Hey fellow bikers,
I had a sad incident the other week… I went to a pub outside Tulse Hill station (South London) and left my bike outside. I was ordering a drink when a guy comes into the pub and says that there’s a motorbike on the ground outside. Sure enough, my pride and joy is on the ground, knocked over by some inconsiderate soul. Naturally they’re nowhere to be found.
I spoke to the police and they told me to file a police report online. Which I did. I filled out an online form for reporting crime. They called me the next day to tell me that it was “the wrong one” and to fill out a “traffic incident” form. So I filled that one out. I’ve not heard back from them since.
As I had 3rd party fire and theft insurance, my insurers are refusing to pay out until I “find a 3rd party”. As the 3rd party have done a “hit and run” on me I’m a bit stuck. Tulse Hill station is filled with CCTV all over the place so I find it quite strange that there isn’t some kind of footage that could show the culprit. If I get on my high-horse and think about the fact that my taxes are paying for the running of these cameras, and yet I don’t have access to them, I get quite aggravated.
And don’t get me started on insurers. I’m with e-bike insurance and I have had to speak with Eldon Insurance (acting on behalf of e-bike) as well as 4th Dimension (acting on behalf of Eldon) who actually would be undertaking the repairs. Now, instead of e-bike insurance managing the whole process and making the fact that they’ve outsourced all of their service seamless and invisible to me, I have to liaise with all three different insurers. Did I mention that they are expecting me to be the liaison between them and the police? So effectively if I don’t find a 3rd party, I have to stump up the cost of getting the work done myself. And the benefit of having insurance is…
Does anyone share a similar experience? Does anyone know how I can request CCTV footage? I’m fantasizing about finding this inconsiderate motorist
Firstly, sorry to hear about your bike. I hate these b@stards who think it is a good “laugh” to damage other peoples pride and joy and then just f@ck off.
Unfortunately, one of the downsides of TPF&T is that the insurers will do absolutely nothing to assist you (they don’t do much for comprehensive cover either) and much of it lands on your shoulders.
Anyway, back to the matter in hand. If you can ascertain who owns the cameras, then you can make an application for the footage if you can give good reason as to why you need it, and I think your circumstances more than justify that. However, that should be down to the Police as they should be investigating, if they aren’t, then ask the question why not.
The downside is that depending on who operates the cameras may limit the time period you have to submit your application and get the footage, providing of course the camera was actually turned on and was recording. If there is footage then it can be admitted in evidence.
Depending on the value of the damage, there is the option of making a claim through the MIB (http://www.mib.org.uk/Home/en/default.htm) where you can claim for the damage as either an untraced or unisnsured claim, in this case it is looking like an untraced, but there is a £350 excess on the first part of each and every claim, and they don’t exactly work at warp speed to get people sorted out financially.
What you need to do first is make sure the Police are investigating properly, and then if needs be, you are welcome to PM or email me if you require further advice or assistance.
TC, I was hit last year by a guy, made a police report, appealed at the CCTV operators no one did anything. I was fully comp so they did repair it, my excess was £250. Can I still make a claim at MIB? My bloody premium is going to take a hit surely:( and I lost 2 years no claims… so I am quite peed off.
Was thinking to just make my mum primary and not bother with myself for a while.
Statute of limitation states that you have 3 years from date of knowledge or injury to make a claim for personal injury and 5 years for a damage only, and these rules apply equally if you are making an MIB claim.
There is nothing what so ever to prevent you making an MIB claim as you are still within limitation.
All I will say is that the MIB will immidiately respond and advise you that they will need three months to carry out their own investigation, and they will liase with the Police and gather any other evidence they can before making a decision, and as I said, they do tend to drag their heels somewhat.
A claim against the MIB is made in exactly the same way as if it were made against the third party, the only difference is that if it is recorded as an untraced or uninsured claim, and it gets to the stage where proceedings have to be issued, then the MIB go down as second defendants.
Your insurers should be familiar with the MIB protocols, and it may well be worth talking to them first as they may take up an MIB claim on your behalf which could save you a lot of grief, bearing in mind that they have already paid out, but if they can claim their losses back, they can also claim back your uninsured losses, depending of course on the value of the payout and bearing in mind the excess of £350.
