I always take the country lanes home as its quieter and prettier. I came round a left-hand bend doing about 40-50mph when my wheels just went from under me and as quick as a flash, I was off.
I slid across the road (thankfully nothing was coming the other way) and into a ditch. I lay there for a minute or two winded and then started wiggling bits of my body to work out what was and wasn’t broken.
Thankfully, the main pain was only in my wrist and finger so after relocating my dislocated finger (that bit always makes people gag) I crawled out to survey the carnage. And carnage it was.
My Bandit 650 was in bits and the road was like a sheet of glass with a slippery substance. At first I couldn’t work out what it was, or where it had come from. However, fortunately, a farmer stopped in his tractor to see if I was alright and as he got out, he nearly slipped over as well.
Anyway, long story short, we tracked the substance back to a fence where the substance was emanating from (I have it all on video and in photos on my phone). We looked over the fence to see a load of industrial cans of vegetable oil stacked up. It turned out a couple of cans were on their side and had leaked through the fence and on to the road.
The farmer reckoned it was just one of those things and I have no claim, and my insurer reckoned I should bring a claim against the Motor Insurer’s Bureau under the Untraced Driver’s Agreement. What do you think? I have a smashed-up bike, a broken wrist (that needed an operation) and a blooming sore finger.
Answer
The farmer is wrong. This isn’t ‘just one of those things’. Your insurer is also wrong because the vegetable oil on the road did not come from a vehicle.
It leaked out of cans stored on land next to a road. Therefore, you cannot claim against the MIB. As such, it appears your only path of recourse is to bring a claim against the person/company who stored the oil and let it leak on to the road. Practically, make sure you have your photos and video saved somewhere other than just on your phone. They are key evidence.
The next issue is tracking down who owns the land where the oil was stored. Again, practically, you can’t beat knocking on a few doors to find out. However, if you cannot work out who owns the land, you may need to do a land registry search (it costs a few pounds). Once you track down the owner, then you can crack on with advancing your claim.
Fingers crossed they have house/ business insurance, etc. If not, they may have to compensate you out of their own pocket. Lastly, I suspect you have a few practical and legal hurdles to overcome with this one so I suspect you will need to get a solicitor involved to help you.
Andrew Prendergast
More Bikes December 2023
