Seasons Greetings (sorry if I'm late).

[colinb]

Hello All

As Christmas is almost upon us I thought I would drop in and wish you all the best for the season, glad tidings and all that kind of thing. 

And perhaps I had better account for my absence over the last month or three.  

Firstly work and as some of you may know I had a change of career and went to work for an old friend of mine. We did expect things to be steady but maybe the word ‘manic’ might have been a better option and things have been going far better than expect, fortunately the Christmas holidays will give us a good break until early 2019.

My photography has taken third place for a while and so I haven’t really been out and about with my camera and evenings have been spent mostly at home with my feet up rather than browsing the www.

Now you may have already moved on to the photos below so I’d best fill you in on these…

Just before 1am one Sunday morning late November I received a phone call to informed my wife had been involved in an accident about 2 miles from our home.

Needless to say I was soon on my way over to the scene expecting some minor bump. I arrived to see something that resembled a bomb-site with blue flashing lights everywhere.

I had better say that Yvonne is ok (ish) and although her Mokka X was on its roof the front offside wheel was some 15ft from the vehicle along with the ‘complete’ headlight unit, the near side wheel looking to be at a strange angle and debris all over her side of the road she has been one lucky lady. This was about 4 weeks ago (I prefer not to show the pictures until now) Yvonne is now back at work but still feeling the aches and pains that come when someone tries to turn right across the path of an oncoming vehicle.

Since the accident we have received a letter from the other car owners insurance and he is now claiming: 

1)  No Police or emergency services were called (You should always take some pictures on your phone if you can)

2)  My wife was inebriated (both drivers were breathalysed, both clear).

3)  He was stationary and she hit him (I’m not sure the pictures agree) 

We have passed this letter onto Yvonne’s insurance company and the police along with the pictures (and a few more of same) below. 

As he is a Turkish national he also refused to be interviewed on the night stating “no English” funnily enough around 10 of his friends turned up All who spoke no English. Because of this it has been 2 weeks before the police called him in for an interview. 

We are now waiting to see what happens next.

So a very Merry Christmas to everyone on TIPF and may we all have a better 2019.

 

Edited December 24, 2018 by colinb

[Kobione]

Wow Colin, that's not a good lead in the Christmas, but thank goodness Yvonne is ok. Good luck with dealing with this situation, and I hope it works out ok for you.

Enjoy Christmas as best you can, and look forward to a good start for 2019, best wishes to you.

[colinb]

 

2 hours ago, Kobione said:

Enjoy Christmas as best you can, and look forward to a good start for 2019, best wishes to you.

Thank You Dee, I hope its a good one for you guys down under too :-)

 

[Denis]

I am sorry to hear and see your story Colin, Firstly I am glad to know she is relatively OK after such an ordeal. Clearly, (and you dont need to be a forensic scientist to work this out) that she was not at fault

 As someone who spends their life on the road I can honestly say that driving standards in this country have dropped to an all time low. Clicker was involved in another such incident some time back, but I see incidents like this every day sadly. Good luck in pursuit of justice regarding this, and good luck for your new work venture too. Look forward to seeing you back on track with your photos in the new year!

And just a word to all users of motorways and dual carriageways in the UK, when you are overtaking that truck with the strange numberplates...be aware that he probably didnt receive the same training as British HGV drivers (and lordy knows there are a fair few bad 'uns amongst us as well) but the average foreign drivers are more likely to be involved in an accident than anyone else. Being left hand drive they cannot see well enough when pulling out to overtake another vehicle, and this results in some very nasty incidents where the car that is alongside gets flipped sideways across the front of the truck and is pushed for quite a distance sideways. If you are overtaking a truck on these types of roads check if it is registered in the UK, if not stay well back or complete your overtake as quickly as possible if you have room. and remember, the numberplate on a trailer will not be the same as the one on the towing vehicle as trailers abroad are registered as a separate vehicle !

Be safe out there people!

 

[Clicker]

Omg Colin ... thank God Yvonne is not really badly injured ... as you say she is really lucky to have survived that ... since my accident two years ago I was lucky that the whole incident was recorded on a dash cam by another driver ..... it  made my claim so easy and the first thing I did was buy one myself ... .. it’s really a worthwhile investment ... 

My best wishes  to Yvonne .... and you for a better start to next year .. meanwhile make the most of Christmas ... bad as it was .... it really makes one count one's blessings when things like this happen  and  I agree with Denis though ... the average standard of driving seems to be worse  than ever ...    

 Congrats too on your new job Colin .... hope it turns out to be everything you hoped for .. 

[colinb]

On 25/12/2018 at 00:05, Denis said:

I am sorry to hear and see your story Colin, Firstly I am glad to know she is relatively OK after such an ordeal. Clearly, (and you dont need to be a forensic scientist to work this out) that she was not at fault

I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks that Denis. 

On 25/12/2018 at 01:05, Clicker said:

Omg Colin ... thank God Yvonne is not really badly injured ... as you say she is really lucky to have survived that ... since my accident two years ago I was lucky that the whole incident was recorded on a dash cam by another driver ..... it  made my claim so easy and the first thing I did was buy one myself ... .. it’s really a worthwhile investment ... 

Hi Polly - we plan to have a dash camera fitted in the new year. 

Yvonnes Mokka X (as is her replacement) is fitted with a system called OnStar which called the emergency services as soon as the airbags were deployed. She also had 'a voice' in the car with her trying to keep her calm whist informing here the police/ambulance were on their way. I thought this OnStar system might be a waste of money - how wrong was I ?

[Clicker]

That sounds like a worthwhile system Colin ... I hope the experience hasn’t put Yvonne off driving ... I know it took me two years to stop anticipating every car at a junction was not  going to pull out in front of me .   It looks an horrendous crash ...