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Cyclist wins £7,000 after crash sent him through car window

The 34-year-old was left with a broken collar bone and other injuries, leaving him unable to work

A cyclist has won a £7,000 payout after a motorist crashed into him and sent him flying into the car's window. 

Edward Forth was riding along when the driver pulled out in front of him causing him to go straight through the vehicles' side window. 

The 34-year-old, from Leeds was left with a broken collar bone and other injuries, leaving him unable to work and then subsequently unable to carry out large elements of his role when he returned due to his injuries.

Mr Forth said: “I was cycling home from work, a route I’ve been doing for the past five years. I was keeping within the designated lane for cyclists and buses.

"It was rush hour in the city centre and the cars were all sat in a traffic jam.

"As I was coming along the cycle lane a car pulled out of a side street directly into my lane in front of me. I went into the side of the car and my shoulder went through the driver’s side window.”

Leeds Live report visit to the hospital showed Mr Forth had broken his collarbone and damaged both his knee and ankle. He also suffered multiple bruises and scrapes.

He added: “The driver had pulled out into a yellow box as if it was his right of way. There weren’t any other cars in the box as they were all sat in traffic.

"He claimed not to have seen me, despite me being in extra hi-vis clothing and lights. He was under the impression that he was right to have been in the yellow box, blaming me.

"Misunderstood rules which are there for the protection of cyclists can lead to serious injury and consequences...”.

He said: “I was off work for two weeks and then worked part-time for a further fortnight. Due to my job involving a fair amount of physical work moving equipment, I couldn’t fulfil my role to its maximum capacity for several months."

It was over two months before Edward could cycle to work on his bike again.

When he sought legal advice with Bott and Co, he was offered to arrange medical and physiotherapy appointments.

After receiving the payout, he said: "I was happy with the amount of compensation that I received which goes towards my recovery. It took a while but I’m now back to normal, but still doing weekly exercises which are recommended to help with the healing process.

"It’s a shame I had to bear the brunt of someone else’s ignorance.”

Tony Tierney, Legal Manager at Bott and Co said: “There’s a lot of emphasis on the cyclist to protect themselves and make themselves seen.

"In this case, Edward had done everything in his power to avoid anything happening and it still did.

"It was purely down to the driver not knowing the rules of the road. Motorists need to ensure that they are up to date with the road laws, respecting and making space for cyclists.”

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30 comments

Avatar
growingvegtables | 2 years ago
0 likes

"I was happy with the amount of compensation that I received which goes towards my recovery."

So it wasn't compensation, it was a crumb-throwing exercise.  I'm angry.

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wtjs replied to growingvegtables | 2 years ago
0 likes

So it wasn't compensation, it was a crumb-throwing exercise. I'm angry

Oh dear! Although the meaning of this is not clear, I'm issuing a provisional nutter alert!

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joe9090 | 2 years ago
1 like

That's an effing pittance. He should have got like 27k... its 2021 ffs and that is a nasty life changing accident and it sound like it was 98% the drivers fault. Shocking.

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AlsoSomniloquism replied to joe9090 | 2 years ago
0 likes

If he was awarded from a criminal injury he would have got £2400 for broken collar bone plus some more add ones for other injuries. So a direct claim against the insurers got him more assuming it is all for him and fees are covered elsewhere. 

Avatar
mdavidford | 2 years ago
7 likes

Quote:

"...despite me being in extra hi-vis clothing..."

Is this a thing now - are we in to hi-vis inflation? Are we going to start seeing people being criticised for 'only' wearing hi-vis, and not extra hi-vis, super hi-vis, or ultra hi-vis?

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the little onion replied to mdavidford | 2 years ago
3 likes

I can't believe its not hi-vis? Like hi-vis, visible to almost everyone, but not visible to people behind the wheel of a car

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eburtthebike replied to the little onion | 2 years ago
2 likes

the little onion wrote:

I can't believe its not hi-vis? Like hi-vis, visible to almost everyone, but not visible to people behind the wheel of a car

Or FIK: Full Invisibility Kit, guaranteed totally invisible to all drivers.

