View Full Version : Flat tire... then bike falls off recovery truck!
Well what a great morning I've had.... happily zooming though the traffic on the M3, havin just over taken a Laverda 750. When I think woooh whats that bike feels wobbly, pulls over to the hard shoulder to fine a huge 'screw' sized hole in my back tire. Bugger, oh well will have to get it recovered and the tire replaced. :(
Recovery bloke turns up nice and quick, so we start to put it on the back on the truck, he gets me to sit on the bike while he pushes it up the single ramp. We get almost all the way up the ramp when the bike starts to slow and wobble. Then I thinka lorry trundles past blowing the bike over and chucking me in to the ditch. Oh crap!
The bike has a smashed rear seat pannel, cracked undertray, smashed front inicator, scratched front right fairing pannel, scratched front mudguard and fork....
Great day... :cry:
Anonymous
23-05-05, 01:17 PM
:shock: :shock: :shock:
Hmmm, intersting as to whose fault that will be. Id go for the recovery truck driver for getting you to ride the bike up there in the 1st place!!
Are you ok?
can you get comp from the recovery company?
Sorry to hear that Dan, hope you get things sorted, the recovery guy should not have involved you in any way, so don't take any notion of shared responsibility should they try that line.
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richwill68
23-05-05, 01:33 PM
:shock: Sorry mate. Some days you feel you'd have been better off staying in bed, huh?
Do check on Mr rescue guys responsibilty, 'coz if their insurance doesn't cover YOU for personal injury whilst assisting their operative, HE should have informed you of this at the time. If they don't cover you ( and I strongly suspect they won't) then their operative should have warned you of this and insisted he load your pride and joy (after all, this is why you have breakdown cover). Good luck with the compo' claim :)
coombest
23-05-05, 02:28 PM
Damn! :cry: :cry:
Bad luck fella... Hope you get it sorted at no cost to you. I can't believe he asked you to ride it up! :shock: :shock: Bikes aren't exactly heavy to push up a ramp! :? Even with a flat tyre! (You should try getting a fireblade in the back of a van when both tyres have removed themslves from the rim, the forks are bent, the bars are broken, and the rear end is missing!! :evil: Flamin' Michael Laverty! :lol: :roll: :lol: )
ar$e.... :?
Hope all this gets sorted out mate, see you in soho soon
I would think that from the first moment the agent for the recovery company touches the machine, they then take full responsibility for it until it is returned to you.
He should not have asked you to help with the loading in anyway – you have not been trained in the procedure, they have. In fact he may have breached the companies own health & safety policy. Try to get hold of a copy, it maybe the chink in their armour.
Bugger. That severely sucks mate.
Now my insurance company says as it may have been blown off of the truck by turbulence from a passing lorry there is nothing that they can do. So it's snotty letter time, which Jax has written up for me, can anyone suggest if there's anything else we can add that would go in our favour?
To whom it may concern,
Unfortunately my motorcycle suffered a puncture whilst I was travelling to work on it this morning. I telephoned my insurance and recovery specialist who arranged for a truck to come and recover myself and the motorcycle home.
The recovery truck (registration number R*** ***) sent from *********** Motor Company was a car transporter not equipped with any hydraulic ramp or lifting equipment to manoeuvre my motorcycle safely onto the flatbed. Subsequently, the man from the company, who I think was named Mark, asked me to assist him with getting the motorcycle up onto the truck. Mark said that he did not want to use the 2 ramps on board, as he had previously dropped a Harley Davidson motorcycle when using this method. Mark proceeded to fit just one ramp to the truck, and instructed me to sit on my motorcycle and ‘walk’ it up the ramp whilst he pushed it from behind. At no point was my motorcycle strapped, or secured by winch to the truck. The rear tyre of my motorcycle was flat, being the cause of the callout, which made the motorcycle unwieldy. The ramp was steep, my motorcycle was unsecured and I had no previous knowledge of how to manoeuvre a motorcycle onto a truck. I was reluctant to assist but as Mark was alone and there was no other way of moving the motorcycle from the hard shoulder to the truck I had no other option.
The truck was parked on the right hand side of the hard shoulder, near to the lane of traffic. I sat on my motorcycle and started to help guide it up the ramp and Mark manually pushed the bike from behind it. As we were pushing, the motorcycle fell from the ramp. I fell off of the vehicle and into the ditch. It happened so fast I am unsure as to what caused the accident, but Mark said he believed it was the strong air turbulence caused by a near-passing lorry which caused him to lose balance. I only have his word of this. I myself do not recall a lorry passing at that moment, I was just aware of heavy traffic.
My motorcycle fell heavily onto the left side. Mark asked if I was ok, and though I was quite shocked and distraught, I replied that I felt uninjured. (I landed awkwardly and twisted my right knee but as I was wearing protective clothing it appears it is just sprained). Mark then asked me to help him pick up my motorcycle. Mark then decided he would fit the second ramp to the truck so I could then walk alongside the bike on the ramp whilst he pushed. This afforded much more stability and in my opinion the two ramps should have been used initially. Mark also said that he had been instructed by his company to use just one ramp. We eventually got my motorcycle onto the truck, and it was recovered to my home address. When we arrived to my home and my motorcycle was on my driveway, Mark took out his mobile phone and took pictures of the damage with the integral camera.
