I have come down side street to t junction onto the road where my house is situated pull out no problem & there is a space almost out my house I indicate to signal I am gonna pull into left side of road Ito space (the road is one way also) then put van into reverse look in mirror & see a car has turned out the exact same street as me & is behind me. But there is plenty of space and I have given all indication of my intentions. He then decides to over take me as I sweep round to park & there isn’t enough room for him I feel a small bump he beeps. My driver side corner of bumper has hit his passenger side bumper. Almost no damage to his but mine has black scrapes and removed some paint work .

He pulled over and he has tried to say I reversed into him I have said I indicated had my reverse lights on & u tried to overtake me when you could clearly see I was reversing He has tried to say let’s just walk away from it where I have said no it’s your fault you weren’t looking ahead at the road and you have seen I was clearly making a manoeuvre but instead of waiting behind me have tried to pull out this hitting me as I reversed.

I said I will call police he said let’s exchange details I have his plus photo of car and he said he will call later and we will sort it out

Have I done anything wrong I can’t see how it’s my fault, the fact that the collodion is my driver side & his passenger side clearly shows he tried to go past when I was mid manoeuvre otherwise I would have hit his driver side or straight down the middle of his bumper ?

not your fault, he tried to pass and failed.

IANAL.

He hit you from behind, simple.

It’s your fault. I don’t know why; it’s just that I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about. I imagine the insurance companies will think the same when you write to them, too.

You’re at fault imho.

Its your wifes fault, simples.

You should have stopped you manoeuvre once he was behind you to let him past or to show he was going to stop to let you carry on.

You’d have failed your driving test for continuing the maneuouoorobrovre, if that’s any use. And if you hit the side of his car with the front of yours that’s troublesome too, it’s pretty hard to say he hit you with the side of his car! From your description, you hit him.

I don’t honestly know the legal standpoint but I’d have neither tried to pass you, nor tried to park while someone was passing me.

your fault IMO. Always thought that people doing manoeuvres had to give way

IANAL either

Was your missus involved?

Then it’s your fault.

I’d say in reality it’s his fault, but in the eyes of the insurance probably 50/50 as they would argue you should have been using your mirrors and stopped moving when you saw him overtake.

This kind of thing really chokes my chain; people too impatient to wait 20 seconds, so they try to squeeze past.
People who see you slowing and indicating for a parking space that you intend to reverse into, who decide to drive right up to your bumper and give you no room to reverse into the space.
Last time this happened to me I could see what blokie was going to do, so I indicated and then put my hazards on, drove past the space I wanted to pull into slowly and was moving my head around looking into the space as well, hoping to give him every indication of my intentions. But no, blokie still drove right up my chuff and stopped about 2 feet of my bonnet. I just put the car into reverse and waited…..and waited…..

+1 for his fault if you were already mid manoeuvre. I hate it when people overtake you when you are making a manoeuvre. If you started to turn when he was already overtaking then I don’t know.

The problem is now do you want to pursue this through insurance? There is a risk they will go 50:50 without any other witnesses and your policy will go up regardless. Definitely speak to the police and log it with them as it gives you a lot of backup.

Get a quote to fix it and say if he doesnt pay up it’s insurance time.

From a learner driver website regarding reversing/parallel parking:

You must always give way to other road users. You must give way to any pedestrians crossing behind and avoid swinging the car out into the path of overtaking or oncoming vehicles.

Other experienced drivers will appreciate that if you rush this manoeuvre you will end up taking longer and run the risk of hitting something or someone. Therefore if traffic appears once you have started the manoeuvre you will usually find that they give you priority. Under no circumstances allow yourself to be hurried when doing this exercise.

This suggests the reversing vehicle is at fault as you ‘must’ give way to all other users but they ‘may’ give you priority.

It’s a one way street with parking bays & cars on both sides there is virtually nowhere for him to overtake I was doing my manoeuvre first, he wasn’t stationary behind me & I had ample time & space to reverse.
Its hard to visualise but has happened to me many times my parking space is virtually opposite the side street.
What happens is people pull out of the side street onto my road without stopping which u can do if there is no traffic from the your left carry on round the corner and almost run into the back of me when reversing as they don’t want to stop this is what has happened instead of him waiting he has carried on driving to attempt to over take me.

Its a simple rule surely that if some one hits you from behind its their fault.

Although yes the reality was that OP should have noticed the guy hadnt stopped.

OP – So you parked next to a junction? Thats illegal

So were reversing the wrong way on a one way street then.

Mmmmm ?

😉

50/50

Regarding giving way to other road users when manoeuvring:
I failed my test because as I was about to execute a 3 point turn a young child without parent came to the pavement edge where I was about to swing the car to. I waited what seemed like minutes (probably 10 seconds) for them to do something but they were obviously waiting for me. So I waved them across and was failed for it.
I’m still bitter 20 years later 😐

It’s your fault IMHO. Sorry.

He overtook expecting you to yield to him. It’s a stupid overtake and not one I’d have risked for exactly this reason, but it’s your responsibility to perform all-round observation whilst performing a manoeuvre. You didn’t, otherwise you’d have stopped long before you were anywhere near him.

On my test, I got taken down a narrow street with room for one car only. Car comes the other way, doesn’t back down, and I pull into a space on the right to let him through. I passed… 😯

You’re both to blame.

