ADVICE PLEASE - HORSE/CAR ACCIDENT....

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littlewhittle

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hi everyone, i'm looking for a bit of advice....

about 18 months ago, i was riding down a lane, me in front, and two behind me. it is a decent width lane, probably just enough room for two cars to squeeze past each other. There was also a 10 ft grass verge on the right hand side.

a car came up behind us, person behind me called the car on but instead of giving us a wide berth, the car driver, (trying to avoid the puddles on the right hand side) came too close to my horse and touched his side with the wing mirror. he is a responsive sensitive horse but always very good in traffic but was obviously spooked by this. he reared up, took the wing mirror off the car and scratched alot of paintwork. Both he and i were very shaken as it could have been a lot worse.

the car driver was only concerned about her car, i asked her why she didn't use the rest of the road to pass and her answer was "my car is brand new and i didn't want to go through the mud". I was gobsmacked!!!!!!!!!!!!! what about my horse????!!!!!!!!!!!!! i was livid
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which is quite unusual for me..

Anyway numbers were exchanged, and me thinking she may now give horses more room and learn from her stupidness... but NO... she is now trying to claim against me for damages to her car... what i really need to know is does she have a case against me?? i really don't know enough about equestrian law but am quite concerned now as this has been going on for over 18 months now and she is claiming damages of £1700...........

HELP!!
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ring the BHS for advice, let your insurance company know. Think you perhaps should have reported it at the time to the police, but might be too late now.
My insurance company got me a sloictior and we won my case.
Good luck
 
i had something similar and i informed my insurance company.
the other riders with me gave statements and i never heard anything back.
the insurance company was completely on my side!

my pony as i was still in juniors at the time - lashed out with both barrells - one hit the front door, the other the back.
car needed 2 new doors - stupid TW@T of a driver was also avoiding a puddle - in his F reg car?????
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If you are not insured , you will still be covered third party if you belong to pony club or BHS,BSJA, BE, or BD , you may also be covered if you belong to a riding club. As a last resort you may be covered by your house insurance. I hope you have one of those to sort it out for you. You have a good case but it is not so easy by yourself.
 
I had a bit of a wrangle with ins about an accident that happened to my car. My car was parked at the yard where i keep my horses, I was stood in the doorway looking out, a horse that was known to be naughty rear etc was being ridden but not by owner it didnt want to go forward and the rider leathered it! it reared up and she jabbed it in the gob and it fell over backwards onto my car!! (horse was ok) My car was only 6 months old, so practically new! The owner said its ok horse is insured etc and even if they dont pay I will etc etc hmm (she was lying of course had no intention of paying!!) The horse was insured by NFU they refused to pay as they said the horse had never done anything like this before etc Girl then said she did not say she would pay etc upshot was I lost all my no claims bonus etc! girl at yard refused to speak to me etc YO did not want to get involved and I was seriously out of pocket.
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So iwould say you should be ok etc if my story is anything to go by, good luck I hope you get it all sorted.
 
What a rotten person. Cars can be replaced, horses and riders cannot. She is heartless.

At least your horse was ok, if a bit shocked and maybe bruised. She got what she deserved, just for a puddle for crying out loud!!

I would get en equine solicitor and contact your insurance company. She is obviously at fault here.

Good luck
 
Firstly it's not a reportable (to the Police) RTC in as much as no person was injured and you both stopped and exchanged details as per the Road Traffic Act.

Without independent witnesses, it would be difficult for her to prove you are to blame but the burden of proof is less in the civil courts than in a criminal court, ie they just have to prove something 'probably' happened, not definitley.

Did the driver that called her on, stop and exchange details? Could they be a witness for either party? Strictly speaking she had right of way over the driver behind you but coming too close to avoid dirtying her new car would amount to driving without due care in my book.

For what it's worth I think she is wasting her time but has she contacted you or her insurance company? It could be she's just trying her luck but if it was me I would just forward her details to my insurance company (I sincerely hope you are insured) and let them get on with it. You could equally claim your horse is now traffic shy and worth X pounds less.
 
If she drove into you causing your horse to rear surely it is her fault? If you drive into a lamp post and it falls on your car you don't blame the lamp post do you?! Bloody idiot, lucky it wasn't me I don't think I'd have shown your restraint.
 
Sorry to hear this. Hope things work out ok, can't offer advice as I don't know the answer or been in this situation. This person is obviously thick as the proverbial.
 
I think you have to prove she hit you. So if you have a witness it will help. It seems a long time to have left it to make a claim.
 
She is trying it on, ALL people involved in an accident do this (my sister-in-law was put in hospital by a driver overtaking a lorry and hitting her car, and the "guilty driver" tried to say it was her fault!).

You have a witness to the fact that the car got too close to you. Write back and say you have a witness to the accident. It would be a good idea to contact the BHS legal helpline as well.
 
You should have reported the incident at the time to the police and got an incident number.

You should also have third party insurance for your horse.

You did not ask her to pass you. Someone else did so it is nothing to do with you.

Section 215 on page 73 of The highway code (2007 edition) states "Be particularly carefull of horse riders especially when overtaking. Always pass wide and slow".

I would refer the matter to your insurance company or if you do not have third party public liability insurance then you could always instruct a specialist practice of equine solicitors to act on your behalf and defend you.
 
It is a pity this example of careless driving was not reported to the Police at the time.

I imagine when you say that she is claiming against you, you mean that she is making a claim for damages in the County Court? I don't know what stage this has reached but you need to be a bit proactive now.

You need photographs of the road where it happened, you need statements from the people who were riding with you, you need a sketch plan showing the available width of the road. You need a copy of the Highway Code showing the relevant recommendation to pass horses wide and slow. You could do with a statement from your YO or instructor demonstrating that your horse BEFORE the incident was not the type to dance in the road, but that it has been changed as a consequence.

All this needs to be submitted to the Court as an evidence bundle and you need somebody to pull it together for you who know what they are doing, as the judge will not be concerned with anything other than the evidence put before them. They read the evidence bundles before you all go to Court, the appearance in Chambers in normally an opportunity for questions to be put to either side and to witnesses, but the case is won or lost on the evidence before you get there.

In short you need help from somebody who is familiar with this process, or a solicitor. You might know that you were in the right on the day but you need to prove it to avoid costs and compensation being awarded against you. The worst thing you can be in these cases is unprepared.
 
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