accident

gazeds

just wondering if anyone has been in this position, last wednesday i was hit head on by a guy in a white van, ended being taken to hospital by ambulance, remarkably no broken bones, but in absolute agony with bruises, unable to walk without being in pain, my bike a giant fcr2 07 with new shimano rs20 wheelset is completely knackered. the guy has been charged by the police and admitted it was his fault plus theres a witness. but what i want to know is what can i expect in the way of compensation

South Bound

Compensation? Sounds more like an insurance claim for your bike and then a no win no fee claim for any injuries...

moonshine

if you are a gold or silver member of the BCF, phone and speak to their solicitors, who will act on your behalf FOC.

If are not a member..... well you should have been and you'll have to take your chances with a firm of specialist solicitors.

gazeds

im afraid im not a member of bcf. will i have my bike replaced with a new one or just be compensated with the bikes current value

moonshine

Sorry to here about the accident. Bikes can be replaced . You can't, so be thankful for that .

That's a pity. To is really worth the £36 to have 3rd party insurance & legal advice.

Assuming the driver has insurance, you'll need to claim against his insurer. They will deal with the claim as if you were another vehicle, i.e. Material claim (bike) plus personal injury.

You will need to initiate proceedings. If you were in a car , you would call your insurer, who would act on your behalf. They would appoint a solicitor & hopefully the case would be settled. As you have no insurer, you will need to instruct someone to act on your behalf,

Don't expect a quick resolution . Maybe 6 months or more.

Get well soon.

deptfordmarmoset

Hit head on by a van? Very very scary.

If you don't have insurance, I gather from accident accounts over on the commuting thread that CTC will give advice and sometimes legal help even though there was no policy in place at the time of the accident. If the driver has admitted liability, it might be a relatively straightforward (from a legal point of view) case and it might be one of those cases that they'll take on. (Note: I'm only going on what I've read so I can't speak from personal experience.)

spen666

The membership of CTC or Bc is a red herring.

all they do is pass you onto a firm like Russell Jones & Walker who handle your claim on a no win no fee basdis.

you can instruct RJWW, or any other firm of personal injury lawyers on a no win no fee basis.

Remember though to instruct a firm of lawyers, not claims handelers. i suggest you try RJW or Alison french at Bikeline

Bikerbaboon

fomr my crashes generaly its worked out...

1st time car pulling out from a side road... police prosicuted and convicted of driveing with out due care.
6 months for the insurers to accept liability and then a futher 6 months to sort out amount to be paid for my broken left foot and broken right ankle.. and my month in hospital. I did manage to get interrim payments for a new bike and such but realy had to puch for it.


2nd time rear ended waiting at a round about. I had a voice mail from the guys insurers asking for me call them back where they asked if i was ok and asked when it would be ok for them to pick up the motor bike and drop of the hire bike. 1 week later i had my bike back and reaired.. i was not injured so no claim on that one.

all depends on the other side and how they want to play it. GL with the claim.

mantaray

After an accident, the advice I was given by a solicitor is that the total likely claim of any proceedings generally needs to be above £1000 for them to take the case on, so that they can be assured of being paid. It would sound like you are well above that, so would be in a good position.

Leigh Day were recommended to me.

Aggieboy

I went through this a few years ago. It's all quite simple. I phoned National Accident Helpline who sent me a list of solicitor's near me, to choose from. I contacted one, had a meeting, collected receipts, photographed injuries/scars, had a further Dr's examination etc etc. My bike, a Condor Squadra, was wrecked, but I kept it to prove what fantastic condition it was in proir to the accident. Don't expect fast results, it took two years to settle my claim.

moonshine

spen666 wrote:

The membership of CTC or Bc is a red herring.
quote]

No it is not.....how much would it cost if you were found to be at fault? Not relevant in this case, but if you hit a Bentley and did 20K of damage, the car insurers could come after you personally...

thats where the real value of CTC / BCF membership lies.....

They initially passed me to LEigh Day, but as im in scotland, LD passed it to a Scottish firm as legislation is different here.

gazeds

the policeman involved contacted me the next day and said the van driver had been charged with careless driving and it was a clean cut case, so in that respect would the van drivers insurer have to legally compensate me.

moonshine

Thats good, but he may decide to go to court rather than plead guilty & even then the insurance firm may take a long time.

cover yourself by taking legal advice sooner than later. photograph everything, draw diagrams, get names don't throw out the broken bike of damaged clothing.

It will pay dividends in the long term.

Don't rely on us muppets on an internet forum.... use the professionals ( and i don'r mean Bodie & Doyle!)

best of luck and take the painkillers.

GiantMike

moonshine wrote:

Don't rely on us muppets on an internet forum....

Ha ha. So that's the whole forum concept doomed then!

spen666

moonshine wrote:

spen666 wrote:

The membership of CTC or Bc is a red herring.

No it is not.....how much would it cost if you were found to be at fault? Not relevant in this case, but if you hit a Bentley and did 20K of damage, the car insurers could come after you personally...

thats where the real value of CTC / BCF membership lies.....

They initially passed me to LEigh Day, but as im in scotland, LD passed it to a Scottish firm as legislation is different here.

D'oh

Strange that in this case its clear liability is not on the part of the cyclist

My remarks stand



It is a different issue re liabilty to others.



Membership of BC or CTC or LCC or any other group is of no benefit to recovering damages from another party

spen666

moonshine wrote:

Thats good, but he may decide to go to court rather than plead guilty & even then the insurance firm may take a long time.

cover yourself by taking legal advice sooner than later. photograph everything, draw diagrams, get names don't throw out the broken bike of damaged clothing.

It will pay dividends in the long term.

Don't rely on us muppets on an internet forum.... use the professionals ( and i don'r mean Bodie & Doyle!)

best of luck and take the painkillers.

Muppets?

Speak for yourself

Some of us are professionals - some of us know what we are talking about.

Porgy

the one time I instructed a lawyer to make a claim - in 2003/04 ish - the lawyer asked for 3 grand for personal injury and replacment of bike.

The driver's insurnace company came straight back at me with a claim for exactly three grand damage to the car.

Funny that.

I was advised to drop the case which I did.