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Brian Robinson at the 2015 Tour de Yorkshire (copyright Simon MacMichael)Brian Robinson receives £15,000 after collision with car that pulled out on him
Brian Robinson, the first Briton to finish the Tour de France and also the first to win a stage, has received £15,000 in compensation after being struck by a car while riding near his home last July. The 84-year-old was able to make the claim through his British Cycling membership and said he was ‘pleasantly surprised’ with how it was handled.
Robinson, from Mirfield, was riding along Lees Hall Road, Thornhill Lees, Dewsbury, at around 1.20pm on July 16 when a Volkswagen Passat pulled out in front of him. He suffered a fractured collarbone and ribs, a punctured lung and a deep cut on his forearm and was taken to Pinderfields Hospital in Wakefield.
Robinson was able to make a claim through his British Cycling membership benefits, receiving a £15,000 settlement for the costs of his bike and for his injuries.
“I would have preferred that it had not happened, but I have been pleasantly surprised by how this incident has been handled through my British Cycling membership. I have had a great medical once-over and I am obviously pleased with the compensation which has enabled me to get back on my bike as quickly as possible.”
Robinson was back on his bike within six weeks and is now once again riding 80 miles a week.
The Yorkshireman, who acted as an ambassador for his county’s successful bid to host the Grand Départ, was the first Briton to finish the Tour de France in 1955. Three years later, he also became the country’s first stage winner. He then took a second stage the following year and also secured overall victory in the 1961 Dauphiné Libéré.
Last year, in the run-up to the Tour, Robinson had a beer launched in his honour. Stage Winner was a pale ale for which the pumps bore a polka-dot design in a nod to his success in the mountains during his cycling career.
Alex has written for more cricket publications than the rest of the road.cc team combined. Despite the apparent evidence of this picture, he doesn't especially like cake.
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26 comments
British Cycling's insurance also covers where *you* - the member cyclist - are at fault and cause damage to others. Very useful.
If even road.cc title's have the "collision with a car", all is lost ! Maybe a Google car?
You would prefer them to call it an accident?
Nothing wrong at all with the headline. The word collision has no connotation of blame, it's simply one or more moving objects coming together with force.
Hi bikebot; i mean -and i'm not alone- that , for now, cars are objects and have no responsibility; do you see in the news something like "killed by a firearm " ? No , a firearm by itself can't kill anybody. So the point is more than enough, you see "a rider died after a collision with a car" and it's not a coincidence. First, the driver of the car is not mentioned, he could be drunk, on drugs or whatever, no responsibility, it's the main point of the wording. Second, it may imply that it's the rider's fault, it can't be the car as it's an object.
You see this carefully wording in the mainstream media, completely devoid to the car culture. But on road.cc ?
Or the rider could be drunk etc etc.
And riders are rarely the first to collide with a car, more often that not it's part of their bike. So if you really wanted to play with the pedant hammer you'd have something like "rider died after bike collided with car driven by a driver one of both may or may not be at fault".
Glad things worked out well for Brian (and others on this thread) though.
Is it true that if a BC member is involved in a collision with another BC member then they can't use their BC legal cover?
Or is that internet myth?
Nope not a myth according to their website:
I wouldn't be surprised if they only have one set of solicitors working for them. They would be able to act for both injured party's as they would be a conflict of interests.
CTC provides free legal advice through Slater & Gordon. Think their 3rd party insurance covers car on bike instances as well as bike on bike up to £10m (not sure if BC does bike on bike).
Worth having if you recall that story about the Aussie cyclists sueing each other http://road.cc/content/news/134495-australian-man-ordered-pay-17m-damage...
I used the BC service when I was knocked off by a car while on a cycle path (yes, really...) and sustained a broken hand. Very efficient and great to be able to just hand it over to someone who knew exactly what they were doing. My payout was not as much as Brian, but my injuries were not as serious and the damage to my bike was not as severe, so probably similar on a pro rata basis, and a lot more than I expected.
More than the money, I wanted to make a point to the driver who did it by hopefully hitting his insurance premium, especially because he wasn't very bothered about what he did, and the police weren't very interested either.
BC solicitors were excellent. I highly recommend BC/CTC membership for anyone who cycles regularly.
£15k seems a bit low for his injuries - punctured lung and broken collar bone. Maybe BC solicitors should have worked harder to get him more. How much you recieve is all down to the advocacy skills of your solicitor. If you get some one who is tenacious and dogged you are going to get more as opposed to some one who doesn't really understand your injuries especially the psychological ones and the effect they have had on you. Having said that there is a laid down range of figures for various injuries and their extent so you can't just pick a figure out of the sky but still you can justify a higher figure in the range for that injury if you can establish it was at the more serious end. Stick to your guns and don't back down. It has worked for me on 2 occasions where I felt my claim was being under valued. It's still a long and frustrating process though. I would have preferred not have been knocked down though by fuckwit drivers. These are the ones that stop though so you can get their details.
to "I am not wiggins"
Risky business mentioning wearing of helmets on this site. there's many a keyboard warrior hiding behind a screen just waiting.
