bl**dy (omni)bus drivers

[shambly]

So we were waiting at a T junction this morning - infact about 30 yards back from the junction as we could see a bus turning right towards us that would need plenty of space - and the idiot Stagecoach driver managed to run almost the entire side of his bus down the side of our California. We had no where to go with a learner ahead and traffic behind.

Fortunately the drivers wing mirror took the brunt of the attack, being left half up and half down afterwards. No obvious damage to any body panels and the mirror clicked back into place after a few fold unfold attempts on the switch. Abrasion marks on both parts of mirror housing though :cry:

The bus driver didn't notice so I had to park up on the pavement and chase after him on foot. I caught him two stops down the road and got his details.

Now got to wait for Stagecoach's bureaucracy to kick into gear.... but at least I got a call from the driver for more details as he filled in his accident form at the depot.

:censor :censor annoyed

Simon

 

[calikev]

Sorry to hear that mate hope you get it sorted soon lucky no one is hurt but like you say a pain in the s :censor I used to work for a large bus company they don't actually have insurance
The company sets up a fund to pay for damage caused by their drivers runs into millions of pounds
In a year at least he has admitted it

 

[Californiaman]

Gutting. Hope you get things sorted asap.

 

[Gary&Heather]

sorry to hear that hope you get it sorted

 

[gatvol]

This happened to me years ago. The witness could prove key to your case. We're it not for my witness in the car behind I would have lost my no claims as my insurer was wanting to call it a 50-50. Despite my car being broken down at the time and being attended to by Green Flag and the mechanic also acting as a supportive witness.

Bus companies and insurers have the potential to be immensely immoral when it comes to accidents.

Good luck.

 

[Stu]

I would agree with the above regarding NCD.

I had an incident some years ago when a driver hit our car in a car park and did a runner. Fortunately a witness took his details and found us in a nearby shop.

Whatever you do do not tell your insurance company you wish to make a claim. It is your duty to inform them that there has been an incident but be sure to tell them you will pursue the bus company's insurance yourself. Next thing is don't wait for the Bus company to investigate, they are legally obliged to give you their insurance details and once you have that you should contact them directly and claim from them.

 

[Andy]

Most important thing in an incident is witnesses, can turn a blame case to non blame.
Photos are also important, you will never remember all the road markings & exact positions of the vehicles. Even if they can only say you did not leave your lane having not seen the incident.

I had was involved in an incident recently, 3rd party hit my truck on the A406 & due to my being able to submit photos along with the report 3rd party being held responsible.

Good luck with your claim Shambly.

 

[Gary&Heather]

we have a Roadhawk DC-1 black box camera in our cali as they say every little bit helps.

 

[Andy]

we have a Roadhawk DC-1 black box camera in our cali as they say every little bit helps.

Sounds good, but is only any good for stuff that happens in front of you. I thought about getting one for my truck, but a lot of the incidents trucks are involved happen along the side side & out of its view. There is a blind spot on an artic once you start to turn right. So I decided against it.

 

[shambly]

Thanks for the responses. I had already extracted their policy details which they were reluctant to give, and will be asserting my right to choose the repairer.

As an aside, we have accident management cover with our Volvo(s) and this has proved very useful in the past extracting monies from the responsible 3rd parties rather than going through our insurer (I was hit in the rear on the M25; my wife was hit in a carpark but driver owned up).

I'm not going to claim from my insurance but pursue Stagecoach. If needs be i'll bring in Accident Exchange (who run the programme for Volvo) but i'm hoping the claim is small enough that Stagecoach won't make life difficult (I know, I know....)

Off to get a quote from my local VW body shop next week.

Simon

 

[Stu]

Good luck Simon.

Some of the door mirrors also house the various antenna for the radio etc. so be sure to have that checked if the mirror has been pulled off.

Let us know how you get on.

 

[Ewan]

A motorhome swerved across the white line and took mirror off in France last year. Didn't stop; neither did any witnesses (it was a narrow, windy road along one of the Ardeche gorges ... But that's no excuse ...). Fortunately the black casing was still intact but everything else was kaput. I think it cost about £120.

 

[shambly]

Today they agreed they would settle without prejudice

Can get the repair done by my local VW bodyshop

 

[Stu]

That's good, and really should never have been in doubt.

Remember to make a note of any out of pocket expenses such as alternative transport.

if it's over a weekend then there is every chance you'd have been going away so you could tap Oli up for one of his vans to add to the bill. :rofl

 

[shambly]

The whole mirror assembly was replaced on Friday whilst I waited (they had pre-painted a replacement mirror cover) but unfortunately they broke the clips on the new cover when fitting it :headwall

So, new cover ordered and is currently being painted to be fitted Friday.

At least this is a 10 minute job rather than the 1.5 hours the whole mirror took.

But I wish they'd admitted to this issue rather than hoping i'd drive away and not notice the 2mm gap on the inside of the mirror between black and silver parts because there was no clip holding it together :censor

Needless to say I am in communication with the bodyshop manager... and waiting for his report before I complete VW UK's customer service questionnaire that has arrived about the job.

What a contrast to their absolutely fantastic service department (Martins VW)...