Cycling UK Forum

Hi,
It was teeming down with rain and my 15 year old grandson was cycling. He thought he rd a car behind and looked back. Turning round he braked hard as there was a stationary car in front of him. He went head first through the rear screen, gashing his arm in the process. The rear tail light was also broken.
He suffered a large gash to his forearm, which on visiting a&e, had to return 2 days later to have glass and chipped bone removed under general anaesthetic. A plastic surgeon had to sew the arm up.
All the above notwithstanding, can he made to pay for the damage as a minor.

That sound horrendous - I hope he’s recovering well.

This might be relevant: https://www.claims.co.uk/knowledge-base ... mpensation.

My youngest bro suffered a very nasty injury as a result of “laying the bike down” (motorcycle) to avoid hitting s child who ran out from the pavement right in front of him, and in that case the child (or possibly the parent in charge of a young child, I’m not sure) was found to have been negligent, and the parent’s home contents insurance covered a partial compensation payment.

Welcome.

Is this in England? For breach of duty, which includes negligence, a child can be liable. The duty is that which would be reasonably expected of a child of that age.

For legal advice I strongly recommend asking an appropriate professional.

Jonathan

As Nearholmer suggests, it is standard for household contents insurance policies to provide public liability cover for the policyholder and members of the family living with them. The question of whether the parents/guardian of a minor could be held vicariously liable in such circumstances, and if so to what extent, is something that the insurer's claim dept./solicitor appointed by them would address.

Therefore, assuming there is such a policy in force, I would suggest that the policyholder contacts the insurer and reports the incident now, rather than wait to see if they are contacted by the insurer/owner of the car seeking compensation.

If I was the car driver I'd try to get the window and damages paid for by the parents in some sort of gentleman / woman's agreement first. If that's not possible I'd tend to fix it myself since even claiming for a broken window or windscreen puts a claim on your claims register.

Using the windscreen cover / NCB protection is OK if you are intending staying with that insurance company but if they hike the price at the next renewal and you want to shop around that claim on your register will affect the price you pay. It happened to my mother hence why I know about it.

you must tell your insurance company of all damages even if you pay for them out of your own pocket - it gives them reason to put up your premium. Not to do so is apparently a breach of their terms and can justify them in bringing all manner of unpleasantness against you.

they only come over as nice and reasonable when you are dealing with their sales teams.

It should not be so much a case of “can he be made to pay” - rather that he, or his parents, should pay. One of the pervading issues in society today is failure (or perhaps a better word would be ‘refusal’) to accept responsibility for one’s own actions.

When my kids were younger, had such an incident occurred, I would have immediately offered to pay for the damage. They would have then had a suitably painful amount deducted from their pocket money, to ensure that they learned that there are consequences for their actions.

Hmmm …… I’m not sure I would have needed my pocket money docked in order to remind me of an incident in which I received very painful injuries.

I badly broke my arm in two places simultaneously due to stupid showing off when I was 14yo, and I suffered no loss of pocket money as a result, but I half a century later I still remember the whole episode in great detail, including the relief as I “went under” general anaesthetic to have the bits put together in the right order.

Nearholmer wrote: ↑29 Sep 2023, 12:36pm Hmmm …… I’m not sure I would have needed my pocket money docked in order to remind me of an incident in which I received very painful injuries.

I badly broke my arm in two places simultaneously due to stupid showing off when I was 14yo, and I suffered no loss of pocket money as a result, but I half a century later I still remember the whole episode in great detail, including the relief as I “went under” general anaesthetic to have the bits put together in the right order.

But these days it seems to make the pain go away far more quickly if you can blame someone else, and even more so if you can obtain compensation, for an incident of your own making.

I badly broke my arm in two places simultaneously due to stupid showing off when I was 14yo, and I suffered no loss of pocket money as a result,

Did the showing off involve damaging someone else's car?

No, only me.

But, the way I read the OP’s account, the 15yo in question wasn’t engaged in “flash harry” behaviour trying to impress others, as I was, he merely made a nasty mistake. I’m probably a wishy-washy liberal, but as a parent I’d cough-up for the damage, maybe via home insurance, maybe not to avoid a hike in premiums, but I don’t think I’d add punishment to injury for my child.

As a PS regarding my accident prone younger self, I also cycled slap bang (quite a big bang) into the back of a parked car when I was about 12yo, at a fair old pace too, because I somehow mistook it for a moving vehicle until too late. Cars then were made of sterner stuff, and it sustained no noticeable damage.

