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Recording Collisions


RAB

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Carrying on from an earlier thread ( Boat moored, boat hit. Started by bigcol, Today, 02:18 PM) I have a general question and I'm interested in peoples views;

If you have had a bang or happen to be banged (behave!) is it recommended to keep a record of the event (i.e. Place, time, boat names, speed, event etc), or report the instance to someone else (CaRT ?). Or at least record as much as possible.
In todays mad world of ambulance chasing solicitors and the compensation culture it wouldn't surprise me that months after an event someone claims for whiplash or that their pet Tiddels is now suffering from some strange stress disorder following a collision somewhere. It's common practice in a lot of areas to record everything , just in case. This in itself can often prove part/enough of a defence to mitigate any legal escalation detective.gif

As originally stated, just interested in peoples views/experiences

  • Greenie 1
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Strewth, I do find that a depressing thought.

I guess what concerns me most is the thought of allowing the Blame = Claim mentality progressing onto the cut.

 

Fair enough if somebody is injured or expensive damage has resulted, but the current fad for "everybody else is responsible for what happens to me" is one of the main reasons I get out on the cut and back to a more sensible period of time.

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Dash cam anyone?


Honestly however, while I have bumped a few boats, I have not had any come back as yet. One cost me £150 odd to have a locker lid hinge rewelded and paint made good, but it was otherwise an open and shut issue.

 

 

Daniel

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I would hope the compensation culture will not affect waterways yet..Ive had a few slight interactions with other boats but no real damage to either. I think if there was a big scrape then I would document simply because I write extensive diaries on day to day life. Photograph? dunno..yeah maybe would now have read this.

America seems to be the place thats really hot on blame culture how many American tourists do we get on narrowboats?

 

Actually..picture the scene..two people swapping insurance details standing on towpath whilst one narrowboat into rear of another ..nah cannot quite see that somehow

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When we were hit by a hire boat last year we noted the other boat's name and licence number, with description of the steerer and crew, and took photos of our viewpoint and theirs and of the damage to our boat. There were no witnesses to the actual collision but two other boats have emailed to confirm that the offending boat was the only boat in the vicinity, together with photos of the boat that evening and their descriptions of the people (whom they talked to). We immediately reported the incident to their boatyard, to our insurer, and to CRT (who were very helpful & allowed us to overstay on the mooring while Debbie received medical attention for the head injury she sustained). The NHS were involved because Debbie was injured, so that treatment was officially recorded too. There can be little doubt about who was to blame, they hit us fair and square!

 

It sounds a lot but may not have been enough. We should probably involved the Police on the basis that the other boat's steerer may have been acting with dangerous irresponsibility. Most importantly despite all this the boatyard concerned have neither accepted nor denied responsibility, they have simply remained silent. We have had to claim for the repairs on our own insurance and although the insurers have been very good we still have massive uninsured losses. Luckily we have legal expense cover with our insurance and have instructed the solicitors not to give up (as have our insurers) and it is all heading slowly towards the courts.

 

So my advice is to record everything, photograph everything, and report it to everybody. Get a witness if you possibly can. Then add more, and think what else you can add afterwards. Whatever you do will probably not be enough.

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When we were hit by a hire boat last year we noted the other boat's name and licence number, with description of the steerer and crew, and took photos of our viewpoint and theirs and of the damage to our boat. There were no witnesses to the actual collision but two other boats have emailed to confirm that the offending boat was the only boat in the vicinity, together with photos of the boat that evening and their descriptions of the people (whom they talked to). We immediately reported the incident to their boatyard, to our insurer, and to CRT (who were very helpful & allowed us to overstay on the mooring while Debbie received medical attention for the head injury she sustained). The NHS were involved because Debbie was injured, so that treatment was officially recorded too. There can be little doubt about who was to blame, they hit us fair and square!

It sounds a lot but may not have been enough. We should probably involved the Police on the basis that the other boat's steerer may have been acting with dangerous irresponsibility. Most importantly despite all this the boatyard concerned have neither accepted nor denied responsibility, they have simply remained silent. We have had to claim for the repairs on our own insurance and although the insurers have been very good we still have massive uninsured losses. Luckily we have legal expense cover with our insurance and have instructed the solicitors not to give up (as have our insurers) and it is all heading slowly towards the courts.

So my advice is to record everything, photograph everything, and report it to everybody. Get a witness if you possibly can. Then add more, and think what else you can add afterwards. Whatever you do will probably not be enough.

Having read about your problems with diesel bug, I cannot believe how unfortunate you have been. From now to the ends of eternity may your path be blessed. You must have earned it. :)

Rog

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When we were hit by a hire boat last year we noted the other boat's name and licence number, with description of the steerer and crew, and took photos of our viewpoint and theirs and of the damage to our boat. There were no witnesses to the actual collision but two other boats have emailed to confirm that the offending boat was the only boat in the vicinity, together with photos of the boat that evening and their descriptions of the people (whom they talked to). We immediately reported the incident to their boatyard, to our insurer, and to CRT (who were very helpful & allowed us to overstay on the mooring while Debbie received medical attention for the head injury she sustained). The NHS were involved because Debbie was injured, so that treatment was officially recorded too. There can be little doubt about who was to blame, they hit us fair and square!

 

It sounds a lot but may not have been enough. We should probably involved the Police on the basis that the other boat's steerer may have been acting with dangerous irresponsibility. Most importantly despite all this the boatyard concerned have neither accepted nor denied responsibility, they have simply remained silent. We have had to claim for the repairs on our own insurance and although the insurers have been very good we still have massive uninsured losses. Luckily we have legal expense cover with our insurance and have instructed the solicitors not to give up (as have our insurers) and it is all heading slowly towards the courts.

