Car parked on drive hit by bin lorry - help!
Discussion
I'll try to keep this factual and to the point. I'm hoping for some advise on how to proceed from this point (as well as some sympathy for what is a s
te situaiton).
So on Friday morning 27th of Feb at roughly 8AM, I got my bike out of the garage in front of which my black C900 Turbo is always parked in its space off the main road and went on my merry way to work. On return at 4PM I noticed my car had moved back approx 2 feet closer to the garage door which got alarm bells ringing as it is always parked in gear with handbrake on. I hurredly park the bike on the side stand and jump off to take a look -this bit is important. On coming round to the OSF corner there was a large scuff mark on the bumper with clear blue and yellow paint transfer, bumper skin had become largely detached from crash structure and the front wheel arches had also both been dislodged. fk. No sign of a courtesy note or any details left anywhere. Double fk. I then started to notice lots of little plastic shavings from the front bumper littered about the floor so gathered them up and pocketed them. I go back to the bike and because of my stty parking and me being a bit flustered (i'm a fairly new rider and normally super cautious) it rolls forward and gets away from me off the side stand and goes down hard on the RHS smashing the screen, cockpit panel and RHS mirror off. TRIPLE fkING fk. Not a good friday.
These pictures are shocking I know - I'll upload some clearer ones tomorrow.
I got thinking as to how this could have happened and it dawned on me that the culprit was most probably the bin lorry for the following reasons:
1. it's blue and fking yellow.
2. it's fking bin day.
3. it drives right past this space every friday.
4. the car has clearly been hit quite hard by something quite heavy to move so far whilst parked in gear.
5. it's blue and fking yellow.
car was parked here in it's space, off the road, but with open access to the main road. you can see in the pictures faint tyre marks from where the bin lorry comes sweeping round.
I went knocking around my neighbours doors asking for witnesses but no one saw anything unfortunately.
I rang the council who put me onto SITA UK, the recyling contractor who were now closed until Monday. They told me not to worry as the vehicles all have CCTV and if there was a collision that would have caught it. Reported the accident to the police who filed a collision report but were unable to persue any further as apparently I've added 2 and 2 together and made 5 and any evidence thus far is purely circumstancial. At this point didn't want to involve my insurer's and give SITA a chance to put it right.
I got a call from the SITA rep on Monday who said he would come round to take a look. He came over and took a couple of pictures and asked if anyone saw anything. Was fairly helpful and said he would look into it and inspect the vehicles in question and talk to the drivers and be in touch. Didn't hear anything for a while despite a couple of pestering calls and was starting to worry but finally made contact a week later at which point the SITA rep said he would bring an insurance bod round on Friday with the vehicle in question to take some additional photos and measurements.
"So do you think it was your lorry that did it? Is there any paint transfer on your vehicle that matches the damage on mine, do the colours match, can you send me some photos?"
"Sorry - I'm unable to make a comment on that mate"
"What about the CCTV?"
"Oh these vehicles don't have them mate"
"Uhm ok.. How can you bring the "vehicle in question" round if you there's no matching damage? What did the driver / crew say?
"..We'll see you friday"
So Friday rolled around making it two weeks since the damage was caused without any admission of guilt, apology or any indication that my car was going to get fixed.
The lorry comes round and after much backwards and forwards shunting and cursing by the drivers they manage to bring it side by side with the damage on my vehcile. Bingo, the colours and heights of the scrapes on each vehicle match perfectly. The side running bar of the truck has clearly rubbed on my bumper as they've turned around the corner, pushing the car backwards in the process and dislodging the bumper & wheelarches.
sorry for the crappy pictures I was asked not to take photos for reasons below. When the scrape in the picture above is lined up with the damage on my bumper they are at exactly the same height. The SITA rep took pictures of this and said he would email them to the insurance company
I write down the vehicles reg and start taking pictures of the mirrored damage.
"No point taking pictures of that mate, it wasn't the actual truck that was here 2 weeks ago it's just an identical one so the damage you are looking at is from something else"
"I thought you said you were going to bring the actual one round? Why is there a black scrape on blue and yellow at exactly the same height as the blue and yellow scrape on my black car."
