Pothole in supermarket car park

[mrbrit]

I was wondering if I have a case here; currently my insurance company is meant to be dealing with it but I’m not sure if they will go ahead.

Basically I was riding my motorbike into a supermarket car park to do my shopping. when riding into the car park there was a very slow moving car in front of me so I thought I’d just pull in at the top of the car park and walk down (wasn't really that far) when pulling in there was a large ditch where a tree would normally be; this was a different colour to the road but due to it being night time I was unaware that it was there after doing my mirrors and life saver (standard motorcycle check to see if anyone is on your right). There was also no kerb on it or barrier; it was also very poorly lit as it was night time. after going into this ditch (at around 10mph) I lost control of the motorbike and tried to regain control (on at a motorbike this means hitting the throttle to stop wobbling); just as I manage to regain control the my leg hit a bollard causing me to counter steer (Push on the left hand bar; you go left) and smash my bike into a second bollard. thus breaking the front fairing of my bike and the right hand mirror. I feel the supermarket is at fault for not making it clear that this ditch was there; as if a marking or a tree had of been there I would have noticed it much more clearly and the accident would have never happened!

[factor-fiction]

There's a lot of detail in there which means nothing to me but I think the main point seems to be that the car park was poorly lit so you could not see the boundary between the car park and a 'ditch' ( a dip where a tree used to be) and your bike went into the ditch causing damage to the bike and a bollard.

To help me clarify things please can you tell us:
1) Did you have your lights on?
2) When you say you are not sure your insurance company will go ahead, what do you mean? Go ahead with what?
3) Have you been asked to pay for the damage to the bollard?

Thanks

[mrbrit]

(1) Well yes i did have my lights on (motorbikes always have there lights on; day or night you can't turn them off)

(2) I asked my insurance company to deal with it; they've handed it onto a law firm with lawyer who's being a tad slow and fussy (been a week now and he still hasn't said if he going to do anything)

(3) no i haven't

I just wanted to point of there quite of damage to the motorbike (around £500 worth); hense why i'm trying to make a claim as I don't have the money my self to fix the bike.

[boxtops]

Mr Brit, I would say it's likely - when I worked in insurance, a depression of more than an inch could be deemed likely to result in trip or fall accidents. Did you take any photos of the scene? That always helps. Is it still there, unrepaired? - that again could be worth photographing if so - although if they ran round and repaired it after your accident, or put signs up, that too can be seen as an admission of liability. Most important of all - did you go into the shop and report what happened, did they enter it up as an accident in their accident book?

The supermarket would need to demonstrate that they were negligent in failing to warn the public about the hole, by signs or lighting, if there was a "reasonable expectation" that damage might arise by their doing nothing about it.

If your insurance company are dealing with it, I would leave it to them - a week is no time at all in terms of preparing a case for litigation under liability insurance.

[cassa333]

Were you overtaking or under taking?

[Canary42]

Only a week - that's nothing, you'll probably have to wait months for any movement - it's the way they "work".