One for TC

[blinkey501]

Some of the lads who I ride with at the weekend, one had a miscarriage of justice.
I didn't go due to the bike not being taxed.
Someone else sort of invited himself on the ride, but he is sort of the type of person you get a feeling about. "Oddball".
One of the roads the group was riding was organised by one of the better riders and he advised to watch out for tight corners and to take things easy.
My friend was riding along quite happily but the "oddball" was riding way too close.
Unfortunately for my friend he was going a little quick for one of the corners and narrowly avoided coming off. He was on the gravel at the point of coming off but managed to stop safely and avoid hurting himself and wrecking his bike.
The oddball that was travelling too close and had to ditch his bike. The damage was not too great to his bike but he immediately blamed my friend for the accident.
My friend told the oddball he was travelling way too close and that it was his responsibility to keep his distance and ride safe.
The oddball demanded that my friend paid for the damage to the bike.
Luckily for my friend one of the group was riding behind the oddball but as he was riding safely stopped no problem.
He witnessed what happened and told the oddball he was lucky not to run into my friend and the blame stopped with him and no one else.





This is where it now becomes more complicated............

The oddballs brother contacted me through face book asking if I had been on the ride the previous day. I replied no and asked why.
He told me of the incident and told me that my friend had "pulled out" in front of his brother causing him to ditch his bike.
The police have been contacted and interviewed my friend and the other rider in the group.
Because of the statements made by both riders are has they should by telling the truth there is no further action to be taken by the police.
The police did tell my friend that the oddball wanted his bike repairing at my friends cost.
My friends reply as any ones would be... Was why should I. I didn't cause the accident!!!!

The oddball has been to hospital and somehow developed injurys from the accident.
My friend has received a letter from a no win no fee solicitor claiming for injurys.
It has affected my friend so deeply with distress and the lies that has been told that he won't even ride his bike.
The other riders in the group are totally disgusted with what has happened and how unfair this has turned out to be.


I wondered with the information that I have given what would be my friends best course of action would be.

[Dalemac]

Oh dear. Sorry to hear that your friend is in this predicament.

Sounds like the oddball is to blame but his ego is keeping him from seeing it. Probably thinks he is a better rider than Rossi or something.

You may wish to send TC a PM, just in-case he doesn't see this message.

Dale

[D-Rider]

Oh dear. Sorry to hear that your friend is in this predicament.

Sounds like he is to blame but his ego is keeping him from seeing it.Probably thinks he is a better rider than Rossi or something.

You may wish to send TC a PM, just in-case he doesn't see this message.

Dale

If things are as Blinkey has had described to him and as he has described to us, his friend is certainly NOT to blame - the idiot following who had the accident is the one.

___________________________________________________________

Sorry to hear this Jay and feel for your mate. Don't see how the other chap can hope to win this with 2 statements one way and only his with a different account.

Good thing contacting TC - he will give you good advice as to how to proceed.
In the meantime get your mate and the third rider to write and date a detailed accurate account of what happened with drawings of what occured and where things ended up.
If they had the presence of mind to take photos, so much the better but probably not as I doubt anyone expected them to be needed.
Nevertheless, screen grabs from Google maps (in both plan view and street view) can be excellent things for annotating your records. In a few weeks time the memory of what happened will have faded and this is the best way to remember the facts as they happened.
I did all of the above when I was fighting a case where I was knocked off 4 years ago.

All that needs to be done but doesn't help the stress your mate must be feeling - please pass on our sympathies and good wishes

[Dalemac]

Oh dear. Sorry to hear that your friend is in this predicament.

Sounds like he is to blame but his ego is keeping him from seeing it.Probably thinks he is a better rider than Rossi or something.

You may wish to send TC a PM, just in-case he doesn't see this message.

Dale

If things are as Blinkey has had described to him and as he has described to us, his friend is certainly NOT to blame - the idiot following who had the accident is the one.

Sorry, by "he" I mean the oddball, not Blinkey's friend.

[Aladinsaneuk]

As Andy said

Also a statement from the chap who briefed the riders about the risks

On a professional level - if the incident was as described I cannot see how an injury NOT seen at the time could have manifested in a long term fashion

I would also be tempted to advise your friend to see a GP about his stress and depression brought about by these events.....


That will shut the oddball fucker up....

[Kwackerz]

No win no fee solicitors are complete snakes. Jorge fell foul of one and despite winning and having everything on his side still had his life completely wrecked (really.. trashed beyond belief). I from my own point of view would say try and sort it offline from these sort of solicitors as they will wreck lives in search of a few thousand quid in claims. next out the blocks will be the loss of earnings..