"Other one is broken down so we couldn't bring it, sorry, anyway no use taking pictures of this one"
The whole thing started to feel very strange. I overheard the drivers & crew all bhing and moaning that I shouldn't have parked there anyway (..in my offstreet parking space?)as it made the corner difficult and it was an accident waiting to happen.
The SITA rep then told me that the drivers / loaders said they 100% did not hit my vehicle and there were no witnesses so their insurers will probably try and defend / reject any claim made against them on the grounds of no evidence. Gave me a number to call them to take it up with them and he would not be involved any further.
No evidence.No fking evidence. It's clear as fking day in my mind that this bin lorry hit my car. The damage matches exactly and no other large vehicles come through here at all.
I ring the SITA insurance company who pull up the details and tell me that the reg of the vehicle that allegedly hit me is the same as the one I wrote down earlier in the day which explains why the damage matches exactly. So why did the rep tell me it was a different vehicle? They told me that they would most likely reject the claim on the grounds of no evidence and the drivers denying there was any contact but they will look into the details and be in touch next week.
I ring the police, saying I now have the registration of the vehicle that hit me without leaving a note and pictures of the mirrored damage. Apparently clear physical evidence of matching paint transfer on the two vehicles in question is circumstantial as I am the only person to have witnesses it and they won't be getting involved. What?!
That takes me up to today. What do I do? I feel like I probably need to start applying a bit more pressure as I'm just getting fobbed off now and I have a bit more evidence to go on. On the one hand I'm glad I know who has done it, but the fact that this is just a faceless corporation that is trying to wriggle out of paying out a few quid to rectify their mistake really irks me. I can't drive the car as the MOT has now lapsed and it needs to go in for some welding before it will pass, but I need it to be available for any forthcoming inspections by the insurance company so it has to just sit on the drive. I've had to commute by push bike / motorbike for 2 weeks now and not had any hint of an apology or admission of guilt even though it's clear as day how this happened.
I was thinking of getting a few quotes to get the bumper resprayed and refitted? which I'd expect to come in at around £300 I have basically 0 chance of getting a new C900 Carlsson bumper now and if one does come up for sale it will be north of £400 quid and will then need a lot of work and paint to get right as they are so rare now.
I'll probably have to chalk up the damage to the bike as me being an impatient clumsy idiot and move on. I can accept that.
Do I then approach their insurance company with these quotes trying to force them to admit liability and settle?
If the insuracnce company reject the claim, can I put in a claim through the small claims court where someone, god forbid, might use some common fking sense? How do I do this?
Answers on a post card please. Apologies for the st rant. B- Needs more swearing.
te situaiton).So on Friday morning 27th of Feb at roughly 8AM, I got my bike out of the garage in front of which my black C900 Turbo is always parked in its space off the main road and went on my merry way to work. On return at 4PM I noticed my car had moved back approx 2 feet closer to the garage door which got alarm bells ringing as it is always parked in gear with handbrake on. I hurredly park the bike on the side stand and jump off to take a look -this bit is important. On coming round to the OSF corner there was a large scuff mark on the bumper with clear blue and yellow paint transfer, bumper skin had become largely detached from crash structure and the front wheel arches had also both been dislodged. f
k. No sign of a courtesy note or any details left anywhere. Double fk. I then started to notice lots of little plastic shavings from the front bumper littered about the floor so gathered them up and pocketed them. I go back to the bike and because of my stty parking and me being a bit flustered (i'm a fairly new rider and normally super cautious) it rolls forward and gets away from me off the side stand and goes down hard on the RHS smashing the screen, cockpit panel and RHS mirror off. TRIPLE fkING fk. Not a good friday.These pictures are shocking I know - I'll upload some clearer ones tomorrow.
I got thinking as to how this could have happened and it dawned on me that the culprit was most probably the bin lorry for the following reasons:
1. it's blue and f
king yellow.2. it's f
king bin day.3. it drives right past this space every friday.
