Side Swiped by Coach...driver didnt stop!
Discussion
There I am, in my new car (well, new to me) on my way down to Devon on Saturday Lunchtime.
In the outside lane of the North Circular doing about 35mph alongside a coach. All of a sudden the coach starts to pull into my lane, with no warning. I brake but the front offside wing and door are swiped along the side of the coach, eventually the coach pulls off ahead and I am left behind.
Ok, I think - we clearly cant stop on the North Circ so he's going to pull over up ahead....I follow (my car is still driveable) after about 2 miles this pr1ck clearly is either:
- totally unaware that he's almost run me into the central reservation
or
- not interested in stopping.
I pull alongside and point for him to pull over - he sees me and ignores me. I pull over and he carries on - I check my car, offside front wing heavily dented and scratched as is the offside door and door mirror.
Luckily I had taken the reg of the coach as well as the number of the company (H&B Group Travel) - this was a tourist coach....
Do I need to report this to the police as he didnt stop? I have reported it to my insurance so far...
I dont have any witnesses so what the hell can I do? (If by some miracle anyone reading this saw all of this -it happened at about 1430 on Saturday just before the Brent Cross Flyover on the North Circular heading towards Wembley - please PM me!)
I cannot believe a coach driver can hit another car and not be aware. I am peed off to say the least.
In the outside lane of the North Circular doing about 35mph alongside a coach. All of a sudden the coach starts to pull into my lane, with no warning. I brake but the front offside wing and door are swiped along the side of the coach, eventually the coach pulls off ahead and I am left behind.
Ok, I think - we clearly cant stop on the North Circ so he's going to pull over up ahead....I follow (my car is still driveable) after about 2 miles this pr1ck clearly is either:
- totally unaware that he's almost run me into the central reservation
or
- not interested in stopping.
I pull alongside and point for him to pull over - he sees me and ignores me. I pull over and he carries on - I check my car, offside front wing heavily dented and scratched as is the offside door and door mirror.
Luckily I had taken the reg of the coach as well as the number of the company (H&B Group Travel) - this was a tourist coach....
Do I need to report this to the police as he didnt stop? I have reported it to my insurance so far...
I dont have any witnesses so what the hell can I do? (If by some miracle anyone reading this saw all of this -it happened at about 1430 on Saturday just before the Brent Cross Flyover on the North Circular heading towards Wembley - please PM me!)
I cannot believe a coach driver can hit another car and not be aware. I am peed off to say the least.
Let the police know, they'll take a look at the coach, he'll either say he didn't notice, and the company will let the claim go through, or if he denies it, the police will investigate.
Where there passengers onboard? they'll be pretty good witnesses.
If just one of them told the driver he's just swiped someone, then he's in trouble.
Where there passengers onboard? they'll be pretty good witnesses.
If just one of them told the driver he's just swiped someone, then he's in trouble.
4nonymous said:
It's very easy to in something that big, same with in an arctic.
I would have been more forceable in making him stop over or made it clear that you wanted him to pull over.
Believe me, I was furious and wanted to make him stop but there was a lot of traffic on the road and I really didnt want to cause an accident by trying to force him to stop.I would have been more forceable in making him stop over or made it clear that you wanted him to pull over.
I'll report it to the Police tomorrow morning.
UPDATE:
Well, the coach company are claiming that I tried to "nip inside" the coach and therefore they dont accept responsibility. My insuarnce got back to be advising that in the light of this and that there are no witnesses they would accept 50/50 liability.
I asked them to ask the other parties how they can give a version of event when they did not stop after the accident? This would mean they either knowingly didnt stop after an accident (a criminal offence?) or are lying.
Presumably, now that they have given their version of the accident they are caught in their own lie and will have to say that they did stop after the accident....any thoughts as to how I can win this?
Well, the coach company are claiming that I tried to "nip inside" the coach and therefore they dont accept responsibility. My insuarnce got back to be advising that in the light of this and that there are no witnesses they would accept 50/50 liability.
I asked them to ask the other parties how they can give a version of event when they did not stop after the accident? This would mean they either knowingly didnt stop after an accident (a criminal offence?) or are lying.
Presumably, now that they have given their version of the accident they are caught in their own lie and will have to say that they did stop after the accident....any thoughts as to how I can win this?
thebrasso said:
If you were in the outside lane, wouldn't you have been alongside the offside (drivers side) of the coach?
So them saying you were trying to nip inside the coach is a load of tosh.
I wouldn't accept 50/50 from your insurance company.
I was alongside the bus, but I cant prove it - just as I cant prove what a load of balls their "version" of the incident is.So them saying you were trying to nip inside the coach is a load of tosh.
I wouldn't accept 50/50 from your insurance company.
The only anomaly I can point to is how they can claim to have a different version of events when they didnt stop after the accident (I followed the coach for a good 1.5-2 miles along the A406, when it was clear the coach was not going to stop I pulled over to see if my car was roadworthy).
The main issue is that I have no way to prove my claim as I have no witnesses. Presumably they will claim that they did stop after the accident and exchange details, in which case:
1. Why did they have no idea there'd been an accident when I spoke to Ken (who said he was the MD on the phone) on the Monday morning after the accident (2pm on a Saturday)?
2. Why did they not put any claims in until my company had contacted them about the incident?
hora said:
For me, the coach driver has blatantly been caught lying.
If he recalls 'his version of events' then he has dropped himself in it with failing to stop at the scene of an accident.
