Hi all,

Not sure If I'm posting in the right section but just wanted to get peoples opinion on this. Last night I was queuing behind a couple cars to turn right at a set of lights, Bus comes along in the left hand lane going ahead and decides to completely scrape my passenger side wheel arch as he does and continues to drive on. I drop someone off whom was in the car and go looking for the driver as I briefly saw his face in his side mirror when the incident happened and the bus number etc. I find him and get him to give his details over which he wasn't hesitant to do at all and he gives me this Arriva card with all details needed on.

I've reported this to Arriva and forwarded images on to them of which I'll show you. I'll post the turning where I was hit here as well as I want other peoples opinion that I am in no way liable as I cannot see how I could possibly be.

I have informed arriva that I have a wedding to attend end of next week where I will be driving the bride and I need my car restored by then.

Here are the lights it happened at:

https://imgur.com/a/BnRBmcd

The snippet is a good example of my own situation. I am the VW polo waiting to turn right and the bus in the left was the bus going ahead except he got too close to my stationary car and scraped me.

Here are the damages to my vehicle:

https://imgur.com/a/yX94noq

Let me know what you guys think.

Thanks

On the basis of what you say, I can't see that there will be any difficulty – although it may be time consuming. I can't imagine that you're going to have your car sorted in time for the wedding.

I would begin by getting two quotations for the work from reputable repairers – authorised repairers would be best – and put them into Arriva as quickly as possible. You could given 14 days to agree to the quotes or else you will have the work done yourself. I'm afraid I can't see that it would be reasonable to give them any shorter time – as unfair as it might seem.

I understand. I have a private repairer who usually comes to my home to repair this sort of stuff. Would I be able to get him to handle this for me and ask for a receipt or something that I could forward to arriva for reimbursement?

Thanks

You could but arrive wouldn't reimburse you. By that logic you could.have a very expensive repairer come instead.

Well he'd only charge me about 100-200 for that repair of which I'll forward to them... I don't feel they'd have a problem with that amount?

At the very least they should be given a fair opportunity to inspect the damage and to consider the two independent quotations you provide.

In terms of deciding whether or not they are prepared to accept liability without being forced to, that is less urgent and that can happen after the damage has been repaired. However, as unfair as it seems to be, you will have difficulty claim back the cost of repairs if you have not demonstrated a willingness to involve them and also a willingness to mitigate the loss by seeking comparative quotes and choosing the cheapest.

Well as said above I need this for the end of next week so I've just organised my private mobile repairer to sort it out this sunday for me for £100.

I have rang arriva multiple times and sent over pictures of said damage already which they have forwarded to their engineer to "speed up the process" and save him the time of coming to visit me. So I have been complying and to be honest £100 is ridiculously cheap once they accept liability.

From what I've explained regarding the scenario. Who is at fault/liable?

Surely the bus driver?

From your description it is the Bus Driver/Company that are liable, but you cannot dictate that your car must be repaired by time X, they are only under an obligation to have it repaired within a "reasonable time" and more than 1 week would not constitute unreasonable at all.

It's quite possible that they may have an agreement with other repairers that could have done the work for even less than the £100 you've been quoted, had the company been given the chance to inspect the damage prior to it being repaired. If the damage is repaired before they are able to have it inspected then they could well refuse any kind of payout and argue that you've gotten a more expensive quote or potentially had pre-existing damage repaired as well.

Yea well as I said above I need my car in shape for friday so I am getting it repaired myself this sunday and will seek reimbursement once they admit liability.

The timing was horrible for this so whatever happens from this point happens I guess.

Have you asked for the CCTV from the bus as this may show what happened?

is that something I am allowed to request?

I think as it only happened last night everything is still being processed and or being sent to whoever needs to have said info.

Modern buses are fitted with multiple cameras and should all be changed at end of each day. If you don't ask you don't get.

Yep you're right I'll call them up and request it.

I've agreed the cost of 150 for my repairs with my assessor who doesn't need to inspect my vehicle anymore and is compiling the report as we speak and is simply waiting for arriva to handle the liability aspect. When they are liable I will be reimbursed via bank transfer and agreed this with my assessor and arriva transcare themselves who handle the overall case.

I have requested footage which I will have within 10days apparently and now I am waiting for the driver to either admit liability or not and then arriva will have to look into the footage if he doesn't.

Thanks all.

I would guess the driver will say he knows nothing about it as often driving a large vehicle unless there is a specific bump then a scrape may go unnoticed. Arriva used to have external cameras fitted to their vehicles because of the number of fraudulent claims for bumps & personal injuries they were being put to but in your case it should work the other way.

In the event that there is any problem over liability, I think you have a pretty strong clue in the photograph of the bus which you have posted above.

You see the bus is not following the line of the road and is actually cutting across because the junction is a staggered junction. This is probably pretty normal for all buses and I would suggest that in the event of any dispute that you go and take pictures of several Arriva buses at the same point and I'll bet you all of them are doing the same thing.

I think if I were to place several photographs of buses not following the line of the road correctly before a County Court judge then I'm pretty certain that the judge would say that beyond the balance of probability (the standard of proof for civil liability) that your bus driver done the same thing.

I think your chances of success would be better than 80%