The next thing you see is some muppet realise they’ve missed their turn and swerve their car from lane two, across lane one, across the front of Land Rover and dart for the exit slip road. Whilst they didn’t hit the Land Rover, the squaddie had to swerve. Thereafter, he loses control, and then tips the Land Rover and trailer. As usual, every man and his dog have an opinion on social media as to the law.
Therefore, my question is, can you win a case where there is no actual contact because that is exactly what happened to me. In short, a taxi looked like he was going to turn in front of me (although he did stop). Because it was raining, and I knew my front tyre was looking a bit ‘slick’ (I was going to get it changed once I got paid) I could only use the rear brake. That, in turn, meant I had no choice but to emergency brake as I thought the taxi was going to move. That caused me to lock up the rear wheel, skid, fall off and slide down the road into the back of
a bus.
At the time the Police said it was my fault (and I got three points for a bald tyre), but after watching the Land Rover video and reading the comments online, I reckon I’ve got a strong case. What do you think? I really want to claim back all the extra insurance premiums I’ve had to pay for in the past 10n years since it happened, plus claim for my broken ankle. Unfairly, my insurer had to pay out just over £5000 to get the bus repaired.
Answer
Firstly, as a general point, there doesn’t have to be contact between vehicles to bring a successful claim. However, to ‘win’ a claim like this you need to establish a ‘chain of causation’. Therefore, with the Land Rover video, it appears pretty clear that the squaddie was forced to swerve because the other car (the first ‘link’ in the ’chain of causation’) cut across his
path. However, it appears that in your case the
first ‘link’ is you.
As such, unless I’m missing a trick, you fell off because you either overreacted and braked too hard and/or simply locked up the rear in the rain because you didn’t want to use the front brake because you had a bald tyre (you absolute ball bag). In any event, as this happened 10 or so years ago, the law prevents you bringing a claim under The Limitation
Act 1980 (thankfully).
In short, under the law you only have three years from the date of the accident to bring a claim for your injuries and six years to claim for property damage. My
advice is stay off social media and don’t think too much as you’ll hurt yourself.
Andrew ‘Chef’ Prendergast
More Bikes – February 2025
