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news
oxon travel cycle lane picture 2 - via twitter.PNGCyclist receives £4,500 settlement for collision injuries, stresses importance of camera footage
A cyclist from Derby has told of the importance of camera footage which helped him get a successful £4,500 settlement from a driver's insurance company following a collision in the city centre more than three years ago.
Writing for DerbyshireLive about his experience, and providing a video of the incident available on their story, the cyclist explained how he was knocked off his bike shortly after moving away from a red light, riding towards Traffic Street.
Hoping to use the bus and cycle lane to travel to the station he moved over to the right but "the front wing of the car brushed past my right leg".
> Here's what to do if you capture a near miss, close pass or collision on camera while cycling
"There was no time to brace myself," he explained. "It all happened in a split second. There was impact with the car's wing mirror, I lost control and crashed down on my right-hand side, hitting my head, right hip and elbow hard on the road."
The incident was investigated by the police but the Crown Prosecution Service opted against bringing a prosecution, fearing the rider's move to the right would diminish the chances of a successful prosecution.
"I decided to bring a civil action given I knew the police had footage of the incident, sent to them by a cyclist riding in front of me who, luckily, had a camera on the back of his helmet that captured the collision," the cyclist continued, noting the importance of the other rider's footage.
"After my solicitor approached her insurance company, she said that she had nothing to do with my being knocked off my bike and injured, she happened to be there and stopped to see what had happened. Then my solicitor got hold of the footage from Derbyshire Police, sent it to her insurance company and they accepted liability.
"Without the footage, she may have simply continued to deny having hit me. I've now received a settlement of £4,500, soft-tissue damage and some nasty bruising.
"By this time, it had already been three years since the crash and I wanted it to be over as it was a painful, time-consuming and stressful experience. I'd prefer not to have been hit by a car than to have an extra £4,500, by the way.
"The law firm acting for me also received several thousand pounds in costs from the insurance company and a chunk of my settlement too as part of the no-win, no-fee deal."
Dan is the road.cc news editor and joined in 2020 having previously written about nearly every other sport under the sun for the Express, and the weird and wonderful world of non-league football for The Non-League Paper. Dan has been at road.cc for four years and mainly writes news and tech articles as well as the occasional feature. He has hopefully kept you entertained on the live blog too.
Never fast enough to take things on the bike too seriously, when he's not working you'll find him exploring the south of England by two wheels at a leisurely weekend pace, or enjoying his favourite Scottish roads when visiting family. Sometimes he'll even load up the bags and ride up the whole way, he's a bit strange like that.
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I do too. It's a 'real world' read fill of people doing real world riding instead of a glossy lightweight brochure for spenders and dreamers....
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17 comments
Can we have a compensation settlement of the week, to go alongside the NMOTD?
Begin to educate some people that forms of liability do exist.
Having been on the wrong end of a hit and run where the driver would almost certainly have not been found and, given the relatively trivial injuries sustained, I cannot imagine the Police putting much effort into even trying. I would thoroughly recommend using a camera at all times when cycling on the road. It is an unfortunate fact that for any regular cyclist the camera is now a necessity.
I would definitely agree on the value of camera footage. My brother was knocked off by an off duty police officer in London. Unsurprisingly the police report was written to make it sound like he was at fault. For those who know it, he was cycling southbound on CS7 from Oval towards Clapham. The driver turned right and my brother ended up with a crushed vertebrae. In the police report it said that my brother turned into the path of the car. Eventually we got a resolution and he got a payout of something like £30k, but with camera footage it would have been 100 times easier.
Not cycling related. Back in 2011 I was rear ended whilst driving. I stopped for a red light (2 consecutive sets of lights in a matter of 100 metres), the driver behind me decided that they weren't going to stop at the second set. Luckily the collision happened in front of a Gard (Irish Policeman)...so that was a great witness to have.
Fast forward 2 years and I got a payment of €11k, (14k including lawyers fees). I suffered whiplash, excruciating neck and back pain for a good 6 months after the collision, despite multiple physio sessions. Almost had a 'dead arm' for that period. and couldn't lift my left arm above shoulder height.
In 2017 I had to have multiple MRIs (at my expense - this is ireland). I have C6/7 herniation and C3 erosion, which were most likely attributable to the incident back in 2011...but no concrete evidence of this. I have the occasional flare up and my back locks/spasms, I have chronic neck pain...which requires the use of medication when I can't cope with the pain and I then have to take time off work (unpaid as I am a contractor). I also have constant tingling in my left thumb and forefinger due to nerve damage/impingement ...so that seemingly decent pay out back then is comparitively worthless - based on the long term effects.
Most pay outs are based on the likelihood of full recovery within a certain period, and the medical opinion of 'experts'...that don't often make the correct decisions/dagnoses.....and if it reaches court ( I was actually in court...but it settled before actually going into the court room.....maybe I shouldn't have listened to my lawyer??)..it is totally dependent on what the circuit judge thinks 'is fair', based on The Book of Quantum...which is available for public perusal...and so, many claimants actually strive for certain injuries to ensure they have max pay out....maybe I should have 'hammed it up' a bit more...
Me too!
A car turned left on me and there were no witnesses. My camera footage saw me win £4.6k in damages after breaking my scaife bone and various other knocks.
I would've had nothing from her insurer without the footage. My lawyer said so.
If your cycling on UK roads. Always wear a camera. Front and back. The motor insurer's won't promote it.
So I will!
Get cameras or get banged.
I got ("won" doesn't fit) £2K from a driver / their insurance a few years ago. Didn't realise it was news. Another driver had a good view of what occurred and I never got the chance to thank her for describing all this to police and to my solicitor.
Reality: she knocked me off from the side on a mini roundabout.
pack of lies: I left the road went on the pavement and crashed into the side of her car
I got £5k when a police officer on his way to work hit my motorbike on a roundabout in 1999. He was going that fast I thought he'd done a runner but he slowly reversed back up the road and called the local police to come out. I wasn't running cameras (were they even available back then?) so i was fortunate he was honest.
Bought the bike back for £75 and fixed it up for next to nothing so that was a win but I've had to be careful with my back ever since so that's the downside.
I was sat at home feeling sorry for myself later that evening and heard a friend had died in a UN plane crash in Kosovo leaving his wife and daughters behind so that quickly put my inconvenience into perspective.
A good result, eventually, but a bit annoying that the law firm saw fit to take a cut of the payout, despite being awarded costs.
I get the feeling you don't really understand how the no-win, no-fee model works.
Hint: the law firm doesn't do all the work for the cases it loses pro bono ...
True - amortizing the costs against the cases where they do win.
A worthwhile cause.
No win no fee lawyers are the only option for many folk. It's the decisiveness of the camera footage that allows the lawyer to take the case forward in full confidence.
They'll often achieve an out of court settlement to avoid unnecessary days off work, etc..
The solicitor did indeed achieve a out of court settlement, much bigger than I'd originally wanted (i just want my material costs covered tbh).
My only qualm eas that it took almost 30 months to sort, but that was probably the insurance company trying to hold out and see if i gave up.
As far as cameras go, i didn't have one but they still paid, although I wonder if the insurance company would have been a bit quicker about it if there had been a video of the event.
This is one of the reasons I'm a member of CUK, their legal representation. They've got me about £6k from two collisions and it cost me nothing, definitely worth the membership.
Also just rejoined, after a time with British Cycling.
The political correctness of the place is depressing, but they are the ones with the best lawyers.
Oh no!
I'm just waiting for the comment about cars having door mirrors these days so I thought I might as well make it first
Good news getting the payout, I hope she finds getting insurance very expensive for a few years at least.