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Hirsute replied to mdavidford | 2 years ago
4 likes

You might be on to something !

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Avatar
Jenova20 | 2 years ago
7 likes

I'm concerned that there's zero mention of a penalty for the driver in this case. Did they not even get a fine or points on their licence?

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swldxer replied to Jenova20 | 2 years ago
2 likes

LICENCE

Avatar
eburtthebike replied to swldxer | 2 years ago
4 likes

swldxer wrote:

LICENCE

Speaking of which, do you have a licence from the Guild of Pedantic Pedants?  If not, be off with you!  Imposter!

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Jetmans Dad replied to swldxer | 2 years ago
5 likes

swldxer wrote:

LICENCE

Actually ... licence. Lower case. 

Also, you need a full stop, even if the sentence is only one word long. 

Avatar
Captain Badger replied to Jetmans Dad | 2 years ago
1 like

Jetmans Dad wrote:

swldxer wrote:

LICENCE

Actually ... licence. Lower case. 

Also, you need a full stop, even if the sentence is only one word long. 

Surely sentence case, even if only a sentence of one word....

Avatar
Jetmans Dad replied to Captain Badger | 2 years ago
0 likes

Captain Badger wrote:

Jetmans Dad wrote:

swldxer wrote:

LICENCE

Actually ... licence. Lower case. 

Also, you need a full stop, even if the sentence is only one word long. 

Surely sentence case, even if only a sentence of one word....

That is true of my one word sentence, of course, but he was correcting the use of the word not at the start of a sentence. 

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Captain Badger replied to Jetmans Dad | 2 years ago
0 likes

Jetmans Dad wrote:

......

That is true of my one word sentence, of course, but he was correcting the use of the word not at the start of a sentence. 

True, although his correction was a sentence in itself, and so should be in sentence case - as indeed was the mid-sentence word to which the correction refers.  

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Jenova20 replied to swldxer | 2 years ago
1 like

swldxer wrote:

LICENCE

I don't even know how i managed that, since I despise the Americanisation of the English language. I sincerely apologise and throw myself at the mercy of your superior lingusitic ability. enlightened

Avatar
Jetmans Dad replied to Jenova20 | 2 years ago
1 like

Jenova20 wrote:

swldxer wrote:

LICENCE

I don't even know how i managed that, since I despise the Americanisation of the English language. I sincerely apologise and throw myself at the mercy of your superior lingusitic ability. enlightened

Without wanting to start taking this seriously, it isn't really an Americanisation. The verb 'to license' has an 's', while the noun 'a licence' has a 'c'. 

Just like you 'advise' someone, but give them 'advice'. There is just no change in the pronunciation. 

Avatar
Jenova20 replied to Jetmans Dad | 2 years ago
0 likes

Jetmans Dad wrote:

Jenova20 wrote:

swldxer wrote:

LICENCE

I don't even know how i managed that, since I despise the Americanisation of the English language. I sincerely apologise and throw myself at the mercy of your superior lingusitic ability. enlightened

Without wanting to start taking this seriously, it isn't really an Americanisation. The verb 'to license' has an 's', while the noun 'a licence' has a 'c'. 

Just like you 'advise' someone, but give them 'advice'. There is just no change in the pronunciation. 

No worries. I was being sarcastic anyway. Not sure how clear that was in my post...

Avatar
TriTaxMan | 2 years ago
6 likes

Yep, been in a similar situation, car pulled out of a junction in front of me, I plowed into the side of them, wrote off my bike, soft tissue damage resulting in 3 months of physiotherapy.  Still have issues caused by the injuries sustained to this date.

Their insurers did nothing but stall for 12 months to try and delay the compensation payout, it was an open and shut case even though I never had a camera I still had all of the relevant data from the police report showing the fact that I was wearing Hi-Viz, had lights front and rear, I was on the road with right of way and I had witnesses to back up my statement.