Why didnt he stop then?
Do you have legal cover on your insurance?
I wouldnt budge from this point. At least this way you get points on his licence for telling this lie. Something that (Im sure) a commercial driver wont relish (or his employer).
Just spoke to my insurers legal team (thank god for legal insurance), they actually put these points to the 3rd party last week and have had no reply. They havent actually even had the other party's official version of events yet and its been almost 6 months so they are starting legal proceedings...If he recalls 'his version of events' then he has dropped himself in it with failing to stop at the scene of an accident.
Why didnt he stop then?
Do you have legal cover on your insurance?
I wouldnt budge from this point. At least this way you get points on his licence for telling this lie. Something that (Im sure) a commercial driver wont relish (or his employer).
Edited by st_files on Monday 15th March 14:23
Happend to me in Norfolk bus came round the bend, I was in a Dodge Ram the swing of his bus caught the front of my truck with just his rear, I took loads of photo's of my truck and the damage, I was luckyhe stopped and accused me of being on the wrong side of the road.
Nine months later it went to court, he had a last minute witness, surprise surprise, they tried very hard ti discredit me, first by claiming I was an in-experienced left hand drive driver, I countered, as President of the Viper club of America I have had 2 Vipers for over 10 years and the truck for 2.
They then tried to claim I was very poor driver, I countered with I was an ex-Special BIB and as Inspector rank was trained and qualified to drive all cars,vans and carrier......you should have seen there faces drop, my brief then asked the witness if he was prepared to commit perjury for his mate, he declined to give evidence as my wife also confirmed that no one got out of the bus.
I then produced the photo's showing clearly no damage to the front of the bus, just the rear and the damage on my truck at the front, Judge then ruled in my favour.
Take loads of pictures of your car, draw a diagram while its still in you head, take pictures of the road if possible and the icing on the cake would be visiting the coach co for some snaps, I refused 50/50 and won, if its as you say then go for it you will win.
Nine months later it went to court, he had a last minute witness, surprise surprise, they tried very hard ti discredit me, first by claiming I was an in-experienced left hand drive driver, I countered, as President of the Viper club of America I have had 2 Vipers for over 10 years and the truck for 2.
They then tried to claim I was very poor driver, I countered with I was an ex-Special BIB and as Inspector rank was trained and qualified to drive all cars,vans and carrier......you should have seen there faces drop, my brief then asked the witness if he was prepared to commit perjury for his mate, he declined to give evidence as my wife also confirmed that no one got out of the bus.
I then produced the photo's showing clearly no damage to the front of the bus, just the rear and the damage on my truck at the front, Judge then ruled in my favour.
Take loads of pictures of your car, draw a diagram while its still in you head, take pictures of the road if possible and the icing on the cake would be visiting the coach co for some snaps, I refused 50/50 and won, if its as you say then go for it you will win.
viper paul said:
Happend to me in Norfolk bus came round the bend, I was in a Dodge Ram the swing of his bus caught the front of my truck with just his rear, I took loads of photo's of my truck and the damage, I was luckyhe stopped and accused me of being on the wrong side of the road.
Nine months later it went to court, he had a last minute witness, surprise surprise, they tried very hard ti discredit me, first by claiming I was an in-experienced left hand drive driver, I countered, as President of the Viper club of America I have had 2 Vipers for over 10 years and the truck for 2.
They then tried to claim I was very poor driver, I countered with I was an ex-Special BIB and as Inspector rank was trained and qualified to drive all cars,vans and carrier......you should have seen there faces drop, my brief then asked the witness if he was prepared to commit perjury for his mate, he declined to give evidence as my wife also confirmed that no one got out of the bus.
I then produced the photo's showing clearly no damage to the front of the bus, just the rear and the damage on my truck at the front, Judge then ruled in my favour.
Take loads of pictures of your car, draw a diagram while its still in you head, take pictures of the road if possible and the icing on the cake would be visiting the coach co for some snaps, I refused 50/50 and won, if its as you say then go for it you will win.
Thanks for that, unfortunately the repair's been done for my car (and presumably the coach) so no pics I'm afraid. I'm happy to go to court over the principle though.Nine months later it went to court, he had a last minute witness, surprise surprise, they tried very hard ti discredit me, first by claiming I was an in-experienced left hand drive driver, I countered, as President of the Viper club of America I have had 2 Vipers for over 10 years and the truck for 2.
They then tried to claim I was very poor driver, I countered with I was an ex-Special BIB and as Inspector rank was trained and qualified to drive all cars,vans and carrier......you should have seen there faces drop, my brief then asked the witness if he was prepared to commit perjury for his mate, he declined to give evidence as my wife also confirmed that no one got out of the bus.
I then produced the photo's showing clearly no damage to the front of the bus, just the rear and the damage on my truck at the front, Judge then ruled in my favour.
Take loads of pictures of your car, draw a diagram while its still in you head, take pictures of the road if possible and the icing on the cake would be visiting the coach co for some snaps, I refused 50/50 and won, if its as you say then go for it you will win.
- Streakyhora said:
I wonder how hes going to explain leaving the scene of a accident?
Unaware of actual contact, it's easy for that to be true driving something so big. I used to drive coaches & I can promise you that even doing a lot of damage isn't always visible or noticeable to the driver at the time.I still dont understand the OP though, how can being on the offside of the coach cause damage to the offside of the car if they collide?
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