Bartletts recently acted for a client who at the time of the accident was working in the course of his employment as a cycle courier. As he cycled adjacent to a number of parked cars a scooter attempted to emerge from the line of parked cars into collision with the nearside of his bicycle knocking him to the ground. It was fortunate that at the time there were no other motor vehicles on our client’s offside but nevertheless he still sustained a number of soft tissue injuries which took over 12 months to heal.
The person riding the scooter did not leave the scene immediately and remained long enough for a pedestrian to make a note of his registration number. After realizing that our client’s injuries were not life threatening, he left the scene of the accident without making any attempt to exchange his details.
Legal Outcome
The police obtained the name and address of the owner of the scooter and when they visited him he denied all knowledge of the accident. Bartletts were almost certain that the independent witness had noted the correct registration number as this related to a scooter and was registered in the same area as where the accident occurred.
After making further investigations the police were unable to take the case any further as neither our client nor the independent witness were able to give a description of the rider of the scooter as he was wearing a crash helmet with a visor down at the time which concealed his face. The registered keeper of the scooter claimed that it was kept at his workplace on a daily basis and the keys were left in a communal area for any of his colleagues to borrow at will. He claimed that he had no way of establishing who would have had the scooter at the time of the accident and that it could have been one of several people. Through lack of evidence the police did not pursue him further and the claim had to be referred to the Motor Insurers Bureau, a government department set up to compensate victims of uninsured and untraced driver claims under the Untraced Driver Agreement.
The client was still compensated, however, for his injuries and also received compensation for his loss of earnings and other financial loss. The claim just took longer as the Motor Insurers Bureau had to fully investigate the accident circumstances.
Cyclist Obtains Compensation With No Driver Details
A recent client of Bartletts Solicitors was a cyclist hit by a car in Liverpool who claimed compensation for his injuries and bicycle damage, despite not having the driver’s name or insurance details.
Mr D was a cyclist hit by an unidentified vehicle that pulled out from a junction unexpectedly, knocking him off his bike and into the road. He sustained bruising, cuts and grazes to his upper and lower body in the collision, and was lucky to not have been more severely injured. He was taken to hospital as a precaution and continued to experience pain and discomfort for days after the accident.
Mr D was most upset about the damage done to his bicycle, but did not have the name, vehicle registration or insurance details of the driver involved in the collision. He contacted our firm having read about our experience with cycling accidents and asked, ‘can a cyclist get compensation with no driver details’? Once we explained that we had won many similar claims for cyclists, he subsequently decided to proceed with a personal injury claim.
Mr D only had a crime number from the police, but this was enough for our solicitors to request an incident report, from which we were ultimately able to obtain the vehicle’s registration number and the relevant insurance company via a search on the MID (Motor Insurance Database). While waiting for the police report, and in case the driver could not be identified, we also submitted a claim against an untraced driver through the Motor Insurers’ Bureau (MIB).
Within a few months, we had located the correct insurance company and submitted our client’s claim. Six months later, Mr D received £2,000 in compensation for his injuries, as well as £1,000 for the damage done to his bicycle, which our client was pleased to put towards the purchase of a new bike.
Find out more: When Can a Cyclist Claim Against a Motorist?
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