4. the car has clearly been hit quite hard by something quite heavy to move so far whilst parked in gear.
5. it's blue and f
king yellow.car was parked here in it's space, off the road, but with open access to the main road. you can see in the pictures faint tyre marks from where the bin lorry comes sweeping round.
I went knocking around my neighbours doors asking for witnesses but no one saw anything unfortunately.
I rang the council who put me onto SITA UK, the recyling contractor who were now closed until Monday. They told me not to worry as the vehicles all have CCTV and if there was a collision that would have caught it. Reported the accident to the police who filed a collision report but were unable to persue any further as apparently I've added 2 and 2 together and made 5 and any evidence thus far is purely circumstancial. At this point didn't want to involve my insurer's and give SITA a chance to put it right.
I got a call from the SITA rep on Monday who said he would come round to take a look. He came over and took a couple of pictures and asked if anyone saw anything. Was fairly helpful and said he would look into it and inspect the vehicles in question and talk to the drivers and be in touch. Didn't hear anything for a while despite a couple of pestering calls and was starting to worry but finally made contact a week later at which point the SITA rep said he would bring an insurance bod round on Friday with the vehicle in question to take some additional photos and measurements.
"So do you think it was your lorry that did it? Is there any paint transfer on your vehicle that matches the damage on mine, do the colours match, can you send me some photos?"
"Sorry - I'm unable to make a comment on that mate"
"What about the CCTV?"
"Oh these vehicles don't have them mate"
"Uhm ok.. How can you bring the "vehicle in question" round if you there's no matching damage? What did the driver / crew say?
"..We'll see you friday"
- click*
So Friday rolled around making it two weeks since the damage was caused without any admission of guilt, apology or any indication that my car was going to get fixed.
The lorry comes round and after much backwards and forwards shunting and cursing by the drivers they manage to bring it side by side with the damage on my vehcile. Bingo, the colours and heights of the scrapes on each vehicle match perfectly. The side running bar of the truck has clearly rubbed on my bumper as they've turned around the corner, pushing the car backwards in the process and dislodging the bumper & wheelarches.
sorry for the crappy pictures I was asked not to take photos for reasons below. When the scrape in the picture above is lined up with the damage on my bumper they are at exactly the same height. The SITA rep took pictures of this and said he would email them to the insurance company
I write down the vehicles reg and start taking pictures of the mirrored damage.
"No point taking pictures of that mate, it wasn't the actual truck that was here 2 weeks ago it's just an identical one so the damage you are looking at is from something else"
"I thought you said you were going to bring the actual one round? Why is there a black scrape on blue and yellow at exactly the same height as the blue and yellow scrape on my black car."
"Other one is broken down so we couldn't bring it, sorry, anyway no use taking pictures of this one"
The whole thing started to feel very strange. I overheard the drivers & crew all b
hing and moaning that I shouldn't have parked there anyway (..in my offstreet parking space?)as it made the corner difficult and it was an accident waiting to happen.The SITA rep then told me that the drivers / loaders said they 100% did not hit my vehicle and there were no witnesses so their insurers will probably try and defend / reject any claim made against them on the grounds of no evidence. Gave me a number to call them to take it up with them and he would not be involved any further.
No evidence.No f
king evidence. It's clear as fking day in my mind that this bin lorry hit my car. The damage matches exactly and no other large vehicles come through here at all.I ring the SITA insurance company who pull up the details and tell me that the reg of the vehicle that allegedly hit me is the same as the one I wrote down earlier in the day which explains why the damage matches exactly. So why did the rep tell me it was a different vehicle? They told me that they would most likely reject the claim on the grounds of no evidence and the drivers denying there was any contact but they will look into the details and be in touch next week.
I ring the police, saying I now have the registration of the vehicle that hit me without leaving a note and pictures of the mirrored damage. Apparently clear physical evidence of matching paint transfer on the two vehicles in question is circumstantial as I am the only person to have witnesses it and they won't be getting involved. What?!
