You'd love to hear my story, i basically was taken to court because a guy in a van said i hit the back of him on my old gsxr and caused £1000 worth of damage door mouldings etc. so we took it all the way to court and the judge called him a fundamental liar and he lost, he was in £12,500 worth of debt after that and a few months later they asked me to go back to court to do him for fraud!

This is exactly why when filtering I always try to overtake while the cars are next to each other so I know they won't change lanes. They dont have to be parallel but as soon as the front wing of one car is parallel with the rear quarter of the other I'll go through.

The amount of drivers who think having a indicator on means they have right of way is unbelievable these days

I filter too - but not at night. As a driver, I often can't pick out bikes in my mirrors at night - you have a headlight but no silhouette. The headlights merge especially in rain. That's not to say the car was not at fault, just that we need to understand how visible we are.

If only all legal beagles were as nice and genuine as gav seems.

With the van episode, what if a vehicle had turned out of the farmyard? As bikers, we are vulnerable ."Legal" or not - why risk overtaking with roads / entrances either side?

These are really valuable lessons to all bikers, so good job bringing this to our attention.

I think the Ducati rider was very lucky. A blind junction where something could have pulled out on him. They should have exercised a little patience. We also know many people in cars and vans can be dicks. You have to look after yourself.

Good content 👍🏼, the Openreach van one was completely avoidable with defensive riding, it was almost stopped to turn and you can see the front wheels turning from a good way back plus a van like that is going to be trying to find an unknown address, if you ride like everyone is going to follow the rules and do everything they should none of us would be alive...

Can not overstate the value of these sessions

Second case is a school one to me. Had a couple of close calls just like this poor ducati boy (and a family of mine almost died in the same conditions) even sometimes when you have a car just in between and can't see the one ahead. Made my mind, never pass a car on a junction whatever the rush I am in. Too easy to loose on this one.

@44teeth quote "Dont ride like a dick"! hit the nail on the head there. I think these 2 cases show why bikers need a "what if?" approach to all hazards. Whether the case is 100% or 40% in your favour matters not if you are dead. I believe its why awareness of what can happen such as this through videos or post test training can save lives. Thanks for the content.

White Dalton Solicitors, quite simply, the best! Great section guys. 👏🏻

This is such a quality series - love it. Hopefully never need it, but does make you think!

I agree overtaking though a junction is a no no…but can’t say I’ve never done it.

love these videos, Gav explains things so well too.

Cheers guys. These legal help videos are great.

Good knowledge. Enjoying the full range of content guys

Great episode guys, I had the same issue 3 months ago with a car doing a U turn in front of me when overtaking. Still getting physio and when that's finished the solicitors get the doctors report and will see what happens from there

Great video as always.i think the openreach one was avoidable.in fairness to the van driver,he wouldnt have seen the bike in his mirror til after that corner due to the ducatis closing speed on him.and i think its bad practice to pass anywhere where someone can turn across you.even if it is into a farmyard etc.not justifying the lack of braking,indicating or looking in his mirrors though.but you have to ride like people are idiots,because so many are!😂

Great vid, very interesting & helpful as usual. Always eye opening watching these & makes you realise the law pays no mind to what would appear to be common sense!

It doesn't matter whether you're insured or not though. Insurance companies have a single purpose - generate profits for shareholders. To do that, you do everything within your ability to not pay out

This is such a good series… good, solid advice from yer mate Gavin.

Definitely shows that having a camera is essential. Wish I'd had a camera when i got hit it would have saved me so much hassle. Now always have a camera on. Love these legal hints and tips videos.... Great work guys 👍🏻

Great information, thanks Gavin for winning a case for me a few years back.

Loving this series - keep them coming guys.

Love this guy, so much quality info, really helpful

Very useful information. Thank you 44

This is useful stuff, keep em coming 👍

Had similar happen on a YZF750R about a million years ago. The ‘there to be seen’ claim won me the case. Bright yellow helmet and a garish pink and white motorcycle in broad daylight. Got a decent pay out for bike, clothing and knackered ankle then fixed the bike after the insurance company said I could keep it. Big win. Also Andrew Dalton got a case against me thrown out for something entirely different, his firm are absolute legends!

Awesome video guys, thanks for the upload. Had a close one early on in riding with a car doing a right hand turn , managed to fluke a stoppie with my eyes closed and not crash. Learnt a valuable lesson, don't overtake near a junction

Great insight into this world. Really good to know the conditions that change rulings

Gavin’s beard is simply sublime ❤

i used fletchers solicitors when a car pulled infront of me. They denied fault saying i was speeding and could have swerved around them. Fletchers within a week got me a £2.5k injury settlement and my bike repaired with £1.1k damage. Was a new driver had only passed her test day before. 3rd party were really trying to fight it but once fletchers got involved they gave in very quick. I was with Mce at the time and i feel like they would have gave in if i didnt go with solicitors

I’ve had what happened in the first video, happen to me a month or two ago. I avoided getting hit, but still woke me up pretty good before I had my coffee

The first video is exactly what happened to me on the 7th of June 2024 and the case is still ongoing because the van driver isn’t accepting liability bloody ridiculous!!

