Cyclist pushed off his bicycle by a passing motorcyclist

One sunny day in April 2019, David was cycling a 30km route utilising quiet country roads surrounding Dundee.

He was approximately 5km into his cycle ride when he heard motorcyclists travelling behind him. He was positioned to the left hand side of the road to allow the motorcyclists room to pass. One by one, the motorcyclists passed him however, as the last motorcyclist came close, David felt an arm push his back. Shockingly, the motorcyclist had put their arm out when passing and pushed David. As a result, David lost control of his bicycle and fell onto the road sustaining injury. He received treatment at Ninewell’s Hospital for a fracture to his pelvis.

Immediately after the incident, David called the police and they attended at the scene. The police investigated the incident circumstances but advised that there was no CCTV or witnesses. They could not trace the motorcyclist who had pushed David from his bicycle. The police recorded the incident circumstances as David falling from his bicycle and then having a panic attack. They simply did not believe that he had been pushed from his bicycle by a passing motorcyclist.

David contacted a well-known law firm to pursue a claim for personal injury. A claim was intimated to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA) on David’s behalf. The CICA provide compensation for those who are injured because they are a victim of a crime. However, as the police did not record a crime being committed, his claim was rejected. His case was turned down as the law firm agreed with the police that a crime has not been committed. The law firm did not challenge the police findings that a crime had been committed and instead simply turned down David’s case.

After having his case turned down, David contacted Cycle Law Scotland. The first thing we did was to appeal the decision to reject David’s claim with the CICA. However, the CICA maintained their decision to not make an award of damages for David’s injury as the police found that no crime has been committed. The second thing we did was to explore alternative avenues on David’s behalf to ensure he was compensated for the injury he had sustained through no fault of his own.

We intimated a claim directly to the Motor Insurers Bureau (MIB) under their Untraced Drivers Agreement. The MIB are an organisation set up to compensate victims of negligent uninsured and untraced motorists. Given that the motorcyclist who pushed David from his bicycle could not be traced, we proceeded to claim under the MIB Untraced Drivers Agreement. The MIB is funded by every motorist through their policy of insurance.

The MIB dealt with David’s claim and a settlement was reached for the injuries. David was delighted with the settlement award he received saying,

“A well-advertised, law firm eventually declined to take on my case. I was thinking of giving up when I remembered seeing an advert for Cycle Law Scotland. I phoned them up and one of their lawyers, Zara, agreed to represent me. Zara has been very helpful and, though it has been a long and drawn-out process, she has worked hard to get me the best compensation she could. Very satisfied with the outcome.”

At Cycle Law Scotland, we treat every case individually. As the motorcyclist that caused David to fall from his bicycle could not be traced, we knew that the best way to proceed was under the MIB’s Untraced Drivers Agreement. This allowed David to receive an award of damages for the injuries sustained.