I feel so sorry for your mate.

And don't laugh at Alad's counterclaim.. not in the slightest.

[flatlander]

I would have thought that he wasn't riding due to the fact that he was nearly hit whilst stationary which nobody disputes and that this contributed to various twisting injuries as he tried to rapidly dismount the bike and avoid being hit... unfortunately not being able to escape any potential impact he had to stay with it and had the longest few seconds of his life and consequently is still reliving this near death experience and suffering from corresponding despair etc ... thats what I thought i saw ... now where's me bat !

[fatboy]

What a shit bag the oddball turns out to be. Sounds like your mate has plenty of witnesses, backing the true version of events.
Your mate DID advise caution, oddbollocks chose to ignore the advice.
Probably a good idea for your mate to seek proffesional advice,he is now dealing with low life bottom feeders,below the belt is how they work.
Best wishes and best of luck to your mate

[struv]

headbutt the fucker

[kff30]

i have no legal advice to offer blinkey as i havent got a clue about these things, however from reading what you have said i would say common sense dictates that your mate was in the right and was actually the victim.

the oddball has no right to be on the road if this is how he acts and rides

tell your mate that to keep his chin up and dont get wound up by some one who is obviously lower then the lowest

[T.C.]

No win no fee solicitors are complete snakes.

First things first. Don't tar all no win no fee law firms as snakes. No win no fee (or conditional fee agreement to give it its proper title) is still the best way for someone to get proper legal representation as unlike legal aid (which is another issue altogether with the recent and proposed changes) it is not means tested.

If you had said "Ambulance Chasing Scumbags" Then I would have agreed with you 100%, but all law firms offer a CFA, and decent law firms also do a proper risk assessment before they take the case on on order to be able to get the ATE Insurance in place.

Anyway, I digress.

First and foremost, your friend has witnesses, the chap who saw what happened and other riders who I assume will give evidence to the oddballs behaviour leading up to the supposed crash. That will carry weight.

Which is why I am surprised that the Police did not at least interview others on the ride, particularly the chap riding shotgun at the rear

Secondly, I would suggest that your friend contact his insurers and get them to flag up that there is a potential personal injury claim coming in (which is confirmed by the letter of claim) but more importantly advise them that he is not going to accept liability, that he has witnesses, and that any injury was self inflicted for the reasons stated.

The insurers should then reply to oddball solicitors denying the claim and liability, and if they are switched on and use their own in house investigators, should be able to nip it on the bud fairly quickly.

What is important is that all those on the ride out make a statement (in their own words) as soon as possible about what they saw, particularly the chap riding behind who saw everything and confirmed that oddball was riding like a knob. This is good evidence because the longer it goes on, the more important points are likely to be forgotten, but if the claimant (oddball) solicitors then get to know that the evidence is stacked against their client, then because they have not done their risk assessment properly, and assuming oddball is on a CFA, they should drop the case quite quickly and oddball may also end up with a substantial bill because under the terms of a CFA if it is shown that the claimant lied, misled or stopped instructing his solicitor and therefore they have no opportunity to recover their costs, they are entitled to bill him their reasonable costs.

If your friend has legal expenses insurance, then insurers may instruct solicitors to defend him (although unlikely) but worth a try as there are very few private law firms who do private civil casework defence.

Hope this is of some help

[BikerGran]

It's also worth telling your friend that as long as he just keeps repeating the truth of what happened - when I had an accident the other party's solicitors kept on sending letters with different claims and reasons why it was my fault, and you can start to wonder what more you can say to convince them - but if you have stated the facts there IS nothing more to say and they are just trying to trip you up.

It sounds to me remarkably like it may have been deliberate, like the car drivers that deliberately cause people to run into them; that's an increasing problem and perhaps they are trying it on with bikes now?


PS - I used a no win no fee solicitors and they were really good!

[STiGLiTZ]

Oddball, sounds like a solid gold twat to me....sound advice though T.C. & all.
Really hope your friend gets back out & about soon & that he can put this truly awful situation to bed.

[Falcopops]

Would a transcript of the police report on the investigation they undertook (limited though it may be) be available and a useful point of defence?

[T.C.]

Would a transcript of the police report on the investigation they undertook (limited though it may be) be available and a useful point of defence?

It is unlikely that any investigation was actually carried out. Unless there is a fatality or catastrophic injury involved, 99.9% of the time they don't bother, and I have had a couple where the rider did suffer catastrophic injuries and the Police still did not investigate

The insurers can apply for a copy of the Police report that was submitted (costs £60 usually) but given that there was no investigation at the scene, the only thing that may be relevant and therefore may assist is the interviews which should have been recorded.