That pub may be required to have CCTV as part of it’s license conditions and if so it may cover the bit where you parked. So don’t forget to ask to see their footage too
Have dealt recently with Eldon, and they are a pain in the backside. You almost have to scream abuse at them to get results. And believe me, when they’re holding your money - they won’t release it in a hurry… grrrr.
Had to contact the insurance ombudsman.
Thanks for all of your help guys, all this information has been incredibly useful.
I tried contacting the pub and they said they didn’t have any CCTV and that I should speak to management at Tulse Hill train station. I decided to go through the British Transport Police who told me that the CCTV of the train station belonged to Southern Rail and I should speak to them. I called Southern Rail and asked for the CCTV footage and was then told to forward my CCTV requests to the British Transport Police. When I told them that I’d just been sent to them by the British Transport Police the operator I was talking to said she would have to speak to one of her colleagues. After waiting a couple of minutes she took my details down and said that someone would be in touch to help me. I called lunchtime today, and I’ll give them a friendly phonecall tomorrow to see how the application is ‘progressing’. I’ll also apply for CCTV from the council that T.C. kindly provided.
Again, thanks for all the advice. If you’re reading this in the future and having a similar issue, just send me a private message and I’ll get back to you with any advice/help/moral support.
Good luck with trying to get the cctv. I tried to get to see cctv footage to find out if I was bumped off my bike (and to see whodunnit) but because there were no witnesses (and I was out cold so didn’t notice any!) the police and Tfl said I wouldn’t have a case even with cctv. Anyway they decided coz I wasn’t badly hurt they wouldn’t pursue it- which meant they didn’t let me see the footage. I assume if my injuries had been worse they would have checked the cctv… Nice to know you need to be proper mashed up to get some justice eh? RantRantRant.
Hey there, just a small update with a couple of points:
My insurance company (e-bikeinsurance.com) has now complicated matters more by involving yet another party to cover the legal side. That means I’ve now had to relay my story to 3 other companies (rather than dealing with the one company that I pay my insurance bill to). This outsourcing of claims to smaller 3rd parties without any management by e-bikeinsurance is just unnacceptable.
Once this is all over, which will be within the next couple of weeks once I get the results of the police investigation, if I don’t get a favourable response I will properly bury that company by writing many, many letters to as many motorcycling publications as I can muster. And let’s not go into the mass communication medium known as the internet. I am a very patient man.
I requested CCTV footage from both the train station (via the police) and am awaiting them. I also requested some CCTV footage from Lambeth council - I even had to pay £10 for the request. I just received a letter from them stating that they have made a “thorough search, through their database of available information, it appears that my incident was not captured on their system”. As that small road has at least 5 CCTV, I’m assuming that Lambeth council mustn’t own them, and that they’re owned by the train company. Could not Lambeth council have told me this, rather than just saying nope! Sorry! thanks for the £10 but can’t help you mate! I feel like I’m doing everything here, rather than getting the assistance that I would have thought would come as standard!
Thing is it helps if you know the camera, you say the street has at least five cameras, but where are htey positioned, are they pointing towards the incident blah blah blah.
My bike was pushed over recently by kids, I knew the camera, I knew it was pointed at my bike and I knew it was recorded and who owned it. I made a claim to the police under criminal damage and asked them to get the footage.
They did, they reviewed it, claimed that it was kids and that it appeared to be an accident and that they wouldn’t take any further action on the criminal damage front, however, they would be happy to pass the footage a solicitor so that I could instigate a civil claim against the family of the children involved, accident or not it was their fault for playing around the bike, just in criminal damage you have to be aware of the risk and continue in the behaviour that causes the damage.
In my case it wasn’t worth it, but the police really should be the ones getting the footage from Lambeth council, not you.
As I said, I was able to tell the police the exact camera, but I couldn’t even tell them the day or time of the incident and they were able ot track it down. You got more then that, you got the exact day and time, you just need to find the right camera.
Though looking at this post, it may be too late, depends on how long Lambeth keep their CCTV footage.
