Permanently injured by careless driver -venting & advice

PaulWelv

I was hit by a car on July 13th 2014. In Kennington the driver overtook me whilst I was cycling in a cycle lane & turned left immediately in fron of me hit my front wheel at speed (approx. 30mph). I was thrown onto the road when he struck my front wheel & my elbow was broken in 3 places. I had to have my elbow wired together for 7 months. After 2 operations I am now permanently injured & have lost a significant amount of range of motion in the arm. I still have to wear a turnbuckle splint on my arm for 28hours a week in order to try to prevent further loss of movement in the arm. It doesn't look like I will ever be pain free from the injury. The matter has been incredibly expensive. I have had to pay for a lot of physiotherapy to regain limited use of my arm & have lost earnings due to the need to attend physiotherapists, occupational therapists, surgery & orthopaedic appointments. Despite the driver accepting he was at fault, he was simply asked to attend a 6hour driver alertness course. I am down about £10K for my medical costs & loss of earnings over a year after the accident.
Has anyone had experience encouraging the police to press for less lenient punishment of bad drivers or can anyone recommend a decent personal injury lawyer? Has anyone used a personal injury lawyer they trusted?

chrisaonabike

Sounds awful, so sorry to hear this.

Was he not insured?

redvee

http://www.alysonfrance.co.uk/

This firm of solicitors specialise in cycle accident claims, give them a bell/email.

Basic initial advice is to keep all receipts you've spent on items relating to your accident, public transport, doctors, bike shop quotes etc.

StillGoing

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19670574#p19670574]PaulWelv[/url] wrote:

I was hit by a car on July 13th 2014. In Kennington the driver overtook me whilst I was cycling in a cycle lane & turned left immediately in fron of me hit my front wheel at speed (approx. 30mph). I was thrown onto the road when he struck my front wheel & my elbow was broken in 3 places. I had to have my elbow wired together for 7 months. After 2 operations I am now permanently injured & have lost a significant amount of range of motion in the arm. I still have to wear a turnbuckle splint on my arm for 28hours a week in order to try to prevent further loss of movement in the arm. It doesn't look like I will ever be pain free from the injury. The matter has been incredibly expensive. I have had to pay for a lot of physiotherapy to regain limited use of my arm & have lost earnings due to the need to attend physiotherapists, occupational therapists, surgery & orthopaedic appointments. Despite the driver accepting he was at fault, he was simply asked to attend a 6hour driver alertness course. I am down about £10K for my medical costs & loss of earnings over a year after the accident.
Has anyone had experience encouraging the police to press for less lenient punishment of bad drivers or can anyone recommend a decent personal injury lawyer? Has anyone used a personal injury lawyer they trusted?

The CPS have to go likely sentencing v cost of bringing a case to court. The fact that your RTC resulted in a permanent injury, I'm surprised they haven't gone for a prosecution for dangerous driving. But none the less, you can't persuade the CPS to prosecute above the likely punishment for the offence charged. If the driver was uninsured, it is a further aggravating factor that should be considered.

You now need to get a solicitor on board who will arrange medical consultations to confirm the level of your disability in order to make a claim for the injury, any treatment already undergone and likely future treatment. If it is going to effect your employment or lifestyle, this would also be part of the claim along with damages to clothing and equipment.

Zerotails99

The justice system in general doesn't take into account the impact the crime has on the victim. They just look at the seriousness of the offence.

Claiming compensation will be pretty straight forward since the driver has accepted full responsibility.

PaulWelv

The driver was insured, but my lawyers are reluctant to request payment any further for my costs. I have had costs of approx. £20K so far & have had £10k from the bad driver's insurance company so far. They won't pay any further money until a formal settlement is made. Meanwhile I'm £10K down and the guy that hit me has done his 6hour driving alertness course and has forgotten about the matter.

bristolpete

http://barcankirby.co.uk/

These people are excellent, a small practice in Bristol and some serious road / cyclist within the team and people you can trust and have faith in. Worth a look.

