Bicycle collision with car at pedestrian crossing - who is at fault?

I was in bike accident where I was on my bike and was hit by a car at a pedestrian crossing - I've just received a message from the driver of the car saying that she may be billing me for damages to her car (estimated at £500) and I now don't know where I stand?
What happened:
I was coming up a cycle path which merges into the pavement where there is a pedestrian crossing. Normally I stop and wait for the lights to change however I'd seen someone crossing the road on foot in front of me so assumed they'd looked for cars already. I already know that this was a silly thing to do however this was more of an unconscious decision - as I came up to the crossing I checked for cars coming from the left as there is a corner that they can come round fairly quickly and having seen someone already crossing went to cycle over the road. I probably only got just past my front tyre onto the road when a car hit my front tyre side on from the right/ I cycled into the side of their car where I was then thrown from my bike.

An ambulance was called but as we waited the driver said that she hadn't been concentrating on the crossing but rather she had been swearing at the man who had crossed on foot before me. From what I can tell it seems as if we are both to blame for the accident - me for not checking before I crossed the road and her for not concentrating. I'm fairly certain that had she been looking she would have been able to swerve round me as no cars were coming from the other direction or she could have honked her horn.

The problem I have now is that I don't know where I stand if she tries to bill me for damage to her car. She has a dent in the front and the front passenger door won't open. She is saying in her message that she doesn't want to claim through her insurance as it would raise her premiums however I don't have/ don't think I should have to pay to have her car fixed. I'm not sure how she's can argue that a bike crossing a road where I wouldn't have been going very quick could do that much damage - the damage would have been caused from her hitting my bike as opposed to me cycling into her car?! I'm happy to admit that I was at fault but i definitely don't have £500 and I wasn't insured on my bike.

Not sure if it matters but latter that night my bike was stolen from outside my work so now I can't even show any damage that was done even to my bike.

Any advice/insight into what happens now or where I stand would be greatly appreciated. I wasn't planning on making any claims for damage to my bike or myself as I wasn't injured that badly and I now no longer have the bike anyway. In my opinion she should just go through her insurance but as someone who doesn't drive I don't really know how that all works.

Thanks xx

If you crossed a road where there are traffic lights without warning and without looking then the accident is your fault. It sounds like she was pretty much on the crossing before you started riding so you should have stopped.

That said... I'm not sure how much she can force you to pay. Does she have any witnesses? She could try and take you to a small claims court to recoup the money but I'd guess if you don't admit fault then she's not guaranteed to win. You could try and say your bike is written off and will need replacing to the cost of £XXX and perhaps you should call it even since she admitted she wasn't looking and could have seriously injured you?

But... perhaps you should pay, given it was your fault.

The driver has car insurance for a reason. This issue isn't as cut and dry as it would be if you were driving a motor vehicle; you don't have your own insurance for her to claim on.

The burden is on her to prove you caused the damage on balance of probability - however, as a car driver, the woman should be significantly more observant, and realistically if she was paying attention, should have been able to stop in good time - I do not see how your bike could cause such damage from you cycling into it.

The fact of the matter is, her premiums will probably rise anyway regardless of whether she makes a claim or not, as she's still going to have to declare it to her insurer - why not get some money back from the policy while she can?

Insist she claims on her insurance; that's what comprehensive policies are there for.

I was thinking the exact same thing, bikes surely can't cause that much damage???

And I fear she probably won't declare it will she... That's probably why she's insisting OP pays out of their own pocket, rather than claiming.

Did you admit fault at the scene?
Did the other driver?
Did you go through a red stop light at the junction?

You may be able to claim on your home insurance for this, or if you were riding to/from work, your work's insurance. You should investigate both of these possibilities, but you may not need to do either. Don't make any claims yet until the situation is clear.

You might also be able to claim for the bike theft, but that's a separate issue, up to you if you think it's worth doing.

If the accident is not your fault then you do not need to do anything. You should certainly not pay the driver, nor communicate with them further. It is up to them to sort out expenses unless they can prove that you were at fault. If they make a claim, then their insurer could try and retrieve the costs from you, but again, they can only do this if you're actually to blame.

Tbh this sounds like a 50/50 accident: if she was concentrating she would've seen you were a hazard and therefore would've acted accordingly; and you quite simply should've took the effort to look at the lights.

The insurance must be informed about the incident, whether or not she claims. If she does not inform the insurance she is therefore committing insurance fraud.

The driver has car insurance for a reason. This issue isn't as cut and dry as it would be if you were driving a motor vehicle; you don't have your own insurance for her to claim on.

The burden is on her to prove you caused the damage on balance of probability - however, as a car driver, the woman should be significantly more observant, and realistically if she was paying attention, should have been able to stop in good time - I do not see how your bike could cause such damage from you cycling into it.

The fact of the matter is, her premiums will probably rise anyway regardless of whether she makes a claim or not, as she's still going to have to declare it to her insurer - why not get some money back from the policy while she can?

Insist she claims on her insurance; that's what comprehensive policies are there for.

I agree with what you say about not being sure how she can force me to pay her - however at the moment she hasn't asked for any money just that she may bill me. Saying my bike is written off wont be much use as if anyone asks to see it I cant show them what with it having been stolen but thanks though

100% agree that i should have checked better before trying to cross

well it could put her off pursuing you if you say you have damage to blame her for... hopefully it won't come to that though

I would say - make it clear you won't pay before she takes the car to a garage, you don't want to inflame the situation further by having her get extra stuff done thinking you'll pay or taking it somewhere her insurance won't cover and then finding out you're refusing to pay

it is a strange one because technically you should not have been on the crossing in the first place.
But a car driver should have a greater duty of care towards more vulnerable road users.
As she wasn't looking she could have killed a pedestrian.

Ask her for her insurance details as you are pursuing a claim for damage to your bike.
She will go off on one but calmly tell her she was responsible for the accident as she was driving without due care, and ask has she reported the accident to the police and her insurance.

it is a strange one because technically you should not have been on the crossing in the first place.

But a car driver should have a greater duty of care towards more vulnerable road users.

As she wasn't looking she could have killed a pedestrian.

Ask her for her insurance details as you are pursuing a claim for damage to your bike.
She will go off on one but calmly tell her she was responsible for the accident as she was driving without due care, and ask has she reported the accident to the police and her insurance.

It sounds pretty clear-cut.


Yes and no. Bikes move faster than walking pedestrians. He hit the side of her car.


This is clutching at straws IMO.


That would be dishonest.

agree to some of what you are saying but here in the UK cyclist can ride across a pedestrian crossing so it was fine for me to be crossing there