I WAS horrified to hear of my colleague’s accident. Struck by a reversing car on High Street, he had a damaged bike and was badly hurt.

His wounds stretched from his hip all the way down his leg and his clothes were torn to smithereens. Any driver that caused such pain should ordinarily be sorry and dismayed that his temporary lack of concentration had caused such hurt but unfortunately the driver is trying hard to get away with it.

The problem lies with the fact it’s his word against the driver’s. While in shock, lying bloody and bruised, he failed to get the driver’s registration or the witnesses’ details and he hastily accepted the man’s apologies.

Now more than a month later he is having to file private claims to force the driver to accept responsibility and pay for bike repairs.

I see a lot of people coming into our workshop having expensive repair work done to their bikes after an accident. Shockingly, over half do not have the driver’s details, and they didn’t think to get them in all the disorder of a collision. Would you know what to do if you were involved in a crash on your bicycle? I have to admit it happened to me and I was lucky enough to have passers-by and police take care of all the details for me otherwise I would have done the same thing, forgetting to ask as adrenaline passed through my body dulling and masking the extent of my injuries.

Unfortunately, the burden of proof lies with you the claimant and all those particulars are quite important if you want any justice after the accident. You should always get the registration details of the vehicle It is sadly quite common for drivers to give false details but a registration can be checked.

Get the particulars of the vehicle too – make, model, colour and the driver’s insurance details if you can. Usually a bystander will see what happened and most people are kind enough to stop and help. Ask them for their details and address – it could be the missing link for anyone assessing the accident, especially when Big Brother fails to catch it on CCTV.

In this technological day and age most of us have a camera in our pocket. Get your smartphone out and get pictures. Even if it wasn’t a vehicle that caused your accident, get pictures of the offending pothole or badly designed junction.

But most importantly inform the police. If they were not at the scene how will they know about it? Within five days get a reference number and the name of the person you contacted – it can be important if the driver was uninsured.

Without witnesses my colleague has little chance of success with his claim. If you saw his accident on January 15, around 7pm, get in touch and if you witness any accidents in the future provide your details before moving.

It could help someone get justice.

For more details visit http://thecyclingsolicitor.blogspot.co.uk/p/what-to-do-in-case-of-accident.html