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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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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:

FluffyMummy123 · 14/12/2007 07:27

Message withdrawn

ipodtherforipoor · 14/12/2007 07:39

my friend knocked someone off a pushbike - and she sent the police around when she hadn't rersponded to other contact! - we wern't around to recieve a letter for a month. Was very exciting to see 2 police on the door at 8pm att night

beeper · 14/12/2007 09:59

Don't hold your breath...some dizzy chick hit me when on her phone. It took over 2 years to get any money at all. You wont see a penny for at least a year.

gscrym · 14/12/2007 10:02

The next time this happens (hopefully never), advise DH to take a good swing at the front of the other car. Hers is probably not damaged so she'll be in no hurry to dent her no claims.

I've had a lot of friends been out of pocket this way for a long time.

ChopsterRoastingOnAnOpenFire · 14/12/2007 10:04

I havent read all the thread, in a bit of a hurry. But dp had a similar issue when someone rear ended him.

He had to keep on chasing up the other party's insurance compnay and the procedure was that they had to send out three letters before they went ahead and processed the claim anyway, even without a response.

I don't see why you should have to pay out of your pocket for the repairs. Keep hassling her insurers to do their job properly.

Though, it did take a couple of months before the insurers finally paid up for us.

Hope you get it sorted soon.

Oblomov · 14/12/2007 10:05

Your insurance company should be cahsing her insurance comapny. Get onto them and get your insur company to get going on it.
They do not advise contacting the person direct.

Oblomov · 14/12/2007 10:09

There must be time limits. Yes, I know they are always unblelievably long, but she must respond to the first letter within... wks and the second within .... wks.
Surely ?
Ask your insur company what the time restrictions are ?
They must have them, or else no one would ever respond to their letters.

dilbertina · 14/12/2007 10:17

bit confused about the accident....if he was turning right, and she was coming from opposite and looking right isn't that where he was? if he was already crossing in front of her would he not have cleared the roundabout if he hadn't slowed down?

sorry, not saying it's not her fault but don't quite get what happened - although it doesn't really change the situation now....am just nosey!

Ubergeekian · 14/12/2007 18:37

Sue. Or at the very least get your solicitor to write her a letter which will have her waking up screaming in the small hours for the next twenty years.

Original poster

ChirpyGrinch · 14/12/2007 21:29

Her insurers have sent out someone to inspect DH's bike, so they know about the accident from our side, but they say they can't do anything until they here her side of the story. Unfortunateky we have since found out that we would have to pay storage costs for the garage that has DH's bike, which we can't afford
It's not even the money we are concerned about as the costs for fixing the bike won't be more than a couple of ton, but the inconvenience of his bike being in a garage 200 miles away I do't care how long before any, if any, compensation comes, we just want our vehicle back!

He was coming from the opposite direction to her and turning right. He reached the roundabout first so turned right and had to slow down as the motorbike doesn't corner at speed, I didn't mean he slowed to avoid her!

I am liking that thought a lot Ubergeekian!

OP posts:

amytheearwaxbanisher · 14/12/2007 21:49

would definatly cxall her and threaten to sue if she doesnt get on with it she probably thinks if she ignores the problem it would go away

tutu100 · 14/12/2007 22:03

My Dp was knocked off his motorbike in dec 2005 by a woman who changed lanes without looking. He suffered a fractured collarbone and was off work for 9 weeks. The Police took the bike back to the Police station which was only a 1/2 a mile away and we then arranged for the RAC to collect it from there and bring it back to our house.

Payment for the bike which was a right off came through in a matter of weeks. Payment for DP's motorbike clothing and equipment took a bit longer as the woman's insurance company didn't want to pay the full price for it as DP had had it for a couple of years. We tried to argue that one but in the end accepted full payment for the helmet and a 10% reduction on everything else.

The personal injury claim took 9 months to settle. I would say wait and do it through your insurance. As long as there is a Police report in your favour you will be ok. You should be reimbursed for any cost such as storage although I understand that you may not have the money to pay for that now.

We were advised not to pay for anything ourselves even though it was taking time to go through otherwise it would affect our claim.

DP was asked if he wanted the woman charged with driving without due care and attention, but he decided against it as he couldn't be bothered with all that as well. I personally wanted to go round and slap her.

tutu100 · 14/12/2007 22:05

If you have accident recovery with someone like the RAC they may be able to bring the bike back for you. I don't know if I made that clear enough in my post as I started to felt more and more angry thinking about my DP's accident and waffled a bit.

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