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8:15 tesrerd evening i got knocked off my bike. Im curently at A&E wait for the dr to look at xray. In a lot if pain...my. question to anyone that's dones similar whats fhe next step.
I'm self employed and the bills will need to be paid.
Edit/update
Multiple fractures to upper houmourus. I've snapped the 'ball' bit off of the bone.
[quote=tymbian ]I'm self employed and the bills will need to be paid.
In which case you'll definitely be needing to lawyer up - it's not going to be a small claim. Plenty of decent cycling accident solicitors - my usual recommendation is http://bikeline.co.uk/ but other options available.
Oh and get well soon 🙂
Keep a journal or diary. Track time and money spent on recovery or that you would have not otherwise spent (i.e. taxi to doctor appointment because you can't ride). Also keep track of your recovery/progress and how well you feel. A year from now, it will be hard to remember on which day you were actually able to do something again.
Hope you recover quickly! 🙂
How's the bike?
ouch! - heal fast
Witnesses; organise early if you can, maybe ask them to write down what they remember unless it was OBVIOUSLY the driver's fault. If driver denies responsibility, you're going to have to demontrate the facts
Log everything that has happened and take photos of injuries as they go on. My mate has had a nightmare with this with getting asked for photos of injuries nearly a year on.
Get an expenses book and a laywer.
And get well soon, sounds horrific mate.
+1 for witnesses. They disappear and stories change so get on with it.
Multiple fractures to upper houmourus. I've snapped the 'ball' bit off of the bone.
Jeebus! Healing vibes fella...
As for compensation;
talk to your solicitor, it's possibly worth making a list of reasonable costs/losses to discuss....
Expected lost income, damage to property (bike/kit), overall impact on personal health (is the injury going to require physio? Will you have longer term issues?), more generally personal inconvenience (is this injury going to affect any upcoming plans, holidays, events, etc? And hence your quality/enjoyment of life...)
Basically make a list, and it's not just financial...
Good luck fella.
As always, the lfgss guide is useful:
https://www.lfgss.com/conversations/131099/
Get well soon, sounds nasty.
Nothing concrete to add but good luck with the treatment for the injury, your recovery and with getting decent compensation from whoever was at fault.
Thanks for the responses peeps. Stay safe. I had lights on. Hi viz
Jacket but it was still daylight.
Guy pulls out from my right turning right he get sort of level with me but gets closer and traps me between car and kerb. The bike is a 10day old Levo fsr comp.
Mind boggling that a driver could not see or simply ignore a rider that obvious on a bike that big. Good luck!
Flipping heck! Get better soon and I hope it all works out for you.
Hi viz
Jacket but it was still daylight
No 'but' called for there, Hi viz is for light, reflectives is for night...
..and in any case drivers have a duty to not drive into you whatever you wear.
Get well soon
Healing vibes OP - stay safe out there everyone.
It seems news of Gail Purcell's acquittal travels fast! 😯
Good luck with recovery, get active as soon as you can (taking account of medical advice) and claiming compensation.
Don't be surprised to find the police utterly useless. Even if they do make a recommendation to prosecute it's likely the CPS won't proceed.
Concentrate on getting better but expect much frustration over the next couple of years. (Personal experience!!)
Firstly, hope you're doing ok, it could have been a lot worse. HTF did they not see you? Too busy looking at the junction and not their surroundings?
Were there any witnesses?
Has the driver admitted guilt?
Were the police called to the scene?
Ta.
Police were called and they took a statement & there was one witness also.
I've snapped the 'ball' bit off of the bone.
I did similar (self-inflicted radial head shattered) and was out out of action for 8 weeks (also self employed 😯 ) and off the bike for a lot longer!
GWS.
Healing vibes. Glad there was a witness.
Keep us posted.
Update 1 if anyone is interested.
Upon seeing a fracture specialist today I was sent for a CT scan as it looks like an operation is imminent ( within 7 to 10 daya of the injury occuring ) and the consultant need as much information as possible before they 'go in'. He reckons I'll never have full movement in my arm/ shoulder again although to what extent he doesn't know yet.
A friend advised getting the drivers insurance to pay for me to be treated privately..is this an option?
At the moment I dont have the drivers name address etc. Only his vehicle reg.as I wasnt in a position to take any details. Is there a way to see whether he was insured etc...
A friend advised getting the drivers insurance to pay for me to be treated privately..is this an option?
I doubt that's an option at this stage, it's a bit early for an admission of liability on their part. Though you might get a nicer room you won't get better treatment going privately in any case so I wouldn't worry about it.
For now let the police worry about whether he's insured.
A friend advised getting the drivers insurance to pay for me to be treated privately..is this an option?
you need to talk to your solicitor, NHS is probably the only viable route given the timelines as "private" doesn't tend to do short notice stuff
also NHS guy is probably the private guy in any case, check with your GP to see if the surgeon is any good
At the moment I dont have the drivers name address etc. Only his vehicle reg.as I wasnt in a position to take any details. Is there a way to see whether he was insured etc...
call the police, get the incident number and the driver details for the claim
don't cuff this, get decent advice that you pay for (so ignore mine as well 😉 )
I spoke to a lawyer yesterday and he only seemed to tell me what they would do for me once I'd given them the go-ahead. No advise though..they did seem to want 25percent + costs of some sort..
You could always try some other solicitors for a second opinion. I think there are adverts in the back of cycling weekly of cycle accident specialists. IIRC there are always fees to pay now since the rules on no win no fee changed.
British Cycling use Leigh Day, CTC use someone, go to them
My wife is a PI lawyer. You'd be welcome to speak informally with her for some advice if you want. She's helped several of my friends. Is my email in my profile?
