Man knocked off his motorbike by a tractor is awarded £40,000 compensation

Our client was severely injured when a tractor pulled out of a field in front of him while he was riding on a country road.

Client situation

Our client, Mr D, was badly injured in a motorcycle accident on a country road when he collided with a tractor that was pulling out of a field.

Mr D was knocked unconscious and was taken to hospital for treatment where he was found to have serious fractures in his hand and a serious wound on his leg. He needed surgery to help to knit the bones in his hand back together and also suffered from persistent concussion symptoms.

The hand injury was particularly problematic as Mr D was a self-employed mechanic and he no longer had the same level of function.

At the time of the accident, Mr D was 56 years old.

After the accident, Mr D couldn’t even contemplate returning to work for 3 months. Even after this his ability to work was restricted, particularly by his hand injury. Luckily, he was able to rely on the help of other employees to maintain his livelihood.

He lost confidence in biking after the accident and never returned to his passion of motorcycling.

The tractor driver and his employer denied responsibility for causing the accident. They claimed it was all Mr D’s fault for riding too quickly. Mr D had no recollection of the accident because of his head injury, but he was a very experienced rider. He had been riding motorbikes for almost 40 years and had never had an accident before.

How we helped

Mr D initially instructed solicitors linked to his motorcycle insurance policy, but he found their approach unhelpful and unsympathetic. He did not feel that they believed his version of events and he did not think they were ‘on his side’.

Mr D then instructed Co-op Legal Services to help and his case was assigned to Senior Personal Injury Solicitor, Jason Harries. Jason is a biker himself with more than 20 years’ experience of acting for injured claimants and for bereaved families in motorbike accident claims. Jason presented a claim on Mr D’s behalf against the tractor driver, the owner of the tractor and their insurers.

The tractor driver and tractor owner both categorically denied that they were to blame. Instead, they suggested that Mr D was the ‘author of his own misfortune’, by riding too quickly. They produced evidence suggesting he had been riding too fast earlier on his journey.

We know from experience that it is very difficult to judge speed, particularly of other vehicles, when you are moving. Jason was unconvinced by this evidence and, as an experienced motorcyclist himself, he was convinced that Mr D was not to blame.

Mr D was advised by Jason throughout the claim. Jason and his team drafted court papers and obtained expert medical opinions or Mr D’s injuries from a consultant neurologist and an orthopaedic surgeon. Court proceedings were then issued against both the driver and the owner of the tractor.

We instructed an accident reconstruction expert and barrister and reviewed all the available evidence, including attending the scene. From that review, and from the available evidence of the damage to the vehicles, we were able to reconstruct the accident circumstances. A witness was located who confirmed that Mr D was not speeding and had approached the bend normally.

A barrister was also instructed to assist with assessing the claim, advising on prospects and dealing with the various court hearings. The barrister attended conference calls with Mr D and with the reconstruction expert so that a better assessment of the claim could be made.

The reconstruction expert prepared a draft report that confirmed that the tractor driver could and should have seen Mr D’s approaching motorcycle and should have stopped to allow him to pass safely. The report confirmed that the driver’s attention had been elsewhere, and he hadn’t been carefully checking for vehicles approaching around the blind corner on the 60mph road.

In addition, the tractor owner (and landowner) hadn’t installed any warning signs to highlight the hazards of farm vehicles pulling out around this bend.

The outcome

Our personal injury solicitors gathered all the evidence needed to calculate the potential value of Mr D’s claim.

In light of this evidence, although there was still no formal acceptance of responsibility, the insurers entered negotiations with us.

Following our negotiations with the insurers, a settlement was agreed which covered all Mr D’s lost earnings and compensated him for his injuries.

A compensation payment of £40,000 was made to Mr D, to reflect the injuries he’d suffered and the losses he’d incurred.

Mr D said, “Thank you very much for everybody's help in my claim and most importantly for supporting my belief that I wasn't the main cause the accident.”