Their insurers tried to blame me for going too fast.... apparently because I was going 20mph just before impact it was my fault

Avatar
brooksby replied to TriTaxMan | 2 years ago
2 likes

TriTaxMan wrote:

Their insurers did nothing but stall for 12 months to try and delay the compensation payout, it was an open and shut case even though I never had a camera I still had all of the relevant data from the police report showing the fact that I was wearing Hi-Viz, had lights front and rear, I was on the road with right of way and I had witnesses to back up my statement.

Their insurers tried to blame me for going too fast.... apparently because I was going 20mph just before impact it was my fault

I think this is a worrying thing - that following a collision, you then have a whole new fight because the insurance companies will do absolutely anything to avoid having to actually pay out...

Avatar
EddyBerckx | 2 years ago
7 likes

Pitiful amount. And has the motorist had his license suspended? If not why not?

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swldxer replied to EddyBerckx | 2 years ago
1 like

LICENCE

Avatar
brooksby replied to swldxer | 2 years ago
0 likes

swldxer wrote:

LICENCE

I apologise for asking, but have you ever commented on anything related to cycling or are you just here for the grammar?

(edit) I apologise for asking, but have you ever commented on anything related to cycling?  Or, are you just here on this website in order to comment upon and to  generally criticise the use of grammar by the posters hereon?

Avatar
mdavidford replied to brooksby | 2 years ago
1 like

brooksby wrote:

... for the grammar?

Now you're just pedant-baiting.

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andystow replied to brooksby | 2 years ago
0 likes

brooksby wrote:

swldxer wrote:

LICENCE

I apologise for asking, but have you ever commented on anything related to cycling or are you just here for the grammar?

(edit) I apologise for asking, but have you ever commented on anything related to cycling?  Or, are you just here on this website in order to comment upon and to  generally criticise the use of grammar by the posters hereon?

I haven't seen him do any grammar correction. He seems more interested in spelling and terminology.

Avatar
ktache | 2 years ago
22 likes

He has not won a thing.

He has been slightly compensated for the injuries caused by incompetent and dangerous operation of a motor vehicle.

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eburtthebike | 2 years ago
13 likes

Whilst this sounds like a reasonable result, £7k is still peanuts for the pain, suffering and inconvenience caused.  I'm not sure how much of that the solicitors will take, which is why I belong to CUK, one of the benefits being free legal representation in cases like this, and they've got me a lot of money from the three times I've been knocked off (other organisations offer similar).  Repaid the cost of membership several thousand times over I reckon.

No mention of whether the driver was prosecuted?

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the little onion replied to eburtthebike | 2 years ago
11 likes

Because the police aren't interested in protecting cyclists. Admittedly, the cyclist here is making their lives harder, by not having the obvious excuses (they were wearing high vis, had lights, etc) and the driver was clearly in the wrong.

 

I've been in that exact situation - lying bleeding on the side of the road after being hit by a driver who didn't look, and despite my two front lights (combined power, 1050 lumens), high vis and reflective clothing, and the fact that it was a dead straight road, the police decided that "it was one of those things", and "i wasn't visible"

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Pedantic Pedaller replied to the little onion | 2 years ago
0 likes

Do you know whether the Police completed a MG NSRF report form for your collision?
I suspect not!
You could submit an FOI to find out

Avatar
wtjs replied to the little onion | 2 years ago
1 like

after being hit by a driver who didn't look, and despite my two front lights (combined power, 1050 lumens), high vis and reflective clothing, and the fact that it was a dead straight road, the police decided that "it was one of those things", and "i wasn't visible

This is just Standard Police Dodge #1. Different forces try sub-dodges: Lancashire came up with 'it was only a momentary loss of concentration' as an excuse for no further action when I was stationary waiting to leave Sainsbury's and was hit by a driver cutting a corner and therefore on the wrong side of the road. He wasn't interested in looking for anything other than a large 4 wheeled vehicle, and certainly not interested in looking for a scum cyclist. I was inches away from having the bike slammed back into my stationary pelvis, but was lucky and only had my shoulder hit by the mirror. The most overstaffed and over-resourced department in most forces is the one devoted to thinking up excuses for drivers so the police don't need to bother doing anything. 

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