I have also inspected the motorcycle and have taken digital photographs of the damage which I will now list.
Front Left-side Fairing badly scratched.
Front Mudguard badly scratched.
Front Left-side indicator destroyed.
Front Left-side Fork Leg heavily scratched.
Rear Left-side Seat Panel scratched and snapped.
Undertray snapped.
Rear Left-side Crash Protector heavily scuffed.
Chain linkages scraped.
Swinging-arm bolt scraped, and Swinging-arm scratched.
My protective motorcycle trousers were also damaged, scuffing them and ripping a popper from the pocket as I fell.
This is an accurate and detailed account of the events occurring at the time of the damage to my motorcycle. The motorcycle is now totally unroadworthy. I have no other form of transport to allow me to travel to my employment. I work near Heathrow and travel 65 miles to work each day. I understand that an assessor will visit in a few days to inspect my motorcycle.
If you require any further information, please do not hesitate to contact me at your convenience.
Yours faithfully,
Mr. Daniel Martin.
How about contacting White Dalton the specialist bike solicitors and seeing what they say?
http://www.whitedalton.co.uk
.
might think about that see if this shifts the insurance companies **** a bit, then give them a call.
shutdown
23-05-05, 08:17 PM
it is the recovery companies issue to sort out. they did not supply correct equipment to enable the removal of your bike, wind blast or not, the bike should have been secured and you should not be anywhere near it.
bluebell
23-05-05, 08:20 PM
Sorry to hear about your bike, hope it all gets sorted out o.k.
fizzwheel
23-05-05, 08:47 PM
That sucks, big style. Cant really offer much advice.
Just hope that you get it all sorted out OK
Good luck
Professor
23-05-05, 08:54 PM
Very sorry to hear of the accident. :( Most bizarre. One would expect
the recovery company to accept responsibility. Hope you get things
sorted quickly.
Thanks.. I'm just glad I didn't fall the other way.. in to the M3 traffic.
Shooter
24-05-05, 10:16 PM
Bad luck mate. Thats a real hard luck story that could happen to anyone.
Can I suggest (too late I know...but...)
Carry a puncture repair kit under your seat. The type with the plugs , plug tool and mini cannister of comp. air.
Convenient and keeps you self reliant in case of a puncture.
Ouch, bad luck Grinchy boy. Hope it gets sorted soon :(
That guy gets paid to drop bikes then? might have to find out where this guy is and make him fall into the road! :twisted:
Normally I use UltraSeal, as I have some in the front. But I haven't had some spare cash and time to get some for the back (its in the front). Just one of those things that got forgot... But now I wish I hadn't. :-(
Jax has spoken to the insurance company and looks like they are going to do something now... very persuasive woman my Jax. :-)
creamerybutter
25-05-05, 09:34 AM
Jeez sorry to hear that, I think it is a joke of a way to load the bike to the flatbed. The only time my bike was loaded onto a non bike specific truck there was a trolley that was lowered onto the road then bike was then secured then winched onto the truck all I had to do (or ever do when I've been picked up) was hold the bike upright while the first straps were put on.
I hope you get compensated for this as it isn't your responsibility to load the bike onto the truck and it should have officially been in the care of the recovery agent.
Right, just dug this thread up from the depths of the forum as I thought you would like to know that last week my Solicitors, White Dalton got a Settlement back from my personal injury. The settlement is 5 grand, less £1500 that I have to pay back to my medical insurance for my treatment. So I end up with 3 and half, after a 2 year wait.
Well that's a result. :thumbsup:
Fizzy Fish
16-04-07, 01:01 PM
the wheels of justice apparently move very slowly! (just seen CoolGirls's thread in Idle Banter as well...)
glad to hear that you've got a decent payout tho :thumbsup:
SoulKiss
16-04-07, 01:03 PM
Coffee's @ Frith on you then :)
Gratz mate :)
David
Looks like it, but lets not go mental. Moneys all been ear marked! GSXR front end here I come. Plus atleast 4 weeks before it call comes through.
Thats great news :D Well done on getting your claim :D
Meet you at the hill on Thursday then. Burgers on you!
4 weeks till I see this money... So it will have to be that Thursday, or are Jax's Bacon Rolls not good enough for you. I was thinking of another tea and cake day at the Grinch Pad.
4 weeks till I see this money... So it will have to be that Thursday, or are Jax's Bacon Rolls not good enough for you. I was thinking of another tea and cake day at the Grinch Pad.
It's all good shorty and I would never diss one of Jax's rolls mate.
wyrdness
16-04-07, 02:31 PM
Good result! :D
Did he fill out a form stating the condition of the vehicle befor you started putting it on the truck??
Do not accept any resposibility for the damage. It is the recovery driver that is at fault here. Imagine what would have happened if you had fallen to the other side, into the moving traffic. I would take them to the cleaners.
Nostrils
16-04-07, 07:17 PM
Bad news by the sounds of it (except hearing about your payout from the past!). When I saw the thread title I was thinking that the bike fell off in transit until I read your post. Certainly a lesson learned here....from the first time I had to call the AA many moons ago, my dad advised that I should not assist in anyway!
Good luck with the claim, I guess patience is the order of the day on this one!!
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