That takes me up to today. What do I do? I feel like I probably need to start applying a bit more pressure as I'm just getting fobbed off now and I have a bit more evidence to go on. On the one hand I'm glad I know who has done it, but the fact that this is just a faceless corporation that is trying to wriggle out of paying out a few quid to rectify their mistake really irks me. I can't drive the car as the MOT has now lapsed and it needs to go in for some welding before it will pass, but I need it to be available for any forthcoming inspections by the insurance company so it has to just sit on the drive. I've had to commute by push bike / motorbike for 2 weeks now and not had any hint of an apology or admission of guilt even though it's clear as day how this happened.
I was thinking of getting a few quotes to get the bumper resprayed and refitted? which I'd expect to come in at around £300 I have basically 0 chance of getting a new C900 Carlsson bumper now and if one does come up for sale it will be north of £400 quid and will then need a lot of work and paint to get right as they are so rare now.
I'll probably have to chalk up the damage to the bike as me being an impatient clumsy idiot and move on. I can accept that.
Do I then approach their insurance company with these quotes trying to force them to admit liability and settle?
If the insuracnce company reject the claim, can I put in a claim through the small claims court where someone, god forbid, might use some common f
king sense? How do I do this?Answers on a post card please. Apologies for the s
t rant. B- Needs more swearing.Edited by Meldonte on Sunday 15th March 21:16
Edited by Meldonte on Sunday 15th March 21:25
Damage to the bike is your own fault. No easy way of putting it, sorry.
Damage to the car - sounds like you are on exactly the right track and someone is telling you a lot of porkie pies. Keep on at them, keep the photos you already have, talk to the relevant councillor (although they are likely to be useless - they always are) and either push it to the insurance company or think seriously about a Small Claims Court case.
Oli.
Damage to the car - sounds like you are on exactly the right track and someone is telling you a lot of porkie pies. Keep on at them, keep the photos you already have, talk to the relevant councillor (although they are likely to be useless - they always are) and either push it to the insurance company or think seriously about a Small Claims Court case.
Oli.
We had something similar in our Close with a neighbour whose car was scraped badly (bin lorry has to reverse up our Close, so from binmen's point it's not easy, but ...).
Neighbour got nowhere, like you, so told council he'd had enough and was contacting the local rag and giving them the story and photos. Things suddenly moved then with a 'oh, no need to go to the papers etc'.
Ended with insurance paying up. What to note though is on renewal, his premium went up by around a 100 quid. So he simply told them he would look elsewhere, went on one of the compare sites. Hey presto his ins co dropped the renewal back down but not enough, so he went with the competitor's lower quote, and even got a 'cash back' or something somehow. He won hands down. Except for his lost time and hassle of course.
Moral in there somewhere. Like, don't give in to the barstewards.
Neighbour got nowhere, like you, so told council he'd had enough and was contacting the local rag and giving them the story and photos. Things suddenly moved then with a 'oh, no need to go to the papers etc'.
Ended with insurance paying up. What to note though is on renewal, his premium went up by around a 100 quid. So he simply told them he would look elsewhere, went on one of the compare sites. Hey presto his ins co dropped the renewal back down but not enough, so he went with the competitor's lower quote, and even got a 'cash back' or something somehow. He won hands down. Except for his lost time and hassle of course.
Moral in there somewhere. Like, don't give in to the barstewards.
dandarez said:
We had something similar in our Close with a neighbour whose car was scraped badly (bin lorry has to reverse up our Close, so from binmen's point it's not easy, but ...).
Neighbour got nowhere, like you, so told council he'd had enough and was contacting the local rag and giving them the story and photos. Things suddenly moved then with a 'oh, no need to go to the papers etc'.
Ended with insurance paying up. What to note though is on renewal, his premium went up by around a 100 quid. So he simply told them he would look elsewhere, went on one of the compare sites. Hey presto his ins co dropped the renewal back down but not enough, so he went with the competitor's lower quote, and even got a 'cash back' or something somehow. He won hands down. Except for his lost time and hassle of course.
Moral in there somewhere. Like, don't give in to the barstewards.
