Cycling Claims

Bus driver and motorcyclist to blame for injury

We acted for Mrs A, a cyclist, against two defendants. The defendants were a bus company and a motorcyclist. Our client was simply cycling along when the bus brushed against her causing her to lose her balance and fall from her bike. The motorcyclist then ran over her arm, causing a severe fracture to her elbow. Both defendants denied liability and the case went to trial. We achieved a 100% victory for our client, the blame being apportioned 70% against the bus driver and 30% against the motorcyclist for driving too close behind our client.

Catastrophic injuries for boy on his bicycle

Our client was aged 12 when he cycled from land owned by a local council onto a ‘cycle way’, straight into the path of a moped; he suffered very serious head injuries. Our client’s mother had originally instructed another firm but was dissatisfied with their lack of progress and 7 years later, transferred the case to Bolt Burdon Kemp. We argued that the local council knew that there was a risk of children cycling from their land on to the cycle way and they should have fenced off the land to prevent such accidents happening.

A barrister advised that the claim would not succeed because, with the passage of time, we could not trace witnesses to previous similar accidents. However, we persevered in investigating and ultimately succeeded in obtaining evidence in support of the claim, producing a settlement of liability approved by the court of 70/30 in the Defendant's favour. Before the accident, our client had been a normal school boy who - when he left school - would have gone into a semi-skilled or skilled manual job and enjoyed normal social interaction and family life. The accident meant that instead he suffered a severe head injury, with fractures to the temporal and basal skull and a subarachnoid haemorrhage. He was unconscious for several weeks and had extensive post traumatic amnesia. Although he made a good physical recovery he developed dysexecutive syndrome with very little insight into his predicament. He was unable to plan ahead or to do more than one task at a time, and also suffered from complex partial seizures with loss of consciousness. We contended for a structured life package involving significant amounts of time devoted entirely to leisure pursuits with short periods of work.

The Defendant made a payment into Court of £165,000, which they later increased to £550,000. This was rejected and by negotiation the Defendant's offer was increased to £600,000 (the equivalent of £1.8m on full liability), which was accepted and approved by the Court.

Cyclist hit by car on wrong side of the road

Mr X suffered serious head injuries when he was knocked off his bicycle by a car driven by the Defendant. Liability was in dispute throughout. His injuries included frontal lobe injuries which resulted in language and communication difficulties and some intellectual impairment. There were no independent eye witnesses to the accident. Our investigations found a tyre mark on the road which showed that the defendant's car was on the wrong side of the road at the time of impact. Following negotiations, the claim settled for £350,000.00, which took into account Mr X's failure to wear a cycle helmet.

Cyclist not wearing a helmet

Mr W suffered very serious head injuries in a road traffic accident when he was knocked off his bicycle by a car being driven in the opposite direction by the defendant. The defendant denied liability, saying that Mr W had turned right across his path, giving him no opportunity to avoid a collision. There were no independent eye witnesses to the accident and, because of his severe head injury, Mr W had no memory of the accident at all. By carefully analysing the damage to the bicycle and the car, the skid marks and the debris on the road we established that the collision had occurred on our client's side of the road, while he was stationary waiting for the defendant to pass and that the defendant was to blame. Mr W, unfortunately, was not wearing a helmet and the defendant argued that he was entirely responsible for his own injuries. We obtained evidence from an independent cycle helmet expert and using calculations to determine the speed of the car, established that because of the speed and position of impact a helmet would not have made a significant difference to Mr W's injuries. The Court approved a settlement of £350,000.00.

Cyclist thrown over handlebars

We at Bolt Burdon Kemp brought a compensation claim for a young woman who was involved in a cycling accident. Our client was cycling to work on a congested London road when a van suddenly crossed her path. She reacted quickly and pulled the brakes hard to avoid a collision and was thrown over the handle bars landing heavily on her chin. She suffered a spiral fracture to her right jaw which had to be surgically fixed. The Claimant had to undergo two operations and a prolonged period of wearing braces on her teeth to correct an open bite that developed as a result of the fracture. Liability was denied as the van driver said that he was edging out waiting to turn right into a drive way when the Claimant saw him, panicked, overreacted and pulled the brake too hard. There was therefore a dispute as to the accident circumstances and unfortunately no independent witnesses. We at Bolt Burdon Kemp obtained £40,000 compensation for our client in this cycling accident.

Foreign student hit by car

Our client was a German student studying and working part time in England. She was knocked off her bicycle by a car travelling in the opposite direction. She was 20 years old at the time of the accident and sustained a fracture to her right leg and a severe closed head injury. She was flown home to Germany in a coma from which she recovered consciousness about 4 weeks later. She remained in Germany receiving medical treatment and then rehabilitation and re-training. She had difficulties in organising and planning, an unreliable memory and her language and speech were badly affected. She could not continue with her chosen career as an optician but went on to recover £275,000 in damages, taking into account the German law on payment of medical expenses and rehabilitation.

Opening car door causes cycling accident

Our client was cycling when the driver of a parked car opened the door and knocked him off his bike. Our client suffered a major head injury and had to give up work. There were complex issues regarding his future earning capacity. He received £500,000 compensation.