Roundabout disagreement

One evening in July 2022, Colin was out for a leisurely cycle heading towards Penicuik from Edinburgh. He entered the Gowkley Moss roundabout intending to take the second exit as he was heading south towards Penicuik.

He was aware of a vehicle to his left travelling from Roslin approaching the roundabout. Colin had right of way, however it did not appear as though the vehicle was slowing or planning to give way to him. Before Colin had time to react, the vehicle pulled directly into his path and collided with the rear wheel of his bicycle.

This seemed like a straightforward road traffic incident where liability would be admitted early on and the case could be settled in a matter of months. However, on this occasion, the third-party insurers failed to respond with a position on liability and also failed to make any offers to settle the claim. 

Therefore, to progress matters, we raised a Court action on Colin’s behalf. During the court process, it became clear that the third-party insurers were defending the claim on the basis of an alternative version of events given by the driver who had collided with Colin. They stated that their driver had pulled onto the roundabout and established himself in the inside lane when Colin then collided with the rear off side of the vehicle for no apparent reason.
We proceeded to get detailed images and measurements of the accident locus to establish that it would not have been possible for Colin to have entered the roundabout after the driver of the vehicle, catch up with him and then collide with his vehicle.

We called upon the third-party insurers to state whether Colin had been visible or not to the driver prior to pulling onto the roundabout. They responded that the roundabout had been clear of all traffic at the point of their driver entering. 

We collated the necessary evidence to prove that this would have been impossible. We established that sight lines for the driver would have extended up to 88 metres. As such, Colin would have had to have been visible to the driver prior to entering the roundabout. If not, then Colin would have had to have been travelling faster than the car on a roundabout to catch up with the vehicle and for the collision to have occurred.

Within days of establishing this fact through the ingathering of supportive evidence, an offer was received and Colin’s case was settled. However, it did take eleven months for settlement to be reached due to the dishonest conduct of the driver.

Whilst it is always for a person bringing a claim to prove their case, Colin’s claim demonstrates the importance carrying out detailed investigative work to establish the facts of a case. By preparing Colin’s case in this way, we were able to answer the third-party insurers false allegations on Colin’s part and disprove their driver’s version of events. 

Following settlement Colin commented, “Jodi kept me informed and involved at every step, discussing pros and cons of decision options and explaining legal terminology. This helped keep things real for me as a novice in such matters. I have no doubt that having someone on my side who could complement their considerable legal ability with extensive cycling experience led to such a positive outcome.”