About a year and a half ago I was involved in a bike collision on my way home from work. Basically I was driving through a busy four lane one way street in Central London in the Haymarket area. As I was cycling through one of the middle lanes a pedestrian ran out into the middle of the road to try and beat traffic despite the traffic lights being green and cars still slowly moving. As she did so, the traffic began to move quicker, so she stopped, turned, and moved back directly into my path - knocking me off.
I managed to get the bike out the way, but came off over the handle bars and collided with the pedestrian. I injured my shoulder and was pretty much saved from worse injuries by my back pack at the time - the pedestrian got a cut on the back of her head, I called an ambulance, and waited with her directing cars away from where we were until it came - we were in the middle of the road.
The police also eventually came. They spoke to people, told me I was not at fault and a pedestrian should not be running into the middle of a busy street during rush hour in London. Despite being a careless thing to do for herself, it’s incredibly dangerous for both cyclists and cars. Later in a phone call, they told me nothing else would come from this. A few days later, I got a call from the pedestrian's husband, apologising for the incident. Saying the police had told him I wasn't at fault, his wife had made a mistake and that he wanted to check I was okay. I said yes, and that was that. Or so I thought.
Now, 18-months later, a letter lands on my door saying I'm being sued for personal injury. The solicitors, Quality Solicitors, have provided little information about their claim - and are clearly hoping I have insurance and this will be quick and easy money for them. But I don't. As I unfortunately don't have cycling insurance - or any other insurance that may cover it because I'm a young man in London who also doesn't have home insurance as I rent and move location quite frequently, I run the risk of running up huge legal fees defending myself.
And it made me realise how at risk the thousands of cyclists in London, and around the UK, are of this happening to them. I cycle everyday, doing the things I can to stay safe - helmet, lights, riding safely etc. But any day, the carelessness of a pedestrian and somebody being so brazen as to try and make a quick buck from it means I will now have to learn the law, potentially spend a lot of money I don't have on solicitors and to waste a lot of time. It's a wake up call to those who haven't thought about this, and I’ll now definitely be getting insured.
Has anyone else been in this situation? What did you do? Any tips would be appreciated.
Thanks for the help.
Benjamin
