South West Bikers | Motorcycle Forum

long story cut short but little cautionary tale got hit back in july by old guy who pulled out around slow moving land rover not seeing that i was already filtering by them only 25mph but squashed my leg bent gear lever fairing etc crash bung saved my leg getting crushed but totally stuffed his front wing up.Now the story gets interesting out with 2 mates and as we have slowed up for the 30 limit 3 other guys have caught us up and mingled in ,not that i really knew this as i was bimbling along at the front ,Anyway these guys stop after the bump one of them wants too rip old guys head of but we keep things calm and do the document stuff and they give me there nos just in case .I inform insurance and hay ho after a couple of weeks other insurers come back and say i lost control and smashed into him even though he was on the wrong side of road ! any way my insurers say without witnesses you are stuffed i say but i have so they contact the guys who give statements .Other guys insurers say that bikers ride together and they dont count so we are now into a legal battle pointing out that if the witnesses had been cars would they have been discounted on there clients behalf this is unbelievable and down right discriminate what do you all think ? Obviously its not all over and we are going to fight

Surely a witness is a witness, regardless of whether they were riding/driving and/or known to the injured party??

Tell me - had you been killed while out riding (I know, not a nice thing to think about), would the police have dismissed any evidence given by the other riders???

Smacks of the insurance company trying to wrangle out of it...?

Hope you get sorted soon(ish)

Sounds like the insurance company trying to wriggle out. They're independent witnesses so you'll be fine.

I'd write to all the major bike magazines and tell the story to them and name and shame the insurance company involved and see what media pressure can do to change the narrow minded tossers opinions of how us bikers ride about....do they think we're still in the sixties riding about in packs all the time looking for a few Mods??????

Passengers in a car actually involved in the incident are generally not regarded as reliable witness either ..... I'm guessing their argument is you were all riding together, therefore you were all part of a group and thus connected ...... equally their view is possibly that bikers are likely to stick up for each other, and thus the witnesses views might be tempered by the "bikers bond"

I'm not sticking up for the insurance company, I've just had a little previous experience of what can constitute a "reliable witness"

as long as you dont know them in a any social capacity im sure you should be able to prove they are an independent witness. Just because they have the same method of transport shouldn't invalidate their ability as a reliable witness.

I just thought it was as long as you weren't in the same vehicle there was no problem, my duaghter got hit in the back of her car as we were following her and we were witnesses as the guy was in front of us, but maybe they didnt click on to the neames being the same as the adress was different. On another note a chap on a Harley was on the Penn inn roundabout last week with a learner driver in front, the learner set off so did the Harley then after about 20 feet the learner just slammed on the brakes in the middle of the roundabout, The Harley went down right under the back bumper jammed in. I was one car behind the bike in my truck so saw the lot, the woman in the learner car froze and the instructor couldnt get her to move the car off the front of the bike so we had to push the car off in the end, front mudguard, headlight and running lights bent so i left the rider my name and number as did the car in front of me and he rang me next day to say the woman had admitted full liability and was paying for it all cash (about £700 he said) and this is the thing, she was an instructor on her test and got confused with the brake and acclerator........

Am just gonna let the insurances sort it out with the witnesses but did make me wonder that if i was black and got into a situation and the witnesses were black as well would the insurance say that they arnt valid cause i am bound to know them cause i could just see the headline in the paper if they did and its basically the same thing !Oh and by the way the insurers are churchill and my mate runs a body repair business and he said they are always trying to squirm out of paying for car accidents!

That's dreadful..!! You absolutely HAVE to stand up to the insurance company on this. It's a disgraceful way to behave. Do you have RAC or AA or something similar? The legal helplines can be quite good with these - I have RAC and they were brilliant when I had a non-motoring legal query.. It must be possible to instigate a legal challenge against the insurance company - or at least threaten it.. Otherwise, as previously suggested, go to the media - write the insurance company a stinking letter of complaint and then tell them about all the magazines, papers, websites you are going to contact/have contacted and watch how quickly they change their tune.

Or if you have a Barclaycard and paid for the insurance with that they have a free legal advice line where you get to talk to a solicitor....

Seems like these insurance companies are all scam artists. Hope your claim gets sorted!!

Got on to white dalton who gave me the bad news saying that most cases lately that have gone to court where a motorcyclist got hit whilst overtaking have lost or if your lucky managed a 50/50 claim so next time you overtake or filter take care.You may not be doing anything ilegal but dont expect any simpathy in court because you are as we all know bikers (scum of the road) !

Bad luck mate ....... it's a harsh world if you ride bikes, it seems

Blade wrote:Got on to white dalton who gave me the bad news saying that most cases lately that have gone to court where a motorcyclist got hit whilst overtaking have lost or if your lucky managed a 50/50 claim so next time you overtake or filter take care.You may not be doing anything ilegal but dont expect any simpathy in court because you are as we all know bikers (scum of the road) !

Bit surprised at that as originally at worst it was based on a case which meant 80/20 in your favour was more likely. Very few cases actually go to court as most are agreed looking at previous court cases with similiar circumstances etc.

But yes filtering has always been regarded as that you are taking responsiblity for your actions if something goes wrong.

I@m surprised at that as well. I had a claim against a driver whom I was overtaking, he tried to overtake the car in front of him and pulled out on me as I was alongside him, resulting in multiple fractures (17 of them in total) there were 5 independent witnesses and the driver was prosecuted and convicted of Driving without due care and attention, the insurance company paid out everything I claimed for although it took almost 4 years due to the number of operations I had to have. This was only settled last spring. though I suppose if anyone will have the figures for cases won/lost it'll be White Dalton.