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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to sue the silly girl who knocked my husband off his bike

38 replies

ChirpyGrinch · 13/12/2007 09:28

About 5 weeks ago my DH was going round a mini roundabout (those little bumps in the road) turning right when a 19 year old in a brand new Ka pulled out from opposite and hit him. He saw her coming and saw she was looking right, instead of straight ahead, so he had slowed and she luckily hit him slowly enough that he could step off the bike as it fell.
Police/ambulance called, definately her fault, DH not seriously injured but he is still limping as she crushed his left leg against the bike with her bumper.
He couldn't ride the bike home as it bent the handlebars and has had a courtesy bike for the last 5 weeks while it is in the garage. DH has completed everything he has been sent but she still hasn't contacted her insurers, or us, or admitted liability so they won't fix DH's bike until she does. (we have TPF+T)

Dh has contacted his solicitors and asked if he can just fix his bike himself and just sue her personally for everything else (2 days wages, new boots, cost of bike repair)
Is that fair or should we give her more of a chance to comlete it? Part of me thinks she wants to wait until she is home for hols to complete things as she is a student but part thinks she shoudl own up to her responsibilities and sort it out herself.

OP posts:
Original poster
ChirpyGrinch · 13/12/2007 09:30

Doesn't help that he was hit on his way home from his parents to help me with DD2, who was in hospital on a feeding tube with bronchiolitis at 4 weeks old!

OP posts:
Saturn74 · 13/12/2007 09:35

She should get herself organised and fill in the forms, particularly as she was at fault.

Five weeks is plenty of time, and the fact that she is a student is irrelevant - she needs to attend to her responsibilities.

You have been very patient.

Can you send her a letter to encourage her to get on with it?

alarkaspree · 13/12/2007 09:37

Can you contact her? If not can you contact her insurers? or if you don't have contact details I would get in touch with the police who attended the scene - they should be able to help you.

Sueing her personally sounds like a lot of faff to me, I'm sure she is just burying her head in the sand a bit because she doesn't quite know how to deal with it, and just needs a kick up the backside.

clam · 13/12/2007 09:38

Certainly sounds as if she needs a bomb up her backside - either from the solicitor (although won't that cost you?) or from you yourselves. Are we talking about a pushbike or a motorbike here? If the former, maybe she thinks it 'doesn't count' in the same way as a 'proper' vehicle! Or, alternatively, she doesn't have insurance?? Or it wasn't her car? Or she thinks she doesn't need to tell her insurance company if there was no damage to her car (although she's going to get a nasty shock if/when she does and they discover this happened 5 weeks ago!) I'm not excusing her AT ALL but, at risk of alienating any 19 year-old posters, some can be a bit ditzy on these matters. Anyway, it's lucky you had police/ambulance at the scene, in case she tries to deny she was even involved. Good luck.

TheBlonde · 13/12/2007 09:39

If you have contact info then I would recommend hassling her direct
I assume you have legal cover?

Alas when DH got knocked off his bike by a taxi it took over 2 years to sort it out

GrumpYULEhorsewoman · 13/12/2007 09:43

YANBU. That's what insurance is for. If it was her fault she must accept responsibility.

DH was knocked over (at speed) by a 19 yr old plasterer in a transit van (with 5 of his mates on board). DH was crossing the road at a pedestrian crossing when the van came speeding at him with two wheels in either lane. DH heroically pushed a girl,who was also crossing, out of the way, but was hit himself. He was thrown into the air and knocked out cold. He had a broken leg and 5 facial fractures. We had to cancel our holiday (we were due to travel 10 days after the accident) and he couldn't work for several months. I had no qualms in sueing the driver. His negligence caused us alot of grief, and pain for DH. It wasn't a simple 50/50 accident - the driver's actions caused it and I'm damned if I'm going to bear the brunt of 3 months lost wages and a cancelled holiday we had been looking forward to because of his stupidity and recklessness. At least it wasn't worse, but I made sure he paid up.

What is it with 19 yr old drivers,eh?

tarantula · 13/12/2007 09:43

Sue the arse off her. She might learn to bloody look where shes going then. at least then there will be one more driver on the road who knows to look out for cyclist and God knows we need a few of them.
(Can you tell I had a bad journey into work this morning?)

camillathechicken · 13/12/2007 09:44

she needs to sort this ! she hit someone with her car and caused damage and injury.. cannot just bury her head in the sand and hope it goes away. she should absolutely sort it out..she has had 5 weeks to start sorting it. Can he speak to your insurers and ask them to get onto her insurers, i presume you have her details?

jinglebells2shoessmells · 13/12/2007 10:05

phone the police. when some dipstick knocked dh off his bike. the police did him for careless driving. the man had to aatend a course at his own cost. he was nice and paid dh his day wages that he had lost.

Loshad · 13/12/2007 10:19

I'd be chasing her big style, all the students are home for the holidays anyway, but her occupation makes no difference - she caused an accident and she needs to pull her finger out and sort it out, totally unacceptable to leave it for so long. Not sure about sueing her, might be loads of hassle and agro.

welshdeb · 13/12/2007 10:26

Do you have legal cover with your home insurance?
If you do why not give them a ring and see if they can put the frighteners a bit of pressure on her to sort it out.

