Bike accident caused by a child
Question
Last September I was riding my GSXR to work in Birmingham. It was a single carriageway road with lanes in both directions with kerbs both sides and the speed limit was 40mph. I was probably doing about 25 to 30 mph. A child on a self-propelled scooter was on the kerb coming towards me on my side of the road. He lost control of the scooter and it went into the road in front of me. I tried to swerve to avoid it but I lost control, hit the kerb and came off. I had some quite nasty injuries and was off work for 2 months recovering. I wish to claim compensation and wonder if there is a body that can pay up like the MIB that you have written about previously? Thank you in advance.
Roger Tillman, by e-mail
Answer
The Motor Insurers’ Bureau (MIB) only compensates victims of negligent untraced or uninsured drivers so unfortunately not. The other Government compensating body, the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA), is highly unlikely to compensate you as a “crime of violence” is required to have been committed in order to qualify for compensation.
I once acted for the widow of a motorcyclist tragically killed in similar circumstances to this but in that case it involved a skateboard. The route to compensation in that case was to claim against the parents’ household contents insurance. These policies often cover negligent acts of members of the household, even away from the home. Therefore I would write to the parents and enquire as to the existence of such insurance.
Download
