Anyone advise on legal options afer a crash?

Hi All,

Got well and truly totaled on Tuesday night, in fact I consider myself very very very lucky to have got away with a broken collar bone and cuts and scrapes to my head, neck and shoulders. Minor things like (maybe we're not sure) putting my head through their car window eye socket first but without damaging the eye, lucky lucky boy.

According to the police it'll take up to a month for the accident info to reach the department that deals with such things, then up to six months for them to investigate. After which, if I so choose I can then take legal action against the driver. I'm self employed and will be unable to work for eight to twelve weeks, so I'll have to take action for compensation, has anyone done this? Was it OK? A pain? Expensive? Useless? Know a good solicitor?

LCC have a few recommended so that was going to be my starting point next week.

Cheers,

Ben

Shit sounds terrible - hope you're on the mend.
CTC (join if you're not a member) and Citizens Advice Bureau - they'll both help.

I've just had a claim settled for me by cycle aid, this is the third that they've handled for me (I'm not accident prone) and am very impressed with them.
http://www.cycle-aid.co.uk
08081009995
p.s get well soon

Without meaning to piss on your chips I wouldn't worry to much about the pigs, they're good for fuck all and you're 'just a cyclist'. I'd go the route of the link above....good luck with it all

None of the drivers from my claims were actually charged with anything (useless cops) but my claims were all settled out of court in my favour, the last one was due to go to court but was settled a week before the court date. My wife also had a claim settled by cycle aid where the driver failed a breath test but wasn't charged. Things like loss of earnings are taken into account obviously if you're self employed you'll need to provide documentation to prove earnings.

glad your okish i've been off work for 5 months now but my accident was with a police van and they've admitted liabilty but i'm still waiting to get any money off them, my solicitor doesn't seem to good though at speeding things up, i'd say follow al's advice.

al@creative the driver failed a breath test but wasn't charged.

Freemason...

or bent cop, or just incompetent cop?

fuck me, sometimes I get so angry I just want to kill some humans..

grind their pitiful carbon-based lifeforms into dust...

To put in into perspective my solicitor is away from work on her second maternity leave since I started my claim.

Pistanator is right - the 5-0 will do fuck all to help you out. Go for a decent, no win-no fee solicitors that are used to cycling claims. I used http://www.bikeline.co.uk/ when I got in a bad crash and they were great. Probably helps that they;re cyclist and motorcyclist themselves. Cycle aid sound good too.

I wrote this on another thread:

I "did the right thing" when I got nailed by a taxi driver and ended up with a trashed bike, concussion, a broken nose and seven stiches in my jaw. Got some lawyers involved and 18 months later hit the £10k compensation jackpot. Of course, the police didn't give a shit, couldn't be bothered to talk to the witnesses, couldn't find the file when I called etc. Bunch of useless wankers.

I heard that the police are the only public service organisation in the UK where people's views of them deteriorate after first hand experience. Everyone moans about the NHS, but when they use it they find its not so bad. Police are the opposite.

Was going to recommend a bunch called Fetch but the website redirects to some other ambulance chaser now.

get team to admit guilt to the pigs before you leave the scene

What ever you do, use a cyle specific claim agent.
I'm still waiting for something positive to happen almost 2 1/2 years after i started proceedings. The police, in all honesty and apart form the ones at the scene, were totally useless.

Good luck.

Cuz. What the fuck happened?
Might have some things for you. call me.

Jus realised that might look a bit odd. He's my cousin for those that haven't worked it out.