Had a prang!

[Kentish]

I was thinking just yesterday that I've not had any accidents except one non fault one in 25 yrs of driving.

Then this morning a lorry starts to pull into the inner lane whilst I'm beside him.
I had no choice but to brake hard to avoid impact.

Trouble is the lady behind me didn't manage to stop & slammed into the back of my van smashing up the rear side panel bumper & light.

Not her fault really & I apologised to her but she was ok with it & gave me her name address & numbers.
A lot of people would have gone off on one at me no doubt but she was quite sweet & took it well.

I know the company the lorry belongs to but didnt have time to note the reg number.

Question is who should I pursue, the lorry or the lady who hit me.
I kinda feel bad about pursuing her as it wasn't really down to her.

Thought appreciated pls.

Apologies for my iPhones speeeling!

[Kentish]

Thanks for the replies folks.

I've decided not to involve insurance companies; I've sourced the parts and will fix it myself and ask the lady if she wouldn't mind contributing towards the cost of them.

[Kentish]

Well, I'd like to think that someone would do the same for me if the situation was reversed.

I know what insurance companies are like, they screw her come renewal time for the next 5 years and she'd have to stump up her excess.

From a more selfish point of view; several insurance companies have told me over the past couple of years that even non fault claims impact on your premiums come renewal time if you change companies.

I don't see why but it is apparently something most do now.

[Kentish]

Maximum Bobs said:

danyeates said:

What were you doing on the inside of the lorry? Not criticising or anything, just curious. Sounds like you were in the lorry's blind spot. Was the lorry overtaking you and forgot you were there or something?

This.

It's an odd roundabout; it has 4 exits and one has a slip lane feeding into the inner lane onto dual carriageway, I was in this lane.

The lorry must have seen me as he exited the roundabout and passed me to my right, by this time I was occupying the inside lane and he just decided to pull in. He straddled both lanes momentarily and I thought he had seen me and hence was hesitating but then he pulled over toward me quite sharply with no indication and he was huge, so I had to stop quickly or he'd have certainly written my van off and possibly me with it.

A second or two later was a big bang and a jolt from behind.

I think the lady was following a bit too close as I instinctively glanced in my passenger side door mirror as I braked and couldn't see anyone behind me.

[Kentish]

Olf said:

Just take a precaution and lodge the circumstances of the accident somewhere. Otherwise when she changes her mind because of her husband nagging or something you'll suddenly find yourself on the end of a claim. Proceed with caution.

If that was to happen I'd pop around with a club hammer & inflict similarly priced damage