Car swerved into my path…

I was riding home in Preston with one lane going in either direction. In the oncoming lane was a delivery van that had pulled over, hazard lights on. A car went past the van but as he did someone stepped out from in front of the van. The car swerved to avoid him, causing me to take avoidance action. I came off and am making a claim for compensation. My insurer is saying they cannot claim against the car driver as he did nothing wrong. Are they right?

Carl, by e-mail

Answer

You didn’t do anything wrong. The car driver and pedestrian did. The pedestrian should not have tried to cross a road in front of the van. It is obviously foreseeable that other vehicles may be overtaking. Likewise it should have been foreseeable to the car driver that when a delivery van has pulled over in a built up area, people may try to cross the road in front of it. It will depend on the precise movements and timings to give an accurate liability apportionment.

Delivery vans often have cameras fitted so you should try to obtain the footage as it could show exactly what happened and where everyone was positioned. Your insurer should claim against the car driver’s insurer and if they want to bring in the pedestrian then they can. He may have house contents insurance covering third party liability or even enough assets to meet the claim himself.