's almost always the CPS where criminal cases fall down. ..!

That is totally unfair on the CPS.


They are must only to take cases to trial where:

a) there is sufficient admissible evidenxce to justify a realistic prospect of conviction
b) it is in the public interest to proceed

The code they are required to apply is here
http://www.cps.gov.uk/victims_witnesses/introduction.html

or here

http://www.cps.gov.uk/publications/docs/code2004english.pdf

The biggest problem facing CPS lawyers is that there is insufficient admissible evidence.


In the example given by sonic and top bhoy, it looks to me that there was a lack of admissible evidence- ie there was no evidence from the witness!

In the other case, I suspect if you checked matters out, thepolice never took witness statements from witness or victim or interviewed the driver Without this, again there is insufficient admissible evidence

NFMC

That is totally unfair on the CPS.

Having read it again I should make it clear that I wasn't criticising the CPS (honest!)...it's just that the previous posts seemed to be suggesting that it was the police who were making the decision not to 'move forward' with the case when - in my experience - it's normally the CPS who make the decision.

spen666

NFMC wrote:

That is totally unfair on the CPS.

Having read it again I should make it clear that I wasn't criticising the CPS (honest!)...it's just that the previous posts seemed to be suggesting that it was the police who were making the decision not to 'move forward' with the case when - in my experience - it's normally the CPS who make the decision.

actually not so in most traffic cases, they don't fall in the statutory charging scheme and so the police make the decision, as they do in a lot of statutory charging cases where there is clearly not sufficient evidence. It doesn't stop the police telling victim its CPS fault as this is a good way of diverting anger of victim from the person in front of them




PS I neither work for the police nor for the CPS

top_bhoy

I had a case (under scots law) where a guy in a car failed to stop and came speeding out at a give way sign, smashed into the side of my car and knocked me into the path of oncoming traffic. Luckily the traffic was able to stop in time however the car, valued at 3000 quid, was written off.

The police later told me that the decision of the policeman attending the scene would be not to charge the other driver and there is nothing I could do to appeal the decision of this policeman. What pi$$ed me off was that should I (or anyone for matter) have been driving along (and been caught) with a bald tyre, caused no accident, the person would be subject to an automatic fine and penalty points.

Seems unjust that some cases attract no penalties even where damage and a breach of traffic laws, is easily proven!!! The system is not transparent and there should be some right of appeal in such cases - if only to keep idiots off the road.

blorg

Andy Clarkecp- if you are just claiming for damages to equipment and not personal injury, as jellybellywmb suggests maybe you don't even need a solicitor. As the driver has admitted liability, and is being charged with careless driving, I doubt you are going to have much trouble. £1,000 is not a lot in cases like this and likely he or his insurance will just pay up.

If there is a hint of trouble you could remind them that you are perfectly entitled to retain a solicitor and claim for your injuries as well. Ultimately you would win and the total cost will be a lot more than £1,000. Get well soon and make sure you don't have any other more serious injuries though.

sonicred007 has good advice, make sure to document everything.

piedwagtail91- I'm amazed this woman wasn't charged, that was a hit and run which is an offence in and of itself.

sonicred007

spen666 wrote:

sonicred007 wrote:

...

Legal as in the law of the land. The driver wasn't punished for hitting me as the police couldn't prove it without a written statement from the witness and after a posting a second reminder, they do not go round a get one, they end the case.

Whereas my personal damages claim against the driver was claimed from the drivers insurance. I'm guessing the insurance comapny knows the solicitor will go to the witness for a statment if it got to court

Which for me was rewarding in terms of money, but I was ultimately disappointed that someone could admit at the scene, to a policeman, that he did not see me, but after wards the police can not punish him for driving without due care and attention

Does that make sense now?

Semantics are so confusing

civil cases are legal cases as are criminal cases.

I presume you are trying to say he was not successfully prosecuted, but you were able to recover compensation in a civil case.

Yes. It just seemed bizarre to me that his bad driving wasn't punished. Just his damage to me. Which is fine for me, who got off, reasonably ok, but the next person he hits may not be so lucky

sonicred007

blorg wrote:

Andy Clarkecp- if you are just claiming for damages to equipment and not personal injury, as jellybellywmb suggests maybe you don't even need a solicitor. As the driver has admitted liability, and is being charged with careless driving, I doubt you are going to have much trouble. £1,000 is not a lot in cases like this and likely he or his insurance will just pay up.

If there is a hint of trouble you could remind them that you are perfectly entitled to retain a solicitor and claim for your injuries as well. Ultimately you would win and the total cost will be a lot more than £1,000. Get well soon and make sure you don't have any other more serious injuries though.

sonicred007 has good advice, make sure to document everything.

piedwagtail91- I'm amazed this woman wasn't charged, that was a hit and run which is an offence in and of itself.

the only thing I'd add is that the original correspondence with the drivers insurers denied liability, which was scary and surprising.

things sorted themselves out, but be patient... get a no win no fee solicitor though. It's not worth the headache of the insurers admin cycle for you to deal with it via the driver. IMO