She is probably hoping if she ignores it you will just go away.

mylittleponey · 13/12/2007 10:29

do all you can - it's very unreasonable of the driver.

Bouncingturtle · 13/12/2007 11:51

It is up to your insurance company to chase up her insurers - get on to them, I assume you have her insurance details? Make sure that your insurance company has a copy of the police report.
Similar kind of thing happen to me - some drunken fecker wrote my car off while it was parked in the street - he drove into so hard he shoved it 6 ft into a concrete lamppost.
He then proceded to set fire to his car and tried to claim his had been nicked. Police found out that is was him, prosecuted him for driving under the influence. He didn't want to claim through the insurance, but my insurance company threatened to take his to court if they didn't pay up.

I would still contact a solicitor and start a personal injury claim as well - serves the silly bint right. Word to the wise - do not use these ambulance chasers who advertise all the time on the radio. Find a proper reputable solicitor - best place is through the Law Society, you will get much better service.
HTH

sb6699 · 13/12/2007 12:02

It is understandable you would annoyed as it appears she is doing nothing to sort this out BUT how do you know she has not contacted her Insurers?

Big companies can take months rather than weeks to get in touch with third party claimants as they have to dig into legal situations, estimates to replace the bike, your hubbys medical reports etc.

It is THEIR responsibility to admit liability not HERS (if she did it would be a breach of terms).

I am an ex-broker and would advise if you have the contact details for the Insurers, I would keep chasing them as if they do not hear from her they still have to deal with the matter.

claricebeansmumhasnomincepies · 13/12/2007 12:05

Bouncing turtle is right...

Your DH claims on his insurance for everything...repair of bike, damages, lost wages etc and then his insurance company will go after her insurance company.

This is what insurance is for.

CaptainUnderpants · 13/12/2007 12:06

But it sounds asthough OP DH was on pedal bike so he will not have ' insurance' company to chase it up for him. So he may have to go through a solictor , or would your car insurance compnay do it any way.

Would be interested to see it works as I often cycle aboout myself .

Bouncingturtle · 13/12/2007 12:11

I got the impression it was a motorbike - OP mentioned having TPF&T insurance, and I can't see her DH getting a courtesy pushbike!
Is this right, Chirpygrinch?

mistlethrush · 13/12/2007 12:13

The police should be able to track her insurance details down through the car details - we managed to do this re a car accident where our car was pushed a different direction by another car. Didn't stop them arguing it was our fault and we were in the wrong lane - but their insurance company has eventually accepted that it wasn't our fault and will be paying up. I would be ringing her up and demanding to speak to her insurance company to find out what has happened to the money - you don't want this hanging over you for ages (and there is no way that she'll get round to this 'in the holidays' if she hasn't managed to sort it out by now)

Best of luck

claricebeansmumhasnomincepies · 13/12/2007 12:14

He might have insurance from something else - household, cc, bank etc...that's why you should join something like London Cycling Campaign and get free insurance for just this sort of thing

CaptainUnderpants · 13/12/2007 12:32

Could be a motorbike - totally confused , but worth while knowing about London Cycling Campaign

clam · 13/12/2007 12:33

I'm not sure its a good idea to speak to the other party directly. Are we not advised against that in our insurance smallprint?

jinglebells2shoessmells · 13/12/2007 14:19

when something similar happened (doay woman blinded by the sunlight) we found out that our house contents insurance people could help us. so worth contacting them,

Original poster
ChirpyGrinch · 13/12/2007 15:50

Sorry, went out to a toddler party!
Firstly, it was a motorbike, not a pushbike!

We know she hasn't contacted her insurers as DH's insurance has contacted them about it and they said they have no forms back from ehr yet so can't authorise work until they hear her side, which is so unfair.
We did contact her about a month ago to ask for her policy number as we wanted things to start moving, and we passed it onto DH's insuracne, but they said what clam said and we shouldn't contact her direct.

Dh is getting really pissed off and is waiting for the garage to call him to say how much their bill is now as he wants to pay it himself, fix the minor repairs himself (which he is perfectly capable of) and then sue her for it as the longer we wait the longer he is without a decent bike and he can't keep borrowing my car as I have 2 DD's to ferry round in freezing cold!

OP posts:
welshdeb · 13/12/2007 16:34

Well I would get in touch with your insurance co, they should be chasing her.
Can you claim on your insurance, they can pay and claim it all from her.

If not do you have legal cover either with your house or motor insurqnce it may be worth getting a letter sent to her.

Somthing similar happened to us a few years ago. We suspected she didnt have insurance at the time of the accident but got her broker to backdate the cover note. It took a solicitors letter to get it sorted ou.

TheBlonde · 14/12/2007 07:17

The ins cpy won't be interested as it's only TPT&T

Do you have legal cover with the ins? They should be sorting it out for you and should be able to tell you if you can pay for it all and then go for the $$

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