ford kuga - Hit by Foreign HGV who ran red light - didnt stop.

Honest John Back Room » Legal matters
What is life like with your car? Let us know and win £500 in John Lewis vouchers | No thanks
View Threaded
Sun 17 Nov 2013 16:00
ford kuga - Hit by Foreign HGV who ran red light - didnt stop. - lawabider

Hope someone can offer me some advice - its a bit complicated so I'll try to be brief.

Went past an HGV who was taking up two outer lanes of 3 lane roundabout on my entry onto motorway. On approach the traffic lights changed from amber/red and I stopped, handbrake on. From approx 30m behind me the HGV sped up and went across the lights on red, he then cut across from the outer lanes into the inner lane and his back trailer took the passenger side/ front of my car off dragging me part round the roundabout with him. My car was now partly on the roundabout and he continued to accelerate leaving me stranded.

The police were called by a witness to say that they had a seen the accident and the driver of the HGV had carried on a further two miles up the road before pulling into an industrial estate where he was seen by the witness checking his truck.

When the police arrived he spoke no English and a translator was used. He claimed he had NO knowledge of hitting me but was concerned that someone had attemped to break into his truck as the buckles of the strapping were missing. This was what came off his truck when he hit me. I understand that left hand drive may not have seen me if I was parrallel but I was 30m ahead of him in the far lane, my lights were on and it was getting dark.

As yet the Police have had no sucess in speaking to the witness after his initial call and my insurance company have suggested 50/50 liability because of the roundabout/lane change. Is this possible? Want to know where I stand. Thanks in advance.

Edited by lawabider on 17/11/2013 at 16:01

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sun 17 Nov 2013 19:05
ford kuga - Hit by Foreign HGV who ran red light - didnt stop. - Bromptonaut

Any possibility that roundabout was under CCTV surveillance?

If your insurer is suggesting 50/50 does that mean they have his insurance etc details and there's a reasonable chance of recovery?

My concern in this circ is that you got on inside of an HGV's turn. With a bit of room for differing accounts of of traffic light sequence and extent to which you were in front of him you may have a degree of culpability.

Edited by Bromptonaut on 17/11/2013 at 19:05

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sun 17 Nov 2013 19:18
ford kuga - Hit by Foreign HGV who ran red light - didnt stop. - lawabider

Any possibility that roundabout was under CCTV surveillance?

If your insurer is suggesting 50/50 does that mean they have his insurance etc details and there's a reasonable chance of recovery?

My concern in this circ is that you got on inside of an HGV's turn. With a bit of room for differing accounts of of traffic light sequence and extent to which you were in front of him you may have a degree of culpability.

Thank you for taking the time to reply. However due to his position in the outer two lanes, and to my knowledge there was no indication to signal a right turn intention. Also, if he had stopped the traffic lights on red there would have been no accident. I thank my stars that I am not a cyclist.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sun 17 Nov 2013 20:43
ford kuga - Hit by Foreign HGV who ran red light - didnt stop. - Bromptonaut

I thank my stars that I am not a cyclist.

It's being a cyclist that makes me doubly nervous around HGVs. Not just the blind spots but extent to which articulated trailers run so much tighter than the tractor unit.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Mon 18 Nov 2013 13:18
ford kuga - Hit by Foreign HGV who ran red light - didnt stop. - FP

Someone has suggested there might be CCTV surveillance of the roundabout. Might there also be cameras on the traffic lights? Evidence the lorry ran a red light might help your case.

Though it seems you were not intentionally beside the lorry on the roundabout this case underlines how risky it is to be in that position - a risk increased with a LHD lorry.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Mon 18 Nov 2013 13:54
ford kuga - Hit by Foreign HGV who ran red light - didnt stop. - skidpan

If you were stationary and the lorry ran a red light hitting you in the process how can you be in any way to blame.

Trust you got the name of the witness, if not the Police may be able to help.

But in my experience the Police will not be interested. My father was hit by a car in similar circumstances, witness saw it and got the number. Police traced car but it was uninsured, untaxed, un MOT's and registered to the family Dog. They crushed the car and said there was no more they could do. Apparantly registering vehicles to a family pet is quite common.

Best of luck, you will unfortunately need it even though you are the innocent party.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Thu 21 Nov 2013 14:33
ford kuga - Hit by Foreign HGV who ran red light - didnt stop. - slkfanboy

Roundabouts cases are very hard to determine. I do have some confusion of you account. From what you are stating you undertook the lorry, who was using lanes 2 & 3. I assume you were in lane 1? You then stopped at lights changing to amber/red. I assume you mean from amber to red. You state he changed from lane 3 to lane 1, but past the roundabout.

