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So I'm on my way to Wales to collect the Velorex sidecar. 8) Hired a trailer to make sure, as I didn't want to wreck the interior of my newish Citroen C5 Estate.
Driving along, minding my own business 20 miles into the journey when - wallop I'm hit broadside by a bloke who ran a Red light.
The noise in the car is unbelievable and I'm expecting the back of the car to be stoved in. When I check, the "only" damage is the hired trailer, which is a wreck. :
It turns out the other driver in not only drunk, but uninsured ..................
So - lose the £200 [ $450 ] deposit on the trailer and go home via A&E. 6 hours after setting out, I eventually get home after the hospital trip - 2 broken fingers and cracked bones in my wrist.
The Velorex is now but a dream as the money for the chair now has to go on paying for the trailer damage. :'(
Stark - here in the UK if you are hit by an uninsured driver you have to pay the repair costs yourself or through your own insurance company. My excess to the policy that is I must pay the first £300 AND lose 3 years of my no claims bonus. No brainer as my "only" cash loss is £200.
As for Hospitalisation - again here in the UK we have the wonderful and much maligned National Health Service - which is effectively free. OK you pay a National Insurance Contribution while you are working [ not a lot ].
Ironically I have only ever had to call on it a few times in my life and until recently not even required any meds through my GP. Making up for it now though !!
Titan - yes in the grand scheme of things - a second earlier and he would have hit me square on my driver's door ! The Police estimate he was travelling at least 40 mph at the point of contact. The theory is he didn't see the trailer and thought he could just make it. And yes - the car escaped completely undamaged. It's a good job it was my right wrist [ I'm right handed ] and fingers - otherwise it might have been ME prosecuted for Grievous Bodily Harm.
All in all, a lucky escape - just means my sidecar escapade has to be put on hold / shelved.
I can't help thinking tho' if he had of hit the car side on you may well of had LESS injuries, being a new(ish) C5 and all.
Our health system is very much the same as the NHS (loosely based on the same principal and operating procedure i think, except we don't have to make ANY contribution, working or not) and i whinge and bitch 'bout the state of it 99% of the time, but by christ i'm glad it's still free.
As for the insurance, that sucks. I would've thought with you guys having to have compulsory insurance you could do what our insurance co's do.
They fix the damage, if it's not yor fault you don't pay the excess (or lose no claims) and the insurance co' goes after the offending party. And holy crap do they go after them LOL.
Thanx for the kind words guys 8)- I'm feeling better already, apart from now only typing with one finger on the left hand instead of 1 on each !
No doubt I WOULD have been better off if the idiot had hit me on the driver's door [ side air-bags ], but the no claims bonus would be out of the window for repairs to my car would have to come from my insurance. The initial excess PLUS the loss of the NCB would have amounted to over £500 [ $1200 ?? ], and a further 3 years to get back to my full insurance discount. Ironically there has been an advertising campaign for an insurance company that specifically covers you for no loss of NCB if you are hit by an uninsured driver !
You're right Rays - there are more sidecars out there, and hey what's a couple of broken fingers - the middle finger still works OK !!
The truly amazing part of this saga is that the trailer didn't whip round and smack the back of my car, I think that the left side trailer wheel must have hit the kerbstone and stopped it swinging.
The painkillers wore off yesterday, but the half bottle of Jack sure stepped up to the mark ! If only you could get that on the NHS. ;D
So does this guy go to directly to jail without passing go 1. driving under the influence. 2. driving without insurance. Please excuse my ignorance of english law. <--would make a cool band name.
That stings, but I'll have to agree with everyone else in this thread. £200 and a couple of broken bones is something you'll recover from fairly quickly. It could have been much worse.
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