This morning's commute and other commuting stories

Hmm, unfortunate, are you a member of British Cycling or anything like that ?

Not wishing to sound like a old twat but its really is worth have some liability cover so you don't have to deal with these issues. Unfortunately your claim against Westminster isn't likely to be easy or straightforward. In first instance the cabbie is likely to claim against you, you'll need to deflect on to westminster, but their likely to argue that you weren't proceeding with due care etc etc and not having an insurer to deal with it, it'll be a pain in the arse.

Reported to the police? It's an RTC as I understand it.

That will go some way to 'offcialising' it as a thing.

Let Westminster know it happened or whoever their subcontractor is (or both). They will have liability insurance.

The hardest bit of your job now is proving it was their fault and getting them to play ball.

Sorry to hear about the incident, Phil. Hope you manage to sort it out. It is worth re-iterating that everybody should have third party insurance (including, obviously, the refuse collector). If you're in London, becoming a London Cycling Campaign member is the obvious one.

However, in this case, I don't think you're liable (not that I have any pedigree in assessing such situations). The key thing is that both you and the cabbie should be claiming together. The fact that you were knocked against the cab only makes you both victims of the same incident. Make sure you communicate that to the cabbie soon so that no hostility arises.

Is the refuse collector employed directly by Westminster or by a company that holds the Westminster contract? Both your and the cabbie's claim may not be against Westminster but against that company.

Also, did you get the details of any other witnesses? You don't mention it so I assume not.