I would agree on the 60/40 split on the second case. The biker took a risk in overtaking at a junction, especially in how quickly he went for the overtake (not talking overall speed, he was going at an acceptable speed) If he had taken a second longer to decide nothing would've happened.

Great advice Al but I,m also definitely thinking about getting a camera now as well.

These legal episodes are what I live for

Currently going through my own claim after being rear ended whilst stationary at a junction, such a ball ache but luckily no severe damage 😩

Awesome content thanks lads 👌

As a filthy Yank, it took a little bit of time to get used to being able to filter when I rode in Italy for a few days. Still didn't feel fully comfortable with it, and the vid demonstrates a bit why. Yes it's at night, but overall drivers these days feel more and more shit. I'm very pro-filtering and I'm annoyed that Florida still doesn't allow it despite how many riders there are, and how damn hot it gets. But even though I can't use it, glad to see y'all put out this kind of stuff for people who can use it.

Good segment very informative

Interesting vid into Legal Bike Battles 👍👍

Great video. Thank you

We don’t have a justice system in the UK we have a legal system and they are miles apart

Good vid. 1st case is a slam dunk, 2nd one reminds me why I never overtake near a junction.

Brilliant advice as always lads 👌😊

Had a situation few years ago. Coming out of a petrol station, a cabbie very assertive coming out from another pump tries to get in front of me, I didn't let him. I get in position to get on the road turning right, waiting for a break in traffic and he is next to me on my left very close. Finally I see a break and I'm about to go and in about 5 seconds I'm getting knocked over. The idiot was looking left, completely oblivious of me being there. I called him 2 days later, the idiot was saying I was trying to overtake him 😂. Lucky for me I had witnesses and I got a good cheque in my pocket.

Never knew about the MoJ portal, why did my Insurer (Bikesure/4th Dimension at the time) not tell me about it when my KTM was written off by a cager pulling out and my helmet cam footage showed him bang to rights? Because they wanted to milk me with expensive bike hire whilst they took their own sweet time to deal with it? Your Insurer is not on your side fellas (except Bemoto, who I'm now with, perhaps) Surrey Police at least made the driver attend a driving course. Gavin Grewal is a star btw.

I would advise anyone and everyone to get yourselves on a Bikesafe course ans learn some really simple bits and pieces that will make you a safer rider No overtaking near junctions and be exceptionally careful of any gaps in traffic when filtering Any collision might not be your fault but that doesnt take the injuries away Safe riding everyone

2 simple rules to add to the list here. 1. Never filter into a car-sized gap. 2. Never ever ever ever overtake a car that could turn right. 2a. This also means anywhere at all in a 30 zone.

Biker unfortunately went for the overtake in a village and by a junction. Loads of 4 wheel idiots out there but the biker shouldn’t have put himself in that position

This is why I would put my full beams on when filtering and turn them off when I need to pull in. The second clip biker overtaking on upcoming junctions, on your cbt even the police bikers say never overtake on an upcoming junction.

@11:25 - you actually just glimpse the brake light come on the van when it's over 50% into the turn, you see the right hand brake light come on - can't see the other 2 to see if they come on - which shows they were working and he just hadn't used them before starting the manoeuvre.

This is pure gold!

Vid number 2 happened to me. I went for an overtake on a car doing 25mph with a clear road in front. When I moved to the centre of the road and accelerated he slammed on his brakes, indicated and turned right in one motion. I had nowhere to go but into his rear quarter. Unfortunately my camera was broken and the guy on the bike behind me who saw the whole thing failed to answer any calls from police or my insurance so it was eventually settled as 50/50 because it was my word against his. My bike was written off and the car had a cracked bumper (fair?). Got a new camera and a new bike and am very careful overtaking/filtering where junctions are concerned. You live and learn I suppose.

in reference to clip 1: i remember reading in MCN (motorcycle news) about 10 years a go, the law section and someone had asked a question about their filtering accident. the lawyer quoted a case (that i wish i could remember the name of), in that court case, the judge referenced the filtering rules about being slow but put a speed of 20mph on it. so the lawyer in MCN was saying if you are above 20mph when filtering, and have a collision with another vehicle, being above 20mph might go against you. since i read that i try to filter below 20mph as best i can and if the flow of traffic above 15mph i find a space and join the flow. as for the second clip, i feel the biker was suprised and only overtook to take avoiding action but if they had payed more attention to reading the road they probably would not have collided with the van. the camera shows the van is ahead, it shows a blind corner and a cross road sign, all that information for an advanced rider to use and round the corner with caution rather than carry speed and be surprised. but its information a normal rider should be looking out for too.

