Successful compensation?

mlgt

I had an accident just outside Richmond Park last year. I manged to write off my front wheel and cut my chin open on the side of the pavement.

What caused the accident? I believe there was glass on the road which led to a very quick deflation of the tyre and I basically was not able to steer the bike and went into this.
This normally leads onto a bike bath.

I was then told to try and get a claim from the council and therefore called the national accident helpline who put me in touch with a solicitor who deals with cycling claims. The accident happened in August.

My loss was a broken front Mavic Ksyrium front wheel, damaged clothing and scratched sunglasses.
I had 7 stitches to my chin and aches and pains for about 2 weeks. (Click if brave) https://imageshack.com/i/04ypz6j

A month after my accident I purchased a new wheel and had my bike serviced and was back on the road.

Fast forward 6 months, I have now recieved a letter from the claims company about a fee that they hope to recover. 50% of which will go towards their fees.

What I wanted to know was has anyone actually won such a claim? From the conversation I had last year, the council would have 1 month to reply back. Which meant by October I would have heard from them.
Why has it taken so long? Will I be successful in claiming compensation?

Or just let it go and move on

Thoughts welcome.

gethinceri

I think you probably now wear a beard.

aberdeen_lune

Wow that looks very nasty. I would just let the claim company get on with it. I take it they only get the fee if the claim is successful.

StillGoing

I can't see it winning. You'd have to prove the local authority knew the debris that caused the deflation was there and had done nothing to clear it up. It's the same with oil spills, pot holes, fallen tree branches etc.

mlgt

Gethinceri wrote:

I think you probably now wear a beard.

Haha Yes that is correct But it has healed quite nicely apart from the widest area cut.

Aberdeen_lune wrote:

Wow that looks very nasty. I would just let the claim company get on with it. I take it they only get the fee if the claim is successful.

Fair enough I will let it go on.

philthy3 wrote:

I can't see it winning. You'd have to prove the local authority knew the debris that caused the deflation was there and had done nothing to clear it up. It's the same with oil spills, pot holes, fallen tree branches etc.

Yes that was my main concern. We went back there pretty much a few days later with the accident photographer who was also an avid cyclist. However we couldnt find any debris, but there was a succession of potholes that had been badly covered. Im unsure on oil spill, but I was just unable to react that much apart from slam on the brakes. I couldnt even try to bunnyhop up the curb! If the curb part was there I probably would have bounced off that area or been pushed back into the road. Worse case was to just fall over

Will see how the case goes.

cougie

That pothole doesn't look too bad. Ordinarily you'd be able to ride through that fine. I think the issue is the glass - that's not the councils fault.

bompington

Can't comment on how likely you are to be successful, but I can tell you that I paid 20% fees for a no-win-no-fee claim, not 50!
I can only assume that either a) they're ripping you off, pure and simple, or b) the likelihood of success is factored into the fee, and it's not looking likely.

mlgt

Cheers for the replies. I will just let it be and see what the outcome is in a few months.

Not banking on it anyways and I hope to sell the current bike and purchase a Rose or Canyon at some stage.

Already saved half towards it since the accident so its no big deal. Life goes on

mlgt

Hi.

Just an update. Recieved a letter from the solicitors and they are not following up on the claim as it would deem to be over 51% fee etc.

Thoughts? Although I was on the bike pretty much after a few weeks and my chin healed up. The fact that I had an accident which I didnt cause. Judge from the damage on the wheel. Why would I want to break my wheel and cut my chin open?

Would it be worth my time to chase this on my own cause?

slowbike

An accident is an accident - they happen all the time.

If it was debris in the road that caused the accident then I think you'd have a hard job of proving the council negligent - as Philthy3 said back on the 1st March.

d_o_g

Always best to monitor the road surface which you are riding on to avoid hazards. Like so many accidents, you probably could have avoided it.

Learn from it, rather than pass the blame on to the public purse.

robpiper

I hit a pothole last November, causing some small damage to bike and minor injuries. I completed a claim direct to council without the help of a helpline. They replied in March refusing to pay out and cited several reasons for this. Those reasons were flawed so I appealed with further evidence and I've just had an email offering me £600 as a pay out. The moral is, if you structure your case then they will pay out!

TakeTurns

Count yourself lucky that a car didn't crush you from behind.
Life goes on, leave it behind. If you're still cross about it, help report/petition about all the dangerous potholes.

mlgt

Yes I have counted myself lucky and moved on straight away.
The fact that someone said I should try the no win no fee was just to try it out.

Can say no harm done, but actually made me lose confidence on the bike straight after recovering, but not its all forgotten and smashing my PR all the time.

So what cant kill you, makes you stronger and all that jazz

Move along people.. nothing to see here hehehe..

Bozman

D O G wrote:

Always best to monitor the road surface which you are riding on to avoid hazards. Like so many accidents, you probably could have avoided it.

Learn from it, rather than pass the blame on to the public purse.

:roll:

Easier said than done, I'd like to see you monitor a road surface when you're descending at 35/40mph on a shaded road.

d_o_g

Well I shouldn't be going that fast then, should I?!

dizarch

Move on. As much as it hurt (and it looks like it hurt a lot) you'll only be feeding the parasitic claims industry which means councils pay out more of our taxes to them rather than to fixing roads.

mlgt

Cheers for the various responses.

Nothing I could have done to avoid it. Ive rode RP lots of times, but havent done so since.
The fact that I wasnt able to control the bike and slamming my brakes to hit a removed pavement slab is not my idea of fun.

However lesson learnt from it is be a little more cautious, and to not ride so close to others to give myself even more of a open space to visually engage on my riding.

Will be planning a ride to RP in the next few weeks.