Re. the article. Good on you Mr Robinson well deserved and I'm sure it made the motorist think twice irrespective of who you are.
regards all
On the occasions I have been knocked down, the first thing I have been asked by the paramedics when the ambulance has arrived is "Have you hit your head? Were you wearing a helmet?" This rather swings it for me to wear a helmet as maybe one day I won't be able to answer if I don't wear one that day I am knocked down.
Also as important as helmets are mirrors. You can avert many a close pass by looking in your mirrors to see if a fuckwit driver might be on course to close pass or run you down, then turn around to look them in the eye and maybe take evasive action. It didn't help me though when I was deliberately hit and run. The police did f*ck all to try and trace the vehicle and driver.
I went into the drivers side of the car, over the bonnet & headfirst into the edge of the curb. Knocked out for a good 10 mins before coming round to be greeted by ambulance crew & police. Called my other half but couldn't tell her where I was as I had no recollection of what had just happened. The attending officer had to piece it all together for me!
My bike was split into 3 pieces, wheels damaged, the usual stuff really. As most of it was carbon, it did add up to replace and covered £5,500 of the total settlement. Helmet & clothing included in that too.
As for me; bashed up right shoulder, right ear stitched back together, various deep abrasions which would indicate that I may have slide along the ground for a bit, bad memory loss and concussion with the usual post impact headaches and dizzy spells. Scans & physio followed. Certainly the worst SMIDSY I've ever been in and not one I wish to repeat.
I hate to bring this up as I know it's a touchy subject with members of our little community but I think that had I not of been wearing a helmet, I'd have been a lot worse off. Safety first!
I'd be interested to see the outcome for a comparable incident for someone who wasn't a cycling legend, you know, just your average person in the street.
And the same for CTC.
£15,500 for me when a car pulled out in front of me & then decided to stop. By the sounds of it, Brian came off a lot worse than me with his punctured lung.
I'm certainly not a cycling legend either. Well, not that I know of.
Didn't use CTC or BC to get that settlement. Dealt with the insurer directly and appointed legal representation when they required me to do so as the accident involved head trauma.
What was the damage, if you don't mind answering, to you and the bike?
I'm not doubting you by the way (or BC/CTC for that matter), I just have more interest in real life stories than what could very easily be advertorial puff pieces, if that makes sense?
I doubt the hard nosed insurance & legal profession attach any financial value to ones accolades from so long ago. If your cynical supposition that 'celebrity' swings things rang true then the driver would have been prosecuted as well and not handled through civil means?
I am cynical, yes, but I wasn't suggesting that the insurance world were swayed by Brian's past, more that BC would lose more face if a Brian's case had been mishandled or not had any effort put in to it.
I suppose the question was is it possible that British Cycling pressed and worked harder on his behalf, rather than just going through the process as they would for your average punter. I'm not saying that is the case, I'm just wanting to rule it out.
Errr …………. BC / CTC don't actually handle your case, they pass you on to their solicitor of choice. The cycling organisation has no input what so ever unless things go tits up and you are totally dissatisfied with how your case is run or the advice you are given that you complain to them, but even then you will have gone through the solicitor's complaints procedure to hopefully resolve any difficulties or have sort a second opinion.
Not sure how you could rule that out anyway ?
Mate of mine got knocked off his bike and got about 2 grand for damages. Just scratches really - nothing like Brian got here. 15K sounds a bit light by comparison.
I'm not sure you can, not fully anyway. But you can try and find out about people's real world experiences and outcomes and try to compare them. Like this for example:
So what is this benefit? Is it legal cover, or insurance?
Legal cover is included with British Cycling membership, makes things easier if you're involved in an incident. The lawyers BC appointed got me a large 4 figure settlement when I was left hooked the other year. As mentioned above you could handle it yourself and/or appoint your own lawyers and probably get the same results though.
IIRC the point about BC membership is that they cover your costs i.e. the other side's costs should you lose so no need for you to purchase a potentially expensive insurance policy to cover this eventuality. Their solicitors will still sign you up on a conditional fee agreement as will any personal injury solicitor. In both my claims I didn't use CTC or BC solicitors and got good results. In many cases liability is not an issue as the driver will be at fault so it is just merely arguing over the value of your injuries and damage to property, maybe some loss of earnings and pecuniary disadvantage to future earnings as a result of your injuries so you are NOT going to lose the claim against the other side unless you don't accept a reasonable offer and a court agrees. You will still win but you maybe liable for additional costs for the other side for not accepting a previous reasonable offer. It is to some extents brinkmanship and who blinks first, but if you have a good solicitor fighting for you then it should be pretty painless.
I've had to make use of the CTC equivalent twice now. On each occasion compensation was awarded to cover pain & suffering following collisions with f###wit drivers. I'd rather have not of course, but it shows the value of such benefits from both CTC and British Cycling. Glad Brian's back on his bike now. Legend!!