So when your neighbour renewed his insurance with another company did he declare the accident?Neighbour got nowhere, like you, so told council he'd had enough and was contacting the local rag and giving them the story and photos. Things suddenly moved then with a 'oh, no need to go to the papers etc'.
Ended with insurance paying up. What to note though is on renewal, his premium went up by around a 100 quid. So he simply told them he would look elsewhere, went on one of the compare sites. Hey presto his ins co dropped the renewal back down but not enough, so he went with the competitor's lower quote, and even got a 'cash back' or something somehow. He won hands down. Except for his lost time and hassle of course.
Moral in there somewhere. Like, don't give in to the barstewards.
Was the car fully in the space to start with??
Car of 4.7m, 4.8m is often an accepted space length... If it was pushed back by 2ft, that suggests it could have been overhanging the front of the space.
A bollard on the corner of the space wouildnt help if this were the case
Atb with the claim... Seems pretty clear from your pics and descriptions who the culprits were.
Car of 4.7m, 4.8m is often an accepted space length... If it was pushed back by 2ft, that suggests it could have been overhanging the front of the space.
A bollard on the corner of the space wouildnt help if this were the case
Atb with the claim... Seems pretty clear from your pics and descriptions who the culprits were.
grimmac said:
Was the car fully in the space to start with??
Car of 4.7m, 4.8m is often an accepted space length... If it was pushed back by 2ft, that suggests it could have been overhanging the front of the space.
I was thinking that - from the picture it doesn't look like it be parked within the marked space and still leave room for the garage door to open.Car of 4.7m, 4.8m is often an accepted space length... If it was pushed back by 2ft, that suggests it could have been overhanging the front of the space.
Still doesn't mean it's OK for other vehicles to drive into it though.
I recommend having a word with ACH - non-fault accident assistance. They were brilliant with my case - van drove into my parked car, drove off. Insurance company were rubbish, seemed to have no real interest in establishing liability. In desperation I spoke to ACH, who couldn't have been more efficient. As it is in their interest to prove liability, they are quite tenacious.
Sorry to those who will tell me that using a company like this pushes up premiums due to contract hire etc etc, but if my insurance company (and the police, for that matter) had been just a little less ste, it wouldn't have been an option I'd even have considered.
0117 957 4306
Sorry to those who will tell me that using a company like this pushes up premiums due to contract hire etc etc, but if my insurance company (and the police, for that matter) had been just a little less s
te, it wouldn't have been an option I'd even have considered.0117 957 4306
thismonkeyhere said:
I recommend having a word with ACH - non-fault accident assistance. They were brilliant with my case - van drove into my parked car, drove off. Insurance company were rubbish, seemed to have no real interest in establishing liability. In desperation I spoke to ACH, who couldn't have been more efficient. As it is in their interest to prove liability, they are quite tenacious.
Sorry to those who will tell me that using a company like this pushes up premiums due to contract hire etc etc, but if my insurance company (and the police, for that matter) had been just a little less ste, it wouldn't have been an option I'd even have considered.
0117 957 4306
This would be an option, although the company of choice on PH is often Europa Consultants as it's run by a PH-er (anniesdad). You could try sending him a PM. Sorry to those who will tell me that using a company like this pushes up premiums due to contract hire etc etc, but if my insurance company (and the police, for that matter) had been just a little less s
te, it wouldn't have been an option I'd even have considered.0117 957 4306
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/profile.asp?mem...
This sounds like one of the few circumstances in which using such a company could be justified, as thismonkeyhere said. I used them when an idiot pulled in front of me and I hit them, and my insurance company suggested that it should go 50:50. It's morally dubious to use such people when it's a clear-cut claim and you fancy a flash hire car, but while regular insurance companies are so poor at defending their client's interests then I can see a (small) place for them.
Oli.
A neighbours car got hit by the bin lorry, it was hit hard enough to shift it a couple of feet. The driver of the bin note left a note though. His car was written off and the bin company arranged a hire car for him whilst they arranged the payout. When he called the hire company to arrange a car they asked who was paying whereupon they say "Are you serious? Your the 4th person we have had this week whose car has been hit by a bin lorry".
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