After checking my mirrors (Top, Wide angle and Kerb),indicating left and checking mirrors again, I merged left, into the side of a car which wasn’t in my mirror when I started the manoeuvre. No injuries to anyone involved, some damage to both the car and the lorry. Superficial damage to the lorry and damage to 3 panels and a mirror on the car.
Bloke I work for was very good about the accident, he asked about my welfare and that of the car driver before asking about the lorry. Asked if I was fit to drive and carry on my shift. Didn’t kick my ■■■ about the accident when I got back to the yard but has said I need to pay for the damage, which I think’s fair enough tbh.
In 14 years driving and 5 years HGV I’ve never had a accident and it’s annoying me that I can never say that again. I almost feel like I ought not to be driving HGVs.
I understand that’s what insurance is for and I tend to agree, however the parts are going to cost under £100 and I’ll fit them myself so I think it’s a fair penalty for hitting the lorry.
He can’t make you pay for damage he pays his insurance time to use it.
If he said that to a lot of drivers think he’d get told where to poke his insurance me included.
Stop being so hard on yourself
These things catch everyone out at some point, nobody got hurt and from the sound if it your pride took the biggest dent.
The key is to to learn from it and move on
That minor bump will forever stay with you and remind you to check and check again (not saying you didn’t by the way)
Its called a learning curve.
Think yourself lucky some people have these first mistakes and unfortunately it’s their last.
You had a minor bump learnt alot and nobody got hurt
Move on from it or the drop in confidence could cause a another accident
Not trying to be harsh
Most common accident. Some blokes don’t help themselves sitting so low down though (I’m one) but am paranoid about what you mentioned, sometimes I stand up & look first!
Get birds & old folk doddering about in that spot.
I understand that’s what insurance is for and I tend to agree, however the parts are going to cost under £100 and I’ll fit them myself so I think it’s a fair penalty for hitting the lorry.
That’s fine but he still got to pay the excess as you’ve damage the other car (only really beneficial to pay when you’ve hit a wall in the yard or something and its not classed as a accident)and they will be claiming so he might as well let the insurance fix the truck too
Also check your contract to make sure you don’t have to pay excess and a damages and don’t pay otherwise the next question he will ask is well you paid the £100 to fix the truck but cars claimed against us can you pay the £500 excess
I’m Self Employed so I don’t have a contract. However, when I pay him I will issue a letter stating that any further expenses are not my responsibility. Thanks for the advice, I hadn’t even think about that. I didn’t admit liability at the scene and tbh I still don’t as I did everything I could of done to prevent it.
I’ll happily pay for the damage but I’m not paying the excess.
Agree with everything usersteve said. Two months down the line and you’ll have forgotten it. don’t agree with paying for the damage, it’s under a ton - let him pay. He has more money than you - thats pocket change.
Bad luck Tom.
Bit late now- but I always try to shut that bit of road off, still got to watch out for 2 wheelers though.
There’s always some Muppet who will try to sneak up the side, behind or even in front !
Thats why he was so understanding.he understood you"d be daft enough to pay to repair his truck.any job with these terms and conditions you should walk away and find a professional and responsable employer.what happens if the bills £3.5k next time. Being a driver like myself i would doubt that you have enough cash and assets to self insure which is what this amounts to
If you had the signal on with plenty of time for others to see what you intended to do along with time for them to react and did all the mirror checks you could then you did all that was reasonably possible
Tipper Tom:
I understand that’s what insurance is for and I tend to agree, however the parts are going to cost under £100 and I’ll fit them myself so I think it’s a fair penalty for hitting the lorry.
Five years accident free in a truck and he wants you to pay £100?! He should think himself lucky he’s not employing drivers who have scrapes every month or so, there are plenty that do.
Thank your for the positive responses. In fairness to my “employer” I haven’t had 5 accident free years with him, I only came back about 6 weeks ago. I will talk to him about how much I am going to pay.
In this instance I would work on the proviso to pay the 100 quid and fix the truck and move on, just for an easy life, if he comes back with excess tell him to ■■ off though . Mind you I tend to agree with everyone else, to pay for damages on a truck you do not own is pretty lame, fix it with gaffer tape and spray over the top
I wouldn’t pay a penny, that’s what insurance is for & it’s just immoral I think. If both parties are insured can your boss not claim as a third party on the car’s insurance…?
I would assume that they will claim off our insurance using the nasty big lorry clause. Fault is difficult to apportion here as I shouldn’t of merged but why was the car driver over taking on the inside when I wasn’t turning right. I think it might end up knock for knock but I don’t know.
ROG:
If you had the signal on with plenty of time for others to see what you intended to do along with time for them to react and did all the mirror checks you could then you did all that was reasonably possible
If the car wasn’t there at the start of the manouvre and has then collided with the truck which was already there then arguably it’s the car driver who’s run into the truck and therefore it’s the car driver who’s to blame not vice versa.However if the car was there it’s just another example that those who say that there are no blind spots around trucks are wrong and nothing showing in the mirrors doesn’t mean that there’s nothing there.
