cycling collision with a car - what do we do next?

[manechanger]

dh cycles an hour each way to and from work. He's been cycling for about 4 years and has now been knocked off twice in three months.

The first time he had an elbow fracture and we contacted the insurance company. It was clearly driver's fault and quite clean cut although it's now going to court as driver seems to be going awol not so bothered about this one as what's done is done.

Anyway knocked off again this morning after overtaking standing traffic, car pulled out to do a u turn and dh went through the window with his head. Just got back from hospital having had glass pulled out and is ok so far. firstly I dont know if overtaking standing traffic will go against him but I would say it's careless driving as you should check mirrors before doing a u turn as it's an unexpected manouvre. Driver admitted liability at the scene but didn't when police got there. Also he'd like not to go through his insurance company and I think he's offered to cover costs but there are things like a day off work, not being able to cycle to work etc that also need to be considered. I don't know how to go about claiming nor how to work out how much, last time I called the insurance company but in this case how do we ensure he gets adequate compensation if not using insurance co?

Looking online it says we shouldn't contact insurers without using a lawyer but I would want to use a company with a bit of integrity at least and we do want to be compensated as these incidents are really stressful - last time it was the night before our holiday and it marred the entire holiday as we couldn't hire bikes and dh couldn't use the pools or do anyting active with the kids. Anyway, can anyone advise me on a course of action or give me details of trustworthy lawyers if needed?
Thanks

hi there. I feel much better but needed to write thelast message as the moral issues have been going round in my head. I don't honestly thin k he has long term health issues but amkeeping an eye on him to be on the safe side, which has made me a bit paranoid.

threw me also that the police apparently said to him he would be dead if hadn't had a helmet. I am dreading him going back on the bike and I think we need to consider serious injuries and life insurance.

Pan thingies I like your bikes

I'd be careful what non-medics say about life chances tbh, though it does sound it could have been much much worse without his lid. What happened to him could happen to any of us. Lots of best wishes ( again). __

Mane, there isn't a moral issue here IMO. Your DH has every right to pursue his claim & the driver won't be more affected by the claim because there is an injury claim. A fault claim is a fault claim no matter how much is paid out. The only thing the driver might have to deal with on top of this claim is a possible driving charge & that's got nothing to do with whether your DH claims or not. This is a genuine accident, that was likely pretty nasty from your DH's POV & he's entitled to pursue a claim for his losses & injuries. I've dealt with these sorts of claims for years & you tend to find the people who, like you, worry about the morals of making a claim & don't want to be unfair or worry about the impact on the other person or what they think of them making a claim, are the ones who have a genuine claim to make. Believe me, I've seen plenty of people milk the most insignificant incident for all it's worth while you see others miss out because they don't want to be harshly judged for pursuing a claim.

The CTC recommends a firm called Slater & Gordon who specialise in cycling claims. I think their ad pops up on the CTC site somewhere. You don't need to be a CTC member though.

panthingies, yes I did think that it would be difficult to tell if he'd actually be dead because it depends on so many things. you have improved your bike pic.

Tension, thanks that makes me feel much better. rocky I will check them out. Finally got to look at the blog from the barrister which was really interesting. Also home insurance people talked me through the legalities which was really helpful. I can't believe how little I know. I suppose you don't need to until you actuallly need to know it, unless you work in the law.