Hi all,

Now, I've not been driving very long and have always been pretty careful, so I apologise if I actually sound a bit thick with anything I'm about to say here.

First things first: Back in January, I ended up in a bus sandwich. I'm told after the fact of all the things I need to do after an accident - please don't judge me there, I've never even had a slight ding so don't have the same level of knowledge as the people saying "photograph everything" and so on.

What basically happened was that I stopped behind a bus on a single 20mph carriage to allow a van to pass. When I was sure I could safely overtake and that the bus wasn't going to pull out on me, I started to overtake. Another bus which had brought up the rear and hadn't slowed down at all (not completely convinced it was going at 20 either) had decided I, in her words, had "parked" (this single carriageway has double yellows either side, incidentally) and decided to overtake me and the other bus. She says I hit her, which I did because it's a matter of geometry - in order to overtake you need to be at a slight angle.

I'll be honest, while I can say I believe it to be her fault, emphasised by the fact that after the collision she drove away from the scene, I don't honestly remember what actually happened. Regarding her driving away from the scene, she could have pulled over into one of the two bus stops on that road but instead kept driving, past the traffic lights and around the corner and about half an hour later she appeared beside me without a vehicle saying "I believe you've had an accident." By that time I'd already reported her to the police.

The insurance company said that it'd probably be 50/50 from the start. I don't know if there's been any outcome - it took them two weeks of me chasing them to collect my car, which was a cosmetic write-off, another two weeks or there abouts of me chasing them for them to give me an offer. In the meantime, I'd told them I wouldn't be signing my car over to the collection company until I received the money for the car.

I had to get a new car on finance, which kind of sucks because I was really enjoying my fifth month of being debt-free. I'd told someone at my insurance company that I'd be swapping my insurance to the new car at the end of the month - until then, I'd added it as an additional vehicle.

Anyway, I call up the insurance company to make that change and they tell me they'd be charging me £19.99 to reinstate the insurance as they'd cancelled it (kind of annoyed me as I'd told them I'd be swapping it over but it's not like they'd been any good up until that point anyway). Fine. So they updated my insurance to run the rest of the term. Then they take £788 out of my bank account, which leads me to dilemma 2.

After a few calls, the insurance company cancelled the debit because they'd made a mistake and instructed me to go to the bank and cancel there too, which I did. Then they call me a week later and tell me I DO owe them that £788 as a premium against the old car, and that they can't take it against my current car. "We know it's a large amount to take in one hit so we're happy to take it in two payments."

Well, as nice as that is, this is something I need to think over because I work 30-something miles away in an admin job, I have bills to pay and I discovered around then that I was 3 months pregnant and need to save all the money I can because statutory maternity pay is £145.18/week (unless I opt to be an absent mother, which I think I'm going to have to do if I want bills paid).

Can anyone explain to me why this amount can't be debited against my current insurance? Also, if they've reinstated my insurance, a thing I paid £19.99 for, I don't see why I have to pay this premium as well.

In the meantime, still not got a clue what's going on as far as my claim goes. I've been advised to call them and ask if they're following up my claim, if not why not and if they've decided to settle at 50/50 if the bus company's paid their contribution to the excess I've paid out.

Again, sorry if I sound really stupid here. There's a possibility I am incredibly thick when it comes to this stuff.

GSV location link?

Accident diagram you sent to your Insurer?

Did you report accident to police within 24 hrs?

Did Police investigate the accident?

GSV location link? - Don't know what that is. Google Maps location? If so, that was in the report filed online as per my phone call to the police's request

Accident diagram you sent to your Insurer? - One hasn't been requested at any point. (As I said, never been in this situation before so know nothing, and the insurer hasn't been helpful to me)

Did you report accident to police within 24 hrs? - I reported it within 9 minutes by phone, two hours online

Did Police investigate the accident? - Received no advice regarding that, only a reference number.

GSV is Google Street View.

GSV is Google Street View.

Thanks

Who is your Insurer?

If you're in London,all buses have CCTV surrounding the bus.

So submit a sar immediately if that's the case.

TfL website has got a form to fill in.

INO best leave it to OPs Insurer to ask for any bus collisions in that road, on that date.

OP SAR can only reveal any reported incidents involving her or her VRN.

The insurance won't be quick enough and they surely want to close at 50/50 as they usually do.

That's why I would sar the bus company myself for CCTV.

Also, as the bus driver left the scene you should insist on the police taking this more seriously and throw the book at them.

As far as the law is concerned nobody can leave the scene of an accident without stopping and exchanging details.

We're talking about a professional driver here driving an 18 ton vehicle with people standing in it: They should know better.

The accident claim is going nowhere, other than a 50/50, unless CCTV proves the bus driver was at fault.

In regard to premiums after a total loss claim, yes the remaining premium becomes due, but if the annual insurance policy is continuing, I would question why the Insurers are not allowing payment over the remaining months of the policy. Unless there are only 2 months left or the policy terms require repayment of the remaining premium within a stated time period.

Accidents with buses or commercial vehicles are a pain, because the third party driver is going to want to protect themselves. They are going to try to avoid any blame for an accident because their job would be on the line.