Knocked off my bike

[brian_H]

Morning everyone. While out cycling yesterday morning I got knocked of my bike by a girl in a Fiesta. I had a suspected broken right arm and suspected fractured left wrist. I was taken to hospital via ambulance and due to me being threatened at the scene the police were called. Luckily a following car had dashcam footage showing this girl just driving into the side of me and sending me flying.
She tried to blame me but after the police watched the footage she was charged with careless driving and finally admitted responsibility.

Thankfully x-rays confirmed no breakages but I am in a lot of pain, can't even open a yogurt container or make myself a brew! I am a self employed contract engineer so unless there is a dramatic improvement over Easter I won't be able to work for a bit. Can type with 1 finger but can't work a mouse.

I aim to instigate proceedings against the driver for my bike (3 weeks old!) being damaged and my cycling clothing all being wrecked, loss of earnings etc but I have no idea what I am supposed to do next. I am hoping to get the crime report number of the police today.

Does anyone have any info on what happens next or recommendations on who to contact for advice?


Thanks for looking


Brian

[KrazyIvan]

Start with CAB or speak to your house insurance they maybe able to point you in the direction of some ine who can give you professional advice.

Hope you have a speedy recovery.

[SS2.]

I'd be contacting the driver's insurer and getting the ball rolling

[bunchofkeys]

Not sure if you're using a Windows or Mac computer, but with Windows you can switch the mouse buttons around. This will make it easier to use the mouse with your left hand until your right arm recovers.
It will be slower to work with, but at least you'll be working.

[elanfan]

SS2. said:

I'd be contacting the driver's insurer and getting the ball rolling

This all day long.

Keep a full record of all your costs (receipts), taxi rides, food whilst waiting for hospital appointments etc. Get receipts for damaged clothing, for bike repairs. Make sure they know how you earn your living and your rates - for the loss of earnings claim. Maybe they’ll pay for physio to get you back to work quicker. Other than that you should get a few quid for pain and suffering too. My tip - don’t settle too quickly it’s surprising how some minor injuries take longer than expected to settle down and too late to claim once you’ve settled.

Get the TP insurer to admit liability ASAP as that’ll help. Get and save the footage to multiple places. Get the witness drivers details for further evidence.

Now go get better.

[bigdom]

Not good, although expected in today’s society. Plenty of advice above, once better, can I suggest obtaining cycling insurance?

Being a member of British cycling or CTC would provide you with assistance in these types of incidents. In the meantime, I hope the recovery isn’t too arduous.

[brian_H]

Thanks for taking the time to reply guys. Much appreciated. As soon as I hear from the police I will call her insurance. My bike is going back into the shop I bought it from last month to be checked over and to have a report made on the damage.

[FazerBoy]

Get well soon!

Not all dashcammers are bad, eh...?

[R1gtr]

Hope you are on the mend soon, that sounds like quite a nasty incident. This may be better in the Speed,Plod and Law sub forum as there will be people there with experience of such situations.

[bigdom]

Although this helps in no way at all, I came upon this earlier on Twitter. I'm glad I've never felt the requirement to cycle like this though.

[anonymous-user]

Hello Brian. Hope you’re ok. I was knocked off in June last year. I’m a member of British Cycling so have their insurance. They use a company called Leigh Day to sort the claims out. Could be worth calling them directly.

Takes a while though to get the money.

[anonymous-user]

Yes, you want a personal injury solicitor to assist.

Leigh day is one, http://cyclingsolicitors.com/ is another

[Lindun]

The OP needs to tread carefully here to get the best result. If he goes to any of the solicitors being recommended then without a legal expenses policy they will be taking a large chunk of any compensation as part of their costs and success fee.

The starting point for the OP is to see if he has legal expenses cover on his home insurance, if not maybe his car insurance will have it and they might (but it is a might as it is probably restricted to claims under that policy) be extended to cover this.

If not then he’s looking at fees that could be fairly significant and reduce his payout by around a third.

It’s unlikely the other insurer will want to deal with this directly, as there is a clear and tricky injury which will take both time and physio to heal properly and so is not a quick pay out.

[Black can man]

I'd love to reply .

[anonymous-user]

Black can man said:

I'd love to reply .

Please do

[Rewe]

Black can man said:

I'd love to reply .

Are you the girl in the fiesta!!??

[zarjaz1991]

brian_H said:

Morning everyone. While out cycling yesterday morning I got knocked of my bike by a girl in a Fiesta. I had a suspected broken right arm and suspected fractured left wrist. I was taken to hospital via ambulance and due to me being threatened at the scene the police were called. Luckily a following car had dashcam footage showing this girl just driving into the side of me and sending me flying.
She tried to blame me but after the police watched the footage she was charged with careless driving and finally admitted responsibility.

Thankfully x-rays confirmed no breakages but I am in a lot of pain, can't even open a yogurt container or make myself a brew! I am a self employed contract engineer so unless there is a dramatic improvement over Easter I won't be able to work for a bit. Can type with 1 finger but can't work a mouse.

I aim to instigate proceedings against the driver for my bike (3 weeks old!) being damaged and my cycling clothing all being wrecked, loss of earnings etc but I have no idea what I am supposed to do next. I am hoping to get the crime report number of the police today.

Does anyone have any info on what happens next or recommendations on who to contact for advice?


Thanks for looking


Brian

My sympathies. I honestly don't know what some drivers are thinking when it comes to cyclists. Most cyclists are not difficult to spot. I think it's the same types who don't notice an ambulance on blue lights sitting right up their backside. No observation skills, no common sense, no use of mirrors.

I don't cycle much these days. I certainly wouldn't run the gauntlet of most main roads in my area, cycle lanes or not. Far too bloody dangerous. It's dangerous enough on them when you're a car driver.

[SVS]

KrazyIvan said:

Start with CAB or speak to your house insurance ...

That’s good advice, because house insurance can include legal cover for this sort of thing.

[elanfan]

Why speak to insurers when you can read your policy schedule.

[gazza285]

elanfan said:

Why speak to insurers when you can read your policy schedule.

You on glue?