3 year old banned from cycling outside of house ... because she might scratch a car

[MarkF]

Two sides to this................

My car has deep gouges down one side, caused by the neighbours kid's bikes, things happen, kids are kids, it's not worth me getting upset about. But last year the whole front door was caved in, the parent of the young cyclist didn't want to know, result? A highly increased insurance premium for me.

 

[glenn forger]

A child cyclist pedaled fast enough to cave your door in?

 

[MarkF]

A child cyclist pedaled fast enough to cave your door in?

Yes, the child was riding down a slope, lost control, didn't/couldn't brake, the whole inner panel crumpled. Car door panels are surprisingly thin, try pressing one with your fingertips.

So the answer to cars colliding with cyclists on the roads would be to ... ban cars from the roads? I think you might be on to something there.

Don't be silly. It was giving an other perspective, a financial one, I'd be happy for kids to cycle into my car and damage it daily, as long as there was some legal mechanism that ensured I, the innocent party, did not suffer financially. Geddit?

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

If you don't want on-road parking buy/move to a house with a garage.

 

[MarkF]

I've got a house with a garage, it's full of bicycles.

 

[glenn forger]

Was the kid ok?

 

[MarkF]

There is though, you could have sued the parents but presumably made a choice to take it on the chin rather than have a legal battle with a neighbour.

I did not know that was a possibility Adrian, at the time I was told, by the police and my insurers, that no legal recourse was available to me. Still, even if it was, you are right, I would not have gone down that route over a car door.

I am a cyclist and a parent, accidents happen, but I do know that I would have paid for the repair or additional insurance premium if it had been one of my children.

 

[glenn forger]

I did not know that was a possibility Adrian, at the time I was told, by the police and my insurers, that no legal recourse was available to me. Still, even if it was, you are right, I would not have gone down that route over a car door.

I am a cyclist and a parent, accidents happen, but I do know that I would have paid for the repair or additional insurance premium if it had been one of my children.

It's very unusual for the police to offer advice on civil matters, and your insurers are plain wrong, no reputable insurer would make such a basic mistake.

 

[MarkF]

It's very unusual for the police to offer advice on civil matters, and your insurers are plain wrong, no reputable insurer would make such a basic mistake.

Explain how they have made a mistake Glen, I am interested to know. The reputable insurer was Churchill.

This was actually the second incident involving a child riding into my car and severley damaging it, I posted on here maybe 3 or 4 years ago a similar incident. Same story, from the police & insurers, I had no legal recourse, child young and not insured.

 

[StuartG]

My car has deep gouges down one side, caused by the neighbours kid's bikes.

So this isn't damage when you are using your car on the road - but, (here I'm guessing), you 'garage' your car on the public road. Thus depriving your neighbour's kids the use of it to play footers, roller skate or all the other things I could do as a kid.

I do regard this practise as deeply anti-social. And whilst I can never condone damage as retribution - I can't feel sorry for you either. If kids had the vote maybe we could move towards banning residential on street parking.

 

[MarkF]

So this isn't damage when you are using your car on the road - but, (here I'm guessing), you 'garage' your car on the public road. Thus depriving your neighbour's kids the use of it to play footers, roller skate or all the other things I could do as a kid.

I do regard this practise as deeply anti-social. And whilst I can never condone damage as retribution - I can't feel sorry for you either. If kids had the vote maybe we could move towards banning residential on street parking.

Just for you, it is actually private land where the car sits, belonging to me. My house, yard & garden is separated from my garage by a strip of land. This I willingly let any kid play on, football, cycling, whatever, rather than fence it off like some power crazed pernickety land owner..

P.s. You are crap at guessing.

 

[StuartG]

P.s. You are crap at guessing.

Not just guessing

 

[Sara_H]

Just for you, it is actually private land where the car sits, belonging to me. My house, yard & garden is separated from my garage by a strip of land. This I willingly let any kid play on, football, cycling, whatever, rather than fence it off like some power crazed pernickety land owner..

P.s. You are crap at guessing.

But, to be fair, in the majority of cases his guess would have been right. The public at large now expect to be able to store their cars on public roads (more often than not half on the pavement), and the rest of us are meant to pussyfoot around their precious lumps of metal.

 

[DRHysted]

But, to be fair, in the majority of cases his guess would have been right. The public at large now expect to be able to store their cars on public roads (more often than not half on the pavement), and the rest of us are meant to pussyfoot around their precious lumps of metal.

Not really pussyfoot around, but I would like other to respect my property, the same as I do theirs.

 

[glenn forger]

Explain how they have made a mistake Glen, I am interested to know. The reputable insurer was Churchill.

This was actually the second incident involving a child riding into my car and severley damaging it, I posted on here maybe 3 or 4 years ago a similar incident. Same story, from the police & insurers, I had no legal recourse, child young and not insured.

You are saying Churchill told you you had no legal recourse?