advice needed re: bike squashin'

Hiiiii

Haven't posted on here for time, used to be quite active in the past, nice to come through and browse again.

I have a question I'm sure someone on here can help with. I left my very rare orange (note, not yellow) LOOK KG171 (carbon, around '92/'93) parked in South Kensington for a few nights - not something I ordinarily do, but was forced to for work reasons, yadda yadda. I come back to collect it on Saturday morning, and my ride is TOTALED. I mean, frame cracked in half, front mavic gone, rear completely squashed. I'm sure all of you can imagine that feeling!

Anyway, there's a note attached to my bike from a witness leaving me a phone number and the driver's registration - it was a lorry turning down a side street and just completely flattened it.

Does anyone know the legalities behind this? Am I able to claim any kind of compensation for this?? It just seems crazy that my bike, which is quite unusual and I've had for many years, can just be completely destroyed like this due to someone else's negligence, and I wouldn't be entitled to anything? Again, it was a lorry so must be part of a bigger company, i have a witness, the registration and i'm positive this would have been caught on CCTV as well.

Any advice anybody on here has I'd be very grateful to hear.

Thankzzz

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Shit man!

RIP Look. best of luck getting fully compensated!

thanks buddy. it's rly heartbreaking as i drove all the way up to the mountains behind Nice when I was 18 and bought this ride from an ex-team rider who was literally my exact height and size. i rode it everywhere over the past 12 years - did madrid to venice, london to paris, etc. it was set up as a sweet road ride until last year when my beater got nicked and i set this up as the craziest, stupidest hybrid. RIP!

bump, someone plz help a poor bikeless bastard :-(

Was the lorry part of a big company? Sainsburys, Tesco, etc? Get on to them.

Plus just go to the police, obviously.. see what they say.

Good luck.

That'll buff out.

That's shit man. Go to the company, as said above. K&C borough council might also be interested in their damaged street furniture, as it looks like the lamp post has been crunched too.

The more experienced folk will know but I think this qualifies for a V888 form submission.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/v888-request-by-an-individual-for-information-about-a-vehicle

thank you so much guys, this is v helpful.
i'm trying to work out who exactly is responsible, then i plan on calling the police. i didn't even know whether police are the right people to speak to! speaking to the witness today. this V888 thing looks like where I need to start...
anyway thank you all again - if anyone else sees this and has been in a similar situation or anything, i'd really appreciate anything else you got

Is this the same as leaving the scene of an accident? It's fucking awful form. I hope you get somewhere with it.

Sadly, it seems to be accepted that HGVs will cut corners like this (hence some of those massive bollards in the City). Not to belittle your loss of a loverly machine, but imagine if someone were standing on the corner??? Hope you resolve this.

You're going to need something a bit more solid than a single eyewitness in order to get any compensation. The insurance company can easily construct an argument implying the witness is unreliable and refuse to pay out unless you want to fork out for private forensic examination.

Go back to the scene and have a really good look about for any CCTV in the area which may cover the location and ask to view any tapes/footage. Ask this as a Subject Access Request under the Data Protection Act. Do this very quickly as footage is rarely retained for very long. Alternatively, if there are any other people who work in the area who can act as a witness, this will also support your claim.

Definitely contact the council and advise them that you have information about who has damaged their property and ask if they want to conjoin forces in pursuing the company for compensation. Highways maintenance is typically farmed out to a contractor. Don't get fobbed off onto them as they really aren't part of this. Make it clear that you want to speak to the person who is responsible for claims for damage to public property.

The vehicle may be owned and operated independently by an individual. There are still a few private hauliers remaining out there. If this is the case then don't just try and pursue against them for compensation. Try and find out who they were contracted to and pursue a claim under their liability as well.

Definitely report this too the police as at the very minimum you're going to need a crime number for much of the above.