Stiff

Had a bump on the way to work, day before yesterday. Driving down the road with nothing in front or behind me. Coming towards me was a lorry carrying a skip when the guy behind him in a Clio (who I couldn't see because of the lorry) decides to turn right. Rather than T-bone him, I managed to swerve round him as luckily there was nothing coming the other way but even so I caught his nsr back end with my nsf. I pulled over a bit shacken up and started to walk towards the driver and lorry driver who were chatting to each other. Lorry driver then starts giving me loads telling me I was going too fast and it was all my fault. Car driver also says the same (although not as abusively) so I deny this and state that we should exchange details. Thing is before the lorry driver left he said to the other guy "if you need me as a witness, you know where I am" which led me to believe they knew each other. Is he allowed to be witness? Also, the wagon had gone past me just before the bump so he can't possibly have seen the collision. Could his claim I was going to fast be used even if he didn't see the accident? I know they didn't have time to concoct a story up but feel that as they knew each other I'm onto a loser here Any thoughts would be appreciated.

JamesPRJones

Friends/family are not independant witnesses and probably won't be allowed to give evidence, or it will have little weight in court. It sounds as though they know each other and that should come out when the insurance people gather their evidence.
The lorry driver may have seen the accident in his rear-view mirror but he probably isn't an expert on speed and I doubt he'll be treated as such.
The Clio driver should have given way to you and as he obviously didn't look he is at fault no matter what, in my opinion. He was driving without due care and attention. You could say he was driving too fast and swerved across you when you make your report to your insurance company. Then it sounds like tit-for-tat and will be discarded.
I'd not worry about it too much and let the insurance companies sort it out. As no police attended the scene it cannot be judged that you ran into the Clio because you were travelling too fast (checking skid marks, etc).
The only fact is that the Clio crossed your lane giving you no chance but to hit him. Even if you were driving at 100mph the Clio driver should have had a proper look before turning.
I'm not an expert so this is all my opinion, maybe someone on here has had an experience of this before. I think you'd be very unlucky to get stitched up by the insurance companies. Let's hope you have a good one.

James

Jamescsti

Bottom line- the clio should have given way, thats the way I would argue it.

Stiff

Thanks for your input guys, I feel a bit more optimistic now. When I rang the insurance they say it sounds like his fault so we''ll see what happens. Still got to pay the £500 excess till it's all sorted which as we all know takes months.