I suspect the insurance company is unlikely to be able prove fault and therefore you will have too. Lorry crossing an amber light is ok on this basis that it's not safe to do so.On a roundabout it quite ok to move from lane 2 to 1 as that how they work.

The biggest issue is that he did not stop and failed to report an accedent. It seams from the police report you have not proved there was an accident thu?

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Thu 21 Nov 2013 15:14
ford kuga - Hit by Foreign HGV who ran red light - didnt stop. - skidpan

From what you are stating you undertook the lorry,

Nothing wrong with undertaking on a roundabout.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Thu 21 Nov 2013 16:05
ford kuga - Hit by Foreign HGV who ran red light - didnt stop. - RT

From what you are stating you undertook the lorry,

Nothing wrong with undertaking on a roundabout.

But if it's a large vehicle then it's YOUR responsibility to ensure that sufficient room is available to do so, taking into account that large vehicles need a different path to cars.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Thu 21 Nov 2013 16:35
ford kuga - Hit by Foreign HGV who ran red light - didnt stop. - skidpan

From what you are stating you undertook the lorry,

Nothing wrong with undertaking on a roundabout.

But if it's a large vehicle then it's YOUR responsibility to ensure that sufficient room is available to do so, taking into account that large vehicles need a different path to cars.

The OP states the lorry was in the outer 2 lanes i.e. lanes 2 & 3. That means lane 1 was clear thus the OP used it. To hit the OP the lorry obviously moved from being partly in lanes 2 & 3 to being partly in lanes 1 & 2 when running a red light.

Based on the fact that at the time the OP "undertook" the lorry lane 1 was clear and the lorry was in lanes 2 & 3 I would think that the OP had given the lorry ample space.

But in this case the lorry driver clearly wanted to use all 3 lanes which is not the correct way to use a roundabout.

You should always expect the unexpected but surely the root cause of the accident was the fact the lorry ran the red light and has nothing to do with the OP being in lane 1.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Thu 21 Nov 2013 16:55
ford kuga - Hit by Foreign HGV who ran red light - didnt stop. - RT

I'm confused over the OP's use of lane numbers - the damage on his car is passenger's side which surely implies that the HGV was on the left of the OP, ie in lanes 1&2 and the OP in lane 3.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Thu 21 Nov 2013 17:22
ford kuga - Hit by Foreign HGV who ran red light - didnt stop. - lawabider

I'm confused over the OP's use of lane numbers - the damage on his car is passenger's side which surely implies that the HGV was on the left of the OP, ie in lanes 1&2 and the OP in lane 3.

Yes that's correct. Ive named them incorrectly - My lane being lane 3 (the inner lane cloest to the roundabout) taking the right turn. The lanes 1 and 2 (3rd party's lanes) for turning right and going straight on. I was ahead of the HGV in lane 3 when he approached me from behind, ran the red light and then turned right into the sliproad for entering the dual carriageway. On turning right he has hit the passenger side of my car with his trailer. I questionnned, why wouldnt he have straddled lanes 2 and 3 for turning right? I have an annotate diagram but not sure how to attach it.

Edited by lawabider on 21/11/2013 at 17:32

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Fri 22 Nov 2013 10:41
ford kuga - Hit by Foreign HGV who ran red light - didnt stop. - slkfanboy

Arrr makes more sense now.

I asume the traffic lights are on the roundabout(not the appoach) and therefore lane makings allow for lane 2 to turn right.

It leaves it open for the lorry driver to say the lights where amber and it was not safe for him to check his morrors and stop safely. I guess further he would say you drove into the path of the lorry and failed to check your mirrors and stop safely.

Sadly unless you can find that witness and therefore prove the colour of the lights was red, it's going to be hard prove your case.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Fri 22 Nov 2013 11:12
ford kuga - Hit by Foreign HGV who ran red light - didnt stop. - skidpan

I guess further he would say you drove into the path of the lorry and failed to check your mirrors and stop safely.

Based on what the OP has said in his original version and his revision with the correct lane number I do not see how you can suggest this.

The OP says the lorry was partly in lanes 2 and 3 leaving lane 1 clear, the OP used lane 1 and stopped at the red light. The red light issue is a red herring really, the lorry then continued and strayed into lane 1 hitting the OP's car.

Again, how can the OP be in any way to blame.

But I do agree that without witnesses the case will be virtually impossible to prove.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link

We give you the low down on how to save on insurance, little-known tricks and tips, what insurance groups mean and how to use insurance aggregators to beat insurers.

Insurance group finder and how to save on insurance