Hey everyone,
It’s been such a long time, I thought I’d share the full adventure with you because it’s worth sharing ;)
Every morning for 5 days I hanged my signs on the side of the road in search for a witness. I asked pedestrians as well. After 3 days people started recognising me! A person offered me a coffee (temperature was 0C-3C, brrrr, by the time I arrived at the office my lower jaw was completely numb), a couple of car drivers flashed their headlights, a motorcyclist even joined his hands together to pray for me as he was riding along!! This is the first time in my life I saw a motorcyclist riding without hands. Actually many motorcyclists waved and stopped by to find out what was happening and offer help. The motorcycle community is a real brotherhood ^ ^ The most incongruous sight yet was probably this truck driver slowing down to 20mph to make the traffic behind him slow down to read the signs.
The idiot who rammed me wasn’t happy with my signs so he stopped by to have a chat. The second time he rode on the footpath to intimidate me! But I continued. A few pedestrians saw the incident but only bits or after it happened. I put signs at the nearby bus stop but a maintenance guy kept on removing them so I bought chalk and contemplated the idea to write on the floor AHA! But I refrained. Instead I asked people waiting but without success. After 5 days my frozen fingers started to cool down my passion for justice and I thought, if I don’t find a witness today, I’ll let it go and do some meditation.
On that very last day I gave myself, I met a witness who saw THE ENTIRE THING!! Yep. Not kidding. Someone must have heard me upstairs. We exchanged details and off we went. I couldn’t believe my luck. I was so happy! Contacted my insurance, explained everything and they sent her a form. After that COMPLETE silence. For a second I thought that the author of the accident sent her to make me stop my search for a witness. I mean he proved how sly he could be on multiple occasions so that seemed like a probable hypothesis. I remember she felt uneasy and a bit scared. Maybe I’m completely wrong and she was just afraid to get herself into trouble. Anyway, she got cold feet. The rest will remain a mystery.
Without a witness I cancelled the claim and went on with my life (I passed my full motorcycle licence last week by the way! I’m so happy!! Removing the L plate was orgasmic). Then came the time to renew my insurance. This is when I found out - and I think you should learn from my experience - that this idiot put a claim on me by lying that I “rushed in front of him”. ON ME! He rammed me and then put a claim on me, it’s the world upside down! I was fuming. To save my NCB I had to contact his insurance to clean things up. Apparently his insurance was just as insane as him, they don’t close a claim unless it had 6 months of inactivity. I must have a pretty good star cause this period expired 2 weeks before I called. So not only do they let it accumulate dust for 6 months but they also forget to close them. Idiots…
I don’t regret anything. It was a formidable life lesson I will definitely not forget. It was truly heart warming to see the kindness and support I received from everyone, pedestrians, cyclists, motorcyclists, truck drivers… I discovered that my French - if not Japanese - passion for fairness and justice run deep. I’ve also had my helmet cam screwed on my helmet at all time since then. I’m always prepared now. I even caught a police van who nearly knocked me off jumping lane and flanking me (hello blind check) but that’s another story.
Ah! This reminds me that multiple people thought I had been hurt by a Black Audi. Apparently this other idiot has been endangering the life of a few people in the area and even knocked off a motorcyclist. So if you travel in this part of south east London, watch out for a black Audi.
Lastly, @TimR please read the entire thread before jumping to conclusions. The reason why I moved in front of him was indeed to be civil and prevent the road from being blocked. Kindly read before commenting.
Attachments
