I was nearly home when a lad reversed off his Nan’s drive, straight in front of me. I yanked on the anchors, lost the front end and tasted the tarmac unfortunately. One broken leg, one broken wrist, and a dozen broken eggs (the beer survived. Hoorah!).

We’re now a couple of months on and the young lad’s insurer are saying because there was no contact, its not their fault. Are they right? Also, I am worried a Judge may give me a slap for using my motorbike to go to the shops rather than my car. I’ve seen loads of stuff online with cops saying it was illegal.

Answer

Firstly, hoorah for the beer surviving. To win your claim, you need to prove on the balance of probabilities that the lad was negligent; and because of his negligence, you have suffered a loss. The fact there was no contact is not the be all and end all.

If you can prove you were on the main road when he reversed out into your path, causing you to brake and fall off, then you should win. As for taking the bike rather than the car, there was never anything in law that said you couldn’t do that.

However, there was a bucket load of wrong information put out there, including from the police, that lead to a lot of confusion. Do not let that stop you from pursuing this.

Andrew Prendergast

Motorcycle Sport & Leisure – December 2020