Him for passing a vehicle clearly doing a manoeuvre, you for not paying enough care and attention.

Sorry

Irrelevant who each of you think is at fault, if you involve insurance companies it will go 50/50.

So think twice about doing so.

Similarly for me this morning – pulled out of my house onto the road. Ahead a woman was reversing out of her drive – clearly not looking in my direction, just driving backwards. I stopped. She eventually saw I was there and stopped.

But she still had her reverse lights on so I waited. And waited. She started pissing around in the footwell. I still waited. Eventually, after what felt about 10 minutes but was probably 10 seconds, she saw that I wasn’t moving and carried on.

I feel like going around to their house tonight to discuss this with her. And to ask why, in a house of just 4 people, do they have 6 cars cluttering up their drive, the pavement and the road outside.

At fault twice.

Once for the knock (at best 50/50 maybe), once for putting in a claim for a small scrape on the bumper

Thanx seems like it 50/50 & its one of those things where it’s hard for me to explain the exact dynamics of the road. I can hear what everybody is saying about yielding etc but be damned if I can figure out how when it’s clear behind you & then u follow all procedure but then somebody just comes round a corner then up behind you sees what u are doing ignores it & then runs into you.

The irony is if it was my car I wouldn’t really give a shit but it’s the van – T5 camper conversion which I had only taken out so I could drop a bike build off at LBS after dropping kids at school ( couldn’t get 3 kids frame fork & wheels in car
🙁

You’d have failed your driving test for continuing the maneuouoorobrovre, if that’s any use.

This is certainly what I remember from when I was having lessons. Wouldn’t be surprised if insurance went 50/50 though.

Its a simple rule surely that if some one hits you from behind its their fault.

Except he didn’t. The car were alongside each other when they hit. 50/50 would be the OP’s best outcome – so don’t claim.

somebody just comes round a corner then up behind you sees what u are doing ignores it & then runs into you.

It seems you ran into him as the front of your vehicle was moving out into his path as you were reversing into the parking spot. If you had stopped moving would the collision have happened?

Its hard to visualise but has happened to me many times my parking space is virtually opposite the side street.
What happens is people pull out of the side street onto my road without stopping which u can do if there is no traffic from the your left carry on round the corner and almost run into the back of me when reversing as they don’t want to stop this is what has happened instead of him waiting he has carried on driving to attempt to over take me.

So, you’ve carried out this manoeuvre many times before, acknowledge how dodgy it is, yet you continue to do it?

How long will it take you to accept that you should park somewhere else? (Assuming that the ‘space’ isn’t allocated specifically to you, in which case, I’d question the sanity of the person who designated it as a parking space)

Probably 50/50, but if I had to choose, I’d say your fault.

my missus says its all my fault…even though i wasnt there, it’s still my fault.

sorry.

So the road was one way. But does it have 2 lanes?

Surely if one lane then the person behind should wait as there is only one lane and they shouldn’t try to squeeze past.

If two lanes then you should make sure you don’t swing out into the other side when there is a car approaching from behind.

Your fault. My driving instructor used to bollock me big time if I wasn’t looking at the front corner of the car swing around while reversing.

No its only one lane
its a controlled parking zone on both sides for residents only (me) marked bays the full length of each side of the road
he tried to drive into the parking bay to attempt to pass me

Did a similar thing a couple of years back.. Insurance co. said they always accept liability if your reversing…

Stupid cow who hit me (having stopped to let me reverse!) then drove into me and got a nice claim off my insurance…. 👿

Insurance 50/50, on a driving test you fail for carrying out the manoeuvre or so my instructor bollocked me for doing similar to the OP.

There was room on the road for the two of you side by side (when he started to overtake you, this may include the bay on the other side of the road). You then steered your van into the side of his car.

AS others have said, I wouldn’t have overtaken there, but if I was the one parking I also wouldn’t have swung my car out into someone else!

If he hadn’t overtaken then there wouldn’t have been a collision.

If you hadn’t have steered into him as he passed you there wouldn’t have been a collision.

But you’re the one who moved across the road and into his path as he was passing you. You should have been checking your mirrors and stopped moving once you saw him if you had any doubts about what he was doing.

The best you’re going to get is 50/50.

No its only one lane
its a controlled parking zone on both sides for residents only (me) marked bays the full length of each side of the road
he tried to drive into the parking bay to attempt to pass me

That puts a bit of a different slant on things. He shouldn’t be driving through parking bays, I’d like to revise my initial armchair expert condemnation to one of 50/50.

Your fault OP.

I would say it’s a genuine 50/50, he was overtaking in a silly manner, but you swung the front of your van out into his path. Assuming I have understood correctly (you were reversing to parallel park at roadside, he was going past you).

I am a lawyer and haven’t a scooby . Blame seems evenly split you it failing to observe and continuing to maneuver ,your front swung into his path him for failing to observe and trying to force past going into a bay to do so. I imagine your and his insurance co will be equally flummoxed and agree 50:50 . The police are not going to be intereststed in a minor road traffic with no injuries where details have been exchanged and no obvious bad driving just two misjudgements. .

He’s tried to overtake me on the right in that gap that’s my van on the left my rear driver side bumper has hit his front passenger side bumper as he has tried to squeeze past me in the parking space

image by carbonfiend, on Flickr

btw don’t wanna get insurance involved just reckon he should have to pay for the re spray on my bumper which is has taken of the paint work