Circumstances of the Accident
One Saturday in June, Alan was out on his BMW 1000R motorcycle accompanied by eight of his friends. The group take part in regular outings and on this occasion, intended to go on a tour of the Borders region, with their first stop being in Peebles.
Following a brief coffee break, the group set off south with Alan leading. They accessed a single-track road. Alan passed several vehicles coming in the other direction with no cause for concern. The road was wide enough to accommodate a car and a motorcycle passing one another and there were passing places on both sides of the road.
Alan approached a left-hand bend and was positioned well for both safety and forward observation. Rounding the bend, he was confronted with a van travelling in the opposite direction. Alan moved his bike well over to the left-hand side of the road and assumed that the driver of the van would slow down and move to their left as well.
The collision
Unfortunately for Alan, the driver of the van maintained her speed and position taking up all of the tarmac ahead. In response, Alan moved as far to the left-hand side of the road as he could and applied his brakes. However, there was nothing more he could do and the van struck him.
Alan’s right shoulder hit the offside mirror of the van, his right knee hit the front wing, and his right foot went into the offside wheel arch. Alan came off his bike and landed in a ditch at the side of the road.
He was taken to Dumfries and Galloway Hospital where he was diagnosed with fractures to his right foot and left index finger, together with soft tissue injuries to his right foot, right shoulder and right elbow.
Alan decided to get in touch with Motorcycle Law Scotland. We immediately acted, requesting a copy of the Police Report from Police Scotland and intimated a claim for damages against the van driver’s insurer. Insurers have 21 days to note interest following receipt of a letter of claim and 12 weeks to conduct their own liability investigations.
Liability and Persistence
When the insurer responded, they advised that the van driver was disputing liability, however they did not provide any reasoning. After a further period, they then tried to get us to agree to settle the case on a 50/50 basis as it was a single track road with the word of a driver against a motorcyclist.
While it was clear that the insurer had carried out minimal enquiries into liability during the first three to four months of the claim and then tried to settle on a lazy attitude of 50/50, we had been hard at work.
We had spoken directly with several members of Alan’s group who were happy to provide witness statements. Following further investigations, it became clear that the van driver was to be charged by the Police and as such we made some further enquiries. We were advised that the driver had failed to comply with a Conditional Offer, had pled ‘Not Guilty’ to their charge, and was subject of a Report to the Procurator Fiscal. Unfortunately, this meant that we were unable to speak directly with the relevant Police Officer given the ongoing criminal case.
However, the fact that there was sufficient evidence for the van driver to be charged with a driving offence stood firmly in Alan’s favour in terms of liability negotiations. Further to this, the fact that there were witnesses supporting Alan’s version of events, and his road positioning and riding had been to a good standard, it was clear to us that Alan should not accept any proportion of blame for the accident.
Great Result in the End
We maintained our position and the persistence of the team to fight Alan’s corner paid off. Just short of one year following Alan’s accident, the insurer submitted an offer to settle the claim in full. The offer was accepted and Alan received his compensation payment within the month.
This case highlights the importance of having solicitors on your side who understand motorcycling and who manage a case proactively. Our Solicitors are all motorcyclists and have a wealth of experience dealing with road traffic accident claims. We will always do our best to ensure that your claim is taken seriously and we will never back down. Just because two vehicles collide on a single-track road, a settlement of 50/50 is not the law as most insurers would have you believe. Many solicitors would have advised acceptance of 50/50 as one word against another, but evidence can be found from a whole host of sources, not least the post-accident position of the vehicles and witness testimonies, even if they didn’t witness the actual impact.
Guiding you through the unknown and fighting hard for you is what we do best.
Our Award Winning Team
Brenda Mitchell
Senior Partner
Brenda has been a Personal Injury Lawyer for over 38 years and for the last 20 years has specialised representing injured motorcyclists, cyclists and pedestrians.
Jodi Gordon
Partner
Jodi is a Partner at RTA Law LLP with 14+ years’ experience in catastrophic injury claims for vulnerable road users including cyclists and motorcyclists.
Thomas Mitchell
Partner
Thomas represents clients who have been involved in road traffic incidents and he specialises in representing vulnerable road users such as pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists.
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