Who is at fault?
Discussion
Hi Guys.
Back in Feb this year my Wife dropped me off at an RAF base down south and headed home to North Yorks.
She entered the M40 (J9) motorway down the slip of the to stop start traffic.
She joined in front of an artic truck but was stop start for only going a few meters in 2 minutes, stopped with her handbrake on when he hit the back of her. It pushed the back wheels over to the left of the white lines to join the M'way making it look like she cut him up.
She was shaken and he was from Ireland, he started shouting at her, and she had a go at him saying he was not paying attention. He said you better phone the Police which she did but they were not interested as no one injured. They exchanged details and she managed to drive it home minus 1 back light and with a bent bumper.
Next morning she woke with neck pains, these lasted a few weeks and she was off work for a while and is actually still in slight pain even now.
Our insurance took the car and repaired it, costing us nothing and not loosing my NCB.
My wife was put in touch with a solicitor by insurance as I am well covered, who are getting her compensation for her injury/ loss of earnings/ taxis etc.
Now she has just recieved a letter saying the third party is saying she was driving dangerously and pulled in front of him over 2 solid white lines. Their insurance are saying they hold my Wife fully responsible
On his statement he also says he got out and she said she is a student and in a hurry. His drawing is of my wife at a right angle to traffic too.
This conversation never happened, she is not a student and never crossed the white lines as she joined from the right hand lane of the approaching slip road and was actually in front of him stopped for 2 minutes before he nudged her.
So what will be the course of action now? As we thought it was a clear case of him hitting the back of her, and now he is making stories up as he knows there are no witnesses.
She did take pictures of the road/ cars and damage, but as he knocked the back of the car over the lines it looks like she has cut in front of him.
What usually happens in a case like this?
Back in Feb this year my Wife dropped me off at an RAF base down south and headed home to North Yorks.
She entered the M40 (J9) motorway down the slip of the to stop start traffic.
She joined in front of an artic truck but was stop start for only going a few meters in 2 minutes, stopped with her handbrake on when he hit the back of her. It pushed the back wheels over to the left of the white lines to join the M'way making it look like she cut him up.
She was shaken and he was from Ireland, he started shouting at her, and she had a go at him saying he was not paying attention. He said you better phone the Police which she did but they were not interested as no one injured. They exchanged details and she managed to drive it home minus 1 back light and with a bent bumper.
Next morning she woke with neck pains, these lasted a few weeks and she was off work for a while and is actually still in slight pain even now.
Our insurance took the car and repaired it, costing us nothing and not loosing my NCB.
My wife was put in touch with a solicitor by insurance as I am well covered, who are getting her compensation for her injury/ loss of earnings/ taxis etc.
Now she has just recieved a letter saying the third party is saying she was driving dangerously and pulled in front of him over 2 solid white lines. Their insurance are saying they hold my Wife fully responsible
On his statement he also says he got out and she said she is a student and in a hurry. His drawing is of my wife at a right angle to traffic too.
This conversation never happened, she is not a student and never crossed the white lines as she joined from the right hand lane of the approaching slip road and was actually in front of him stopped for 2 minutes before he nudged her.
So what will be the course of action now? As we thought it was a clear case of him hitting the back of her, and now he is making stories up as he knows there are no witnesses.
She did take pictures of the road/ cars and damage, but as he knocked the back of the car over the lines it looks like she has cut in front of him.
What usually happens in a case like this?
Thanks for the responses,
No I dont have protected NCB. I have since renewed with another company and the old insurance sent me proof with all my NCB on.
As I said we thought it was a clear cut case, he was not paying attention and hit the back of our Celica.
Not sure if its no win no fee, its paid for by my insurance. I am wondering if its just easy claims they are after. They even phoned her to say "He is a foriegner (Irish) and the claim could take ages, do you still want to claim?"
Now the new letter from our insurance says the third party hold her fully responsible, please send photos/ witness details etc. We have no witnesses. My wife was genuinly scared at the time. She is only 4'9" and was on her own at the side of a motorway, our car was damaged and the big bloke that did it was shouting at her. i was no use as was on my way to the Falklands at the time. She wasnt sure what to do and was in shock. She called the police who were not interested, she phoneed breakdown to get the car taken home as there was no lights on one side, they refused as it was an accident and said she wasnt covered. So she had to drive it home another 200 miles.