Fyi from someone who's had the same kind of injury, I was off work for 6 weeks, on painkillers up to about 3 months, couldn't drive for 3 months, 12 months of physio to get back probably 95% of the movement and 18 months before I was properly mountain biking again.
The first 4 weeks were the worst, had to sleep upright to keep the bone in the right place. How do you sleep sitting up? You don't... not very much anyway!
Healing vibes...
Hi Ferret, email wasnt in profile but have pm'd you.
Yes, sleep poorly sitting up. D'you reckon a trip to Morzine late august is out of the question?
Ouch. Hope it all gets mended soon and you screw the bugger to the wall
At the moment I dont have the drivers name address etc. Only his vehicle reg.as I wasnt in a position to take any details. Is there a way to see whether he was insured etc.
www.askmid.com to check insurance, lots of pi insurance co in the back of cycle mags.
tymbian - MemberD'you reckon a trip to Morzine late august is out of the question?
Doubtful at best is my guess. The more you work at recovery the better it will be. Its a cliché but its true. If it was an important race or a once in a lifetime chance then maybe.
Don't be afraid to question the consultant and consider looking for a specialist. Ask how many young fit ( assuming you are 😉 ) people he has repaired like this?
Oh - sympathies and all that stuff. Nearly forgot the niceties
🙂
http://www.cycleaidsolicitors.co.uk/
Based in Preston but covering UK
Always been great with me (3 claims) and take 10% of the claim that you get
They'll advise you on how likely you are to win and they'll arrange medical assessments
Police dismissed my last claim but they proceeded with it and were successful
Good luck & speedy recovery
Will do
Write down as soon as you can everything you can remember everything about the driver etc. Email it to yourself so you have an easy proof it was written at the time. Go back and get photos of the road
Crap! 😯 Shafted that bone in a M/C accident in '92 - still gives me grief now. You're in for a long recovery bud. All the best & screw the mofo!
Tymbian, really sorry to hear that. Get well soon and there's good advice above re solicitors. I'd be on the phone to the specialists like leigh day, and a quick follow up with ferrets wife's kind offer to figure out how the process goes would be a very good idea.
Good luck op
Strikes me that this is a fairly frequent thread on here (knocked off, pi lawyers, etc.), not a moan but it still ends up being anecdotes and experiences.
Why dont stw (or one of the road websites) commission a proper article with input from the pil's and write a definitive summary of how to approach these events?
It would be useful to many, and increasingly so.
No direct experience but I've read about the 'standard' injury treatment and how the 'Pros' might be treated differently to ensure full recovery rather than adequate recovery.
I imagine with a break like yours, there is not much choice but bolts and pins, but its worth asking, and especially push to see if your aftercare/physio can be done by a sports physio, rather than someone who is aiming for enough movement to do your standard household chores/drive a car but might limit what you can do on a bike.
Oof - that sounds nasty. Hope you heal fast.
No advice from me other than to get some proper advice somewhere - CTC lot's lawyers will take cases from non members, BC/SCU may well do the same.
I broke the ball off the bone, so to speak on my right arm some years ago. Luckily I didn't need an operation, but it did take a long while to heal fully. The doc said 2 weeks for the bone to start to mend, then a few weeks to strengthen, then the physio starts. While you're not using it the joint muscles and stuff contract and the hard part is loosening them up again. Boy, was the physio uncomfortable, especially to begin with. Within 3 months I'd got about 85% of the movement back. The other 15% took the best part of another 6 months. I still do some of the exercises on the odd occasion I feel the shoulder getting a little uncomfortable.
I only had two weeks off work as I'm an office worker and could still type and pick up the phone with my left hand 😀
Good luck to the OP.
OP here..I've had a letter from the police really just giving me a reference number for the collision. No other information on it apart from a sentence saying that the investigation may take up to 6 months. Is this a generic letter or will they investigate? If they're going to investigate does that mean the driver hasnt admitted liability?
[quote=tymbian ]OP here..I've had a letter from the police really just giving me a reference number for the collision. No other information on it apart from a sentence saying that the investigation may take up to 6 months. Is this a generic letter or will they investigate? If they're going to investigate does that mean the driver hasnt admitted liability?
You did better than me - when I was knocked off and the driver gave a statement to the police I never heard anything more (insurance company subsequently tried to deny liability, but the threat of court action sorted that - driver had pulled out on me on a roundabout, I've no idea if driver denied responsibility, but I suspect it was just the insurance company).
Given the above I've no direct experience (I wasn't pushing for the driver to be prosecuted - she passed the attitude test, it clearly was a genuine mistake), but there is a big difference between liability in terms of you getting a payout and the driver being guilty of an offence. The police are only interested in the latter, you're probably mainly interested in the former. The driver not admitting to having committed an offence (which is normal) doesn't mean they're denying liability.
Holy shit that sounds bad tymbian. Heal soon.
Jay
Didn't see this when you first posted it. I've got no advice, but, get well soon.
Hope you heal fast buddy.there but for the the grace of god...
Thanks for all the well wishers and advice. The whole 'there for the grace of God go I' is so true. I play it over and over in my mind. What could I of done different...answer is not be there. But this cant be avoided...I need to use the road to get to the bridleways that I use.
This has to change at driver level, more prosecutions, more awareness campaigns of what the law is, Billboards with a variation on the think bike theme etc..
Possibly things may have changed over time but keep an eye on things. I was taken out on the m/c and all was eventually sorted but without any of my knowledge a court had decided that I had a percentage of blame and thus costs were deducted accordingly. innocently I just said thanks and forgot about it. Should have argued and asked why I wasn't told of court case.