 

So my advice is to record everything, photograph everything, and report it to everybody. Get a witness if you possibly can. Then add more, and think what else you can add afterwards. Whatever you do will probably not be enough.

Blimey, how hard did this boat hit you?

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Having read about your problems with diesel bug, I cannot believe how unfortunate you have been. From now to the ends of eternity may your path be blessed. You must have earned it. :)

Rog

Thank you. Yes we were actually on our way to the boatyard for repairs when the accident happened.

 

What made it even worse was that our much-loved dog Telford was so terrified by the collision that he had a heart attack, then a couple of strokes in the following nights, and had to be put down. Those were dark days indeed!

  • Greenie 1
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Just curious what are your massive uninsured losses

Apart from our insurance excess, there was the cost of taking the boat from Milton Keynes to Stoke on Trent and back for repairs (SoT built the boat and also were favoured by the insurers because they submitted a repair estimate far cheaper than local boatyards) and our travelling home and back because we couldn't stay on board during the repairs. Add various other things and the total is well into 4 figures; it's surprising how quickly it all adds up. And that's not counting the consequent hike in our insurance premiums; nor the fact that we didn't want a boat where the first few feet of the gunwale didn't match the rest so we paid for the rest of the gunwale to be repainted at the same time.

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Thank you. Yes we were actually on our way to the boatyard for repairs when the accident happened.

 

What made it even worse was that our much-loved dog Telford was so terrified by the collision that he had a heart attack, then a couple of strokes in the following nights, and had to be put down. Those were dark days indeed!

That's awful. You have my sincere sympathies.

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Thank you. Yes we were actually on our way to the boatyard for repairs when the accident happened.

What made it even worse was that our much-loved dog Telford was so terrified by the collision that he had a heart attack, then a couple of strokes in the following nights, and had to be put down. Those were dark days indeed!

So sorry for your loss. I know it was a bad time for you. I'm sure it's all behind you now :)

Rog

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I suppose the advantage of owning a sixty year old boat with a fairly crummy paint job and a few dents is that you really don't mind too much if you get hit. I can appreciate there's a difference if you've just spent sixty grand on the thing. But while i don't go along with the "contact sport" concept, you're always going to get clonked by inexperienced boaters, and as for the drunken dayboats...

It's really the wrong environment for the excessively houseproud.

NB this is emphatically NOT a criticism of any of the above posters!

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Don't get me wrong. I hope this blame culture never comes to the cut. I was just wandering about peoples views.

My view is that if I had a minor collision with someone and there were no injuries and no damage, but the other party still wanted my details I'd just laugh at them and ignore the request. People are of course free to record whatever details they want including the names of boats, etc, but I wouldn't be doing the same and wouldn't offer any additional details. The compensation culture will only come to the waterways if you let it.

Edited by blackrose
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My boat went from nice paint job below gunwales to blacked as soon as I realised how easy it is to damage paint work now quick touch up with blacking good as new. As someone whos work involves loads risk assessments and method statements .I always think how lucky we are to still be able to work locks ourselves and how with the blame culture heavens forbid it might be stopped

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When we were hit by a hire boat last year we noted the other boat's name and licence number, with description of the steerer and crew, and took photos of our viewpoint and theirs and of the damage to our boat. There were no witnesses to the actual collision but two other boats have emailed to confirm that the offending boat was the only boat in the vicinity, together with photos of the boat that evening and their descriptions of the people (whom they talked to). We immediately reported the incident to their boatyard, to our insurer, and to CRT (who were very helpful & allowed us to overstay on the mooring while Debbie received medical attention for the head injury she sustained). The NHS were involved because Debbie was injured, so that treatment was officially recorded too. There can be little doubt about who was to blame, they hit us fair and square!

 

It sounds a lot but may not have been enough. We should probably involved the Police on the basis that the other boat's steerer may have been acting with dangerous irresponsibility. Most importantly despite all this the boatyard concerned have neither accepted nor denied responsibility, they have simply remained silent. We have had to claim for the repairs on our own insurance and although the insurers have been very good we still have massive uninsured losses. Luckily we have legal expense cover with our insurance and have instructed the solicitors not to give up (as have our insurers) and it is all heading slowly towards the courts.

 

So my advice is to record everything, photograph everything, and report it to everybody. Get a witness if you possibly can. Then add more, and think what else you can add afterwards. Whatever you do will probably not be enough.

 

 

Holy cow sounds like this ought to be a criminal case rather than civil .. was it hit and run or did you confront these idiots ? I cannot even begin to comprehend how I would react if this happened to us and particularly my beloved dog .. Your apparent calmness about the whole thing does you enormous credit

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That story about the dog made very sad :'( I would not have acted gracefully if my missus and dog had been harmed in such ways.

 

 

yeah me too would not have been responsible for my actions if their recklessness and idiotcy had resulted in Rufus' demise

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Holy cow sounds like this ought to be a criminal case rather than civil .. was it hit and run or did you confront these idiots ? I cannot even begin to comprehend how I would react if this happened to us and particularly my beloved dog .. Your apparent calmness about the whole thing does you enormous credit

 

Thank you.

 

When I shouted at the idiot to stop, he claimed he couldn't hear me over the sound of his engine, which was admittedly a noisy Lister but it was still revving flat-out so would have been quieter if he'd throttled back. He set off up the canal so fast that I couldn't catch up with him by running along the towpath.

 

As to how hard he hit us; it wasn't just a bit of paint, or even a minor dent. We had to have the starboard bow cut off and replaced.

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