Bleedin gutted

[Ferral]

Well, we have had our car 2 months and love it.

Out on Wednesday and wife was driving, pulled into a small street and there was a delivery van parked up. We stopped behind it to allow traffic through. We then get this dothery old bloke who flashed and waved us through.

So at this point my wife starts the manouver to get round the van and the old bloke comes flying forward and stops his car literally opposite the van giving us no space to move. Then he proceeds to just sit there waiting for us to go, trouble is we now havn't got the angle to get round and he aint budging as he wants to park where we have just moved from.

Inevitably we ended up hitting the hinge on the door to the van and destroyed the entire left side of our car Passenger side won't lock and you can't open the door from the outside of the car.

Got in touch with the Police and the way the law stands is even though he caused the accident he is not liable because his car isn't damaged at all. Just waiting to hear back from the insurance now, looks like it is going to be an uphill battle between insurance companies.

Thankfully the van driver seen it all and is vouching for us, so hopefully that will tip the scales in our favour.

Hate it when things like this happen

[Howard]

So if I've understood this correctly:

?


Unlucky

Sounds like you should have waited if you couldn't get through really


edit: Oh pulled INTO a small street, whoops

[Koolpc]

At the end of the day, he didn't hit you. It was a driving error by your wife. This is how the insurance will see it. They will just state that your wife should have watched what she was doing. He may have been part of the problem but your wife was driving and should have been aware of any 'obstacles'.

[Ferral]

No more like this :

| |CAR <--Flashed by him
| |CAR
| |CAR
| |
| |
|VAN |
|VAN |
|VAN |
|VAN |
| |
| |
|OUR |
|OUR |
|OUR |
| |
| |
| |

So we started our manouver when he was stationary, got to the corner of the van and then he moved and stopped stopped parallel to the van while we where halfway through. This made our ongoing manouver impossible to do. The police have been round to see him and have said to us that we are in the right with this one, but unfortunately insurance won't see it that way.

Another thing that we were told by the police also is that the van shouldn't have been parked up there in the first place and it could well come down on him.

My diagram didn't quite turn out right, its supposed to show a 2 way street!

[manwithnoname]

No more like this :

|     |CAR  <--Flashed by him
|     |CAR
|     |CAR
|     |
|     |
|VAN  |
|VAN  |
|VAN  |
|VAN  |
|     |
|     |
|OUR  |
|OUR  |
|OUR  |
|     |
|     |
|     |

So we started our manouver when he was stationary, got to the corner of the van and then he moved and stopped stopped parallel to the van while we where halfway through. This made our ongoing manouver impossible to do. The police have been round to see him and have said to us that we are in the right with this one, but unfortunately insurance won't see it that way.

Another thing that we were told by the police also is that the van shouldn't have been parked up there in the first place and it could well come down on him.

My diagram didn't quite turn out right, its supposed to show a 2 way street!

diagram better?

I don't think you should be but I think you'll be left with the bill - as you say ongoing manouver impossible so it should have been attempted . Could you have back up and parked again or waited for the van to move?

[Ferral]

He boxed us in completely as he was trying to go where we came from. Annoying thing is that the road in front of him was clear so he could have moved forward to let us pass and then backed into where he wanted to go.

He knocked our space down to around 5 inches clear on the passenger side and nothing at all on his side. We iterally couldn't move at all and then just sat there waiting for us to go. All he had to do was move forward a few feet and this wouldn't have happened.

Yeah that diagram is it, except the road is pretty narrow. Van took up the entire lane on our side to give you an idea how tight it was.

[hitman67]

Am sorry to hear it mate, but your chances of getting his insurance to cough up are zero. Your wife hit the van, afraid it was her fault.

Point in case. A mate of mine was driving his 306 Rallye at around 50 in a 60 limit near here, coming up to a junction and a car pulled out right infront of him. He hit the brakes, locked up and missed the other car by about half an inch, before sliding into the kerb and destroying 2 alloys. She just stopped, swore at him for apparently "driving like a nutter" (I was behind, saw everything, including speed) and then drove off.

As the vehicle that "caused" the accident (use to term loosely) wasn't actually involved then they cannot be count3ed as part of it. It's a bitch I know, but unfortunately, it's law.

[Dreaming]

As the vehicle that "caused" the accident (use to term loosely) wasn't actually involved then they cannot be count3ed as part of it. It's a bitch I know, but unfortunately, it's law.

Therefore in future the lesson should be, just crash into them if they pull out in front of you their fault then!

[hitman67]

It actually says in the training manual when my mum was training for Stagecoach, that in tight spots the Bus driver must not move and let the other person do the manouvre, that way if any contact is made then the bus driver cannot be held liable.

Therefore in future the lesson should be, just crash into them if they pull out in front of you their fault then!

Trouble is mate, most of us would rarther try not to hurt other people if we can help it.

[schmunk]

It actually says in the training manual when my mum was training for Stagecoach, that in tight spots the Bus driver must not move and let the other person do the manouvre, that way if any contact is made then the bus driver cannot be held liable.

Excellent advice - a stationary car can't possibly be liable.

[hitman67]

Excellent advice - a stationary car can't possibly be liable.

I can't work out if that's sarcastic or not.

[Lowe]

No sarcasm - that's what I was taught when learning to drive. If you're in a tight situation let them do the running and sit tight. If they hit you, it's all their fault.

[Howard]

Yeah I do this too. It's even worked against vehicles much larger than mine

[hitman67]

Yeah I know it's good advice and follow it myself, but the way he said "can't possibly be liable." just sounds a bit tongue in cheek

[schmunk]

I can't work out if that's sarcastic or not.

Nope, no sarcasm intended.

[Agent]

He shouldn't have flashed you - Isn't that classed as controlling the traffic? (I had a friend fail his test for this )
But at the same time, if the manoeuvre was impossible, it shouldn't have been attempted. It's a pig, but unless the police go after the van driver for illegally parking (and even then I've no idea how it would work?) you're probably going to end up out of pocket.

You'd be surprised at how often people have done things like this "because he's on a bike which is small" and on several occasions I've sat there with the sidestand down. You get some abuse, but there is no way in hell I would risk my no claims