StillGoing

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19671893#p19671893]PaulWelv[/url] wrote:

The driver was insured, but my lawyers are reluctant to request payment any further for my costs. I have had costs of approx. £20K so far & have had £10k from the bad driver's insurance company so far. They won't pay any further money until a formal settlement is made. Meanwhile I'm £10K down and the guy that hit me has done his 6hour driving alertness course and has forgotten about the matter.

I doubt he's forgotten about it as every time his renewal comes up, he'll get a nice little reminder in the form of loaded premiums.

Your solicitor is probably reluctant to make the claim at this time as the full extent of your restriction and long term prognosis is not known. Any claim now would be made on the facts as they are and not what they might be. After the final settlement you might have a prognosis that your injury is not going to improve and you will need several more surgical procedures. Having already received settlement, it would be difficult to try and claim for the additional costs/restrictions.

I don't understand why you are incurring costs though. You are surely either going through the NHS or private health insurance, neither of which would burden you with costs? If you don't have health insurance and have decided to just pay out for private health care, that is your choice and not the responsibility of the 3rd party insurers. Let's assume you don't have private health insurance; they have to make reparations for reasonable costs and not because you opted to pay for private health care when the NHS is "freely" available. They might be obligated to make a contribution, but not the full costs.

bendertherobot

If you're out of pocket and struggling your solicitor should be making an application for an interim payment. Ask him to do this.

ic.

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19672042#p19672042]bendertherobot[/url] wrote:

If you're out of pocket and struggling your solicitor should be making an application for an interim payment. Ask him to do this.

Good advice

Plus, your solicitor works for YOU, not the other way around. If you want to settle at any point, you are quite within your rights to do so. They may advise against it, they may say you will get less etc etc but it is still your choice.

bendertherobot

In fact, you shouldn't even really need to ask. If they are aware of the fact that you're suffering, they should be advising you on doing it. Hell, the insurers for the driver should be offering it so as to minimise their losses (interest is payable on damages). Plus, they should be following the rehabilitation code and ensuring that proper medical treatment is carried out quickly so as to promote recovery.

turbotommy

My partner was involved in a car accident while pregnant with our daughter. Like your case, hers was pretty cut and dry,as the other driver accepted responsibility early on. She used Osbornes solicitors in Camden Town rather than going with a bigger firm as they were recommended by a friend. I have to say they were excellent and I am always happy to recommend them. They gave us very good advice, were very diligent, and also very sensitive towards my partner at a time when she didn't need any more agrovation. Sorry to hear about your ongoing issues. all the very best for your ongoing recovery.

PaulWelv

Thanks for the advice, appreciate your information, very helpful.
I've approached the 1st law firm suggested & started initial talks with them to transfer the case. They seem eminently more suitable & responsive than the ambulance chasers I have had to deal with so far.
Just as an FYI I had no choice but to pay for private healthcare - the availability of physiotherapists & occupational therapists via the NHS was very infrequent at very long intervals - I had no issues with their quality, just the frequency I was able to see them. The costs I have had to bear haven't just been for healthcare - I'm self employed so each time I have had surgery etc. I have lost pay.
Thanks again for the tips, it is good to be in touch with a lawyer I don't feel perpetuates an awful stereotype.

bendertherobot

Interim payments are designed for that. You have to show that you will, in effect win (that seems to be a given in your case) and that you will recover a substantial sum. There's no definition of that in law. But, from your description, that also seems a given.

You're then entitled to a reasonable proportion of that substantial sum. You don't even have to show a specific need for it. You can tell the Judge you're going to blow it on coke and hookers. But, clearly, if you can demonstrate a particular need it does tend to make the application go somewhat easier.

Getting an interim payment requires that Court proceedings be issued. The threat of needing to do that, thus increasing costs etc, should see the insurer pay out in the interim just to keep costs and interest down. That's the conversation that should be taking place with your new lawyers. Hope they sort it.