Hi,
I'm a regualr cyclist. I ride my bike everywhere. Indeed for a living as I'm a "retained firefighter", which is similar to a volunteer firefighter, i respond to a pager or "alerter" turning out from home when there is an emergency.
One day on my way home from my girlfriend's house i was involved in an accident with a car. I was on the right hand side of the road trying to get to the left hand side. (You should know, in the UK we drive on the left) I had come out of a road at a T junction and was attempting to across onto the road turning right. Do you follow?
Like this:
The red line is my route. The light purple light is her route (in her car). The dark purple is the route of other cars on the road. The blue blocks are parked cars. The yellow bits are road markings, and the grey bordered bits are pavement. The dark purple lines, by the way, are BUSY traffic. And the corner is blind, you cannot see around it.
I came along the road, knowing i would not be given way to, to get onto the left siide of the road heading down in the image above. So i crossed onto the pavement and made my way down to behind the first parked car to look at oncoming traffic and await a gap to cross.
A woman in a blue citreon saxo came round the parked cars, turned left sharply and hit me on my bike. She was headed UP, along with the rest of the traffic (she did not indicate left, plus she admitted she was headed up the road anyway). The rest of the traffic left, as usual a clear 1 metre or so gap between where i was and their driving path up the road.
The woman driving the car stopped on the pavement where the light purple line stops, and a car behind her stopped aswell. My bike was quite severely damaged and my left hand, leg and arm were badly bruised. Her car merely had broken the wing mirror on the near-side and lost a hub cap off the near-side front wheel.
I got up and waited for her and the driver of the car which stopped behind her to get out. We talked civilly and agreed that he (the driver of the car which stopped) would take my details and she would later conact him in order to call me and discuss the accident to arrange paying for and fixing her car. It was all very civil and at the time i was largely concerned about whether she had received any injuries and told her that my bruises were "nothing to be concerned about". I'm a trained first-aider and i knew i had not broken any bones. Coincidentally the man driving the car which stopped behind her to take my details was an estate agent, and they rememered eachother because he had sold her house a month or so before.
It was left at that, both she and the man behind drove off, and i limped off with my ike on the pavment. I waited for her to call me and after a week or so just gave up, thinking she had gotten it sorted without the hassle of contacting me. However today, about 2 weeks later, i received a letter from her insurance company saying:
"Our insured : Mrs hername
Accident date: 13/10/04
Policy cover: COMP Excess: £100 V.A.T Reg: No
Please note that we hold you responsible for the accident on the above date as you pulled out when it was not safe to do so.
We will be looking to you for reimbursement of the costs incurred and awaut your confirmation that liability is not an issue.
yours faithfully
Motor Claims Department"
Now, a few questions arise which i'm hoping someone can answer.
1) Liability is an issue, it was her fault but i decided to let it go, what can i do about this now that she has claimed AGAINST me?
2) I'm willing, as i told her, to pay a reasonable amount for the repair of her wing mirror, since it was an accident and i didn't want her to have to pay it all by herself. Since she has obviously gone through her insurance company, will i have to pay the £100 excess if i conceed to pay?
3) What would be a reasonable amount to pay for the repair of a severed and shattered wing mirror on a new citreon saxo?
4) As a cyclist, being uninsured what's the law regarding insurance claims against me in the event of an accident?
5) If i say i will not pay the excess charge and/or the cost of repair can she, or her insurance company, take me to court, if so would the man in the car behind (presumeably taking her side) stand as sufficient proof against me?
I'd really appreciate any help on the matter, as i don't drive and really know very little about traffic law.
Thanks in advance.
Beefcake.