Pebble wrote: ↑28 Sep 2023, 8:27am you must tell your insurance company of all damages even if you pay for them out of your own pocket - it gives them reason to put up your premium. Not to do so is apparently a breach of their terms and can justify them in bringing all manner of unpleasantness against you.

they only come over as nice and reasonable when you are dealing with their sales teams.

This was covered on the telly a few years ago, it gets you blacklisted for insurance fraud. The case I recall was someone who enquired about a minor insured loss (a dropped computer or something), then decided not to bother claiming. Years later she lost half her property when it was washed away in a flood, and her insurance refused a claim of £25k because they'd found out about the previous loss on the insurance industry database, and she hadn't declared it when taking out her current policy.

Nearholmer wrote: ↑29 Sep 2023, 1:30pmI also cycled slap bang (quite a big bang) into the back of a parked car when I was about 12yo, at a fair old pace too

I did that at about the same age because I was amusing myself trying to ride between the double yellow lines without touching them. Fortunately the guys in the car were too embarrassed at being parked on a double yellow line to ask how I ended up on their car roof.

Octas wrote: ↑27 Sep 2023, 6:25pm Hi,
It was teeming down with rain and my 15 year old grandson was cycling. He thought he rd a car behind and looked back. Turning round he braked hard as there was a stationary car in front of him. He went head first through the rear screen, gashing his arm in the process. The rear tail light was also broken.
He suffered a large gash to his forearm, which on visiting a&e, had to return 2 days later to have glass and chipped bone removed under general anaesthetic. A plastic surgeon had to sew the arm up.
All the above notwithstanding, can he made to pay for the damage as a minor.

Whilst I feel sorry for the chap and his injury, I hope he can why should innocent people have to foot his bill for not cycling to the road conditions

If MY car was damaged I would sue, he hit them not the other way round the least you should do is pay for any damage.

THIS is why sensible people have CYCLE INSURANCE, I have full cover for this reason, YOU put yourself in the position of the car driver what would you want.

https://www.cycleinsurance.co.uk/?gclid ... 71EALw_wcB

Pinhead wrote: ↑30 Sep 2023, 10:09am

Octas wrote: ↑27 Sep 2023, 6:25pm Hi,
It was teeming down with rain and my 15 year old grandson was cycling. He thought he rd a car behind and looked back. Turning round he braked hard as there was a stationary car in front of him. He went head first through the rear screen, gashing his arm in the process. The rear tail light was also broken.
He suffered a large gash to his forearm, which on visiting a&e, had to return 2 days later to have glass and chipped bone removed under general anaesthetic. A plastic surgeon had to sew the arm up.
All the above notwithstanding, can he made to pay for the damage as a minor.

Whilst I feel sorry for the chap and his injury, I hope he can why should innocent people have to foot his bill for not cycling to the road conditions

If MY car was damaged I would sue, he hit them not the other way round the least you should do is pay for any damage.

THIS is why sensible people have CYCLE INSURANCE, I have full cover for this reason, YOU put yourself in the position of the car driver what would you want.

https://www.cycleinsurance.co.uk/?gclid ... 71EALw_wcB

Just tried a quote on the site you link to. You have to be born in 2005 or earlier so not suitable in this case

Pinhead wrote: ↑30 Sep 2023, 10:09am

Octas wrote: ↑27 Sep 2023, 6:25pm Hi,
It was teeming down with rain and my 15 year old grandson was cycling. He thought he rd a car behind and looked back. Turning round he braked hard as there was a stationary car in front of him. He went head first through the rear screen, gashing his arm in the process. The rear tail light was also broken.
He suffered a large gash to his forearm, which on visiting a&e, had to return 2 days later to have glass and chipped bone removed under general anaesthetic. A plastic surgeon had to sew the arm up.
All the above notwithstanding, can he made to pay for the damage as a minor.

Whilst I feel sorry for the chap and his injury, I hope he can why should innocent people have to foot his bill for not cycling to the road conditions

If MY car was damaged I would sue, he hit them not the other way round the least you should do is pay for any damage.

THIS is why sensible people have CYCLE INSURANCE, I have full cover for this reason, YOU put yourself in the position of the car driver what would you want.

https://www.cycleinsurance.co.uk/?gclid ... 71EALw_wcB

I agree -- not doing that is what we'd call " a duncey action " or " a duncey move " but you also don't know who the car belongs to and vice versa ie the car owner may not know who the childs relatives are. So you have to be careful and sus that all out first if you intend to do a duncey move not paying or the car owner pursuing compensation. Sometimes it gets tricky over here when one side decides a duncey move is to be played so best paying up for the damage you caused just in case.