Then her neck problems and the fact she couldnt drive/ work etc. She even had to have friends cook, take her to physio etc for the couple of weeks.
Not a pleasant experiance for her.
You can see it was a pretty big lorry.
No I dont have protected NCB. I have since renewed with another company and the old insurance sent me proof with all my NCB on.
As I said we thought it was a clear cut case, he was not paying attention and hit the back of our Celica.
Not sure if its no win no fee, its paid for by my insurance. I am wondering if its just easy claims they are after. They even phoned her to say "He is a foriegner (Irish) and the claim could take ages, do you still want to claim?"
Now the new letter from our insurance says the third party hold her fully responsible, please send photos/ witness details etc. We have no witnesses. My wife was genuinly scared at the time. She is only 4'9" and was on her own at the side of a motorway, our car was damaged and the big bloke that did it was shouting at her. i was no use as was on my way to the Falklands at the time. She wasnt sure what to do and was in shock. She called the police who were not interested, she phoneed breakdown to get the car taken home as there was no lights on one side, they refused as it was an accident and said she wasnt covered. So she had to drive it home another 200 miles.
Then her neck problems and the fact she couldnt drive/ work etc. She even had to have friends cook, take her to physio etc for the couple of weeks.
Not a pleasant experiance for her.
You can see it was a pretty big lorry.
Edited by nottyash on Tuesday 14th September 22:24
When i first saw the photos she took i asked if she pulled in front of him as thats what it looks like to me at first glance. She is not happy, as she said she was stopped for up to a couple of minutes in front of him.
She was over to the left of the lane,and the impact pushed the back to the left giving the impression she was pulling in front of him.
His story about her being a student and in a hurry is easy to pick holes in.
also his sketch of the scene with her car at right angles. It clearly is not in the pics.
He is trying it on as he has been a lorry driver for 30 odd years and thinks he is perfect.
If it looks like he is not paying attention it cant do his career any good.
Glad I wasnt there to be honest as with his attitude towards her at the scene I would probably of hit him and landed myself in the poo.
Pseudonym17 said:
EU_Foreigner said:
If the insurance works the same as in NL in this element, they don't persue foreign companies as it gets them nowhere, especially Polish etc. You don't lose NCD there either when hit by foreign cars.
Not sure if it is the same in the UK, and not sure if Ireland is seen as part of the UK as far as insurance is concerned.
It's not. Any idea what county the driver was from or any better picks of the truck? Do you know who he was driving for OP?Not sure if it is the same in the UK, and not sure if Ireland is seen as part of the UK as far as insurance is concerned.
You can see the name on this pic.
I am glad she managed to take these pics on her phone in all the commotion. Just a shame she never insisted the Police turn up ar get a witness.
Pseudonym17 said:
saaby93 said:
Are you sure the truck driver saw her? She might have been below his line of vision
This is a good angle to use and could also be very true, she could have been there for any length of time in front of the truck but if shes below the eyline of the driver he will have no clue shes there! Maybe she approached tight from the left and slowly nipped in front maybe? In this case he would have no hope of seeing her! If the truck is as big as you say it could well be a topliner or somthing close in which case the blind spot would be much bigger than you'd think!He must not of seen her and when he hit her maybe he did think she had just pulled in.
You can see the size of the truck in relation to the car. Remember it was very busy about 7pm with stop start traffic and lots of traffic emerging.
Nickyboy said:
The simple fact the front n/s corner of the truck has hit the rear o/s corner of her car shows that she wasn't in her lane (i know this part of the M40 like the back of my hand) and was either pushing her way into the traffic or doing the normal thing and not giving way and assuming the truck driver knows what she is doing when she is highly likely to be in the truck drivers blind area.
She seems to have contradicted herself by saying that she was in stop start traffic then saying she was stationary for 2 mins before he hit her.
Thats what it looked like to me too, but she assures me thats not the case.She seems to have contradicted herself by saying that she was in stop start traffic then saying she was stationary for 2 mins before he hit her.
I drive on the left, so understandably she does and was, unfortunatly in this instance it has made it look as though she pushed in. She is not an aggresive driver and never did the norm pushing in.
She joined moved a few meters and stopped with handbrake on, she says for about 2 minutes.
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