"overtaking within the vecinity of a junction" - the camera not being from the rider's viewpoint doesn't help, but it isn't obvious that there's an entrance there until after the rider's committed to the overtake.

great tips !, I am unfortunate I didn't have a go pro on at the time and my solicitor is absolutely useless completely reactive and not working for me , and its taking over half a year already well see

Brilliant video 👍👍

Had almost the same case as the second debate here; guy in a van that's in front of a single car ahead of me on a straight road with no side roads for the next 3-400m, slows to about 5mph (40pmh limit). I decided to overtake, then the van increases to about 25mph as I'm approaching - so I continue the overtake, reaching 40mph and just as I'm about to begin coming past, a junction on the right nears. It's a visibly open junction, no other approaching vehicles, so I maintain the overtake. The van driver was not indicating and not braking, only until I reached the rear quarter of the van did he indicate, then brake & turn at the same time. I got a shunt to my rear wheel (that's how close I was to getting past), his front bumper was dented and I was knocked off. Not speeding, was aware of the junction and the van driver's apparent lack of intention to turn, but it turned out 70/30 in the van driver's favour.... not happy to this day (fortunately the insurer is dissolved now) but now I never overtake with even the slightest wiff of junction.

Really like Gavin as a guest! Great videos

Some great information but did the biker really need to put himself at risk when he could have easily waited for the next clear bit of straight road to overtake a much slower vehicle ? If you do not want to get hurt then you need to think that every car, van etc has not seen you - he was lucky to get the blame split that he did and if no driving without due care and attention was issued on the van driver then I would take the money and Run.

I had the same exact thing happen to me on the north circular, but it was back in around 2003. A young guy in a mini swapped lanes, no indication and no check in his mirror. Police attended and were on my side. Not only that, but the lad lived locally and his mum had arrived on the scene and whilst the police man was in ear shot, told her son to lie. Ultimately she was warned under caution. The boy got 6 points for driving with out due care and attention and this had to re take his test. He was given a 480 quid fine as well, and was made to take a special awareness course only after he had passed his test for a second time. My pillion was hurt and had to take time off work. His insurance paid out for my bike, and clothing loss. Also the damage to my pillion and all his cost of loss of earnings. The police were very much the reason we won, because they were both motorcycle police that attended and could see who was to blame…

I love these legal videos. I’m getting a helmet cam asap.

This was very interesting 👌 In Victoria Australia ! Our roads are totally 💩 with potholes & gravel & 10 weeks ago i saved my S1000rr going down while sustaining an impact leg/hip injury ! Our state road authority is not liable for pathetic road conditions 💩

Another good vid, some people are just shocking humans! With insurance companies getting even stricter does removing the cat make an exhaust non Road legal? Know that bikes aren’t emissions tested but curious as the insurance comps will use anything to get out of paying. Keep up the good work

When I was filtering every day on a mway for 3 years, I seen cars dart in to gaps like this, multiple times a day, it’s why I’d never filter past spaces in the traffic.

we in netherlands do have a filtering speed limit for bikers. so if the traffic is moving with 20km/h we can go trough with 30, if they go 30 we can go trough with 40 and 40 is also the limit overall. if the traffic goes any faster we have to just get in and follow the traffic jam.

I had a close call like the second video I was lucky to avoid, but car turned onto a driveway without indicating, how would I have stood as its not a road junction?

Years ago I was riding on the A38 in Devon. I was overtaking a van and he pulled out even though his mirror was completely missing. I managed to hit the brakes just in time for him to miss me.

Thanks!

back to regular videos :) Happy bunnies everywhere :)

Thanks, these are really useful. A question I'd love to see answered in a future one is at what point should I be picking up the phone to a lawyer? If I was in an accident, my first call (maybe wrongly) would be to my insurance company and I'd assume that they'd take it from there. Is it up to my insurer to hire a lawyer if they need one, or should I be doing that as well as / instead of talking to my insurer?

About the overtaking accident. I ride on bike over 30 years, had many accidents, and even more "that was a close ones..." And one important lesson I have learned, if the vehicle front of you is driving really slow, there is ALWAYS a reason behind it. Don't overtake it if you not sure what it is. Could be a pedestrian running across the road, 9r a car pulling out of the driveway, or the the driver is taking a right turn without indicator

Years ago when I was 21, following behind a black cab on my bike, taxi indicated left and started to pull over to the kerb, me approaching indicated to overtake thinking he was pulling over, with his indicator still indicating left swing cab from kerb round into a u-turn, I remember thinking I can’t miss him, aimed for side of bonnet rather than full side of cab, stood up on pegs (so not to rip my bollocks off) and flew through the air over the taxi and hitting a lamp post before landing on the kerb. Taxi driver came round and started arguing that he indicated, I pointed out he had indicated left but u-turned right (and that his left indicator was still on) which he then tried to return to cab to cancel indicator, luckily this was outside a uni halls of residence and some students witnessed this. (Also just remembered as I was lying on ground, a load of students now around me, one with her hand down my back checking my spine when another bold student announced for everyone to stand back as she was a student dentist! I conveyed there was nothing wrong with my teeth! and she sulked off across the road and glared until the ambulance arrived!)

I've had this exact same thing happen to me. I was on the ground and saw the guy pull back into the lane he was originally in and slow down. As soon as I got up, he pissed off.

On the second video, I would say some of the blame lay with the biker - not sure 60/40 was fair. In Police parlance there were “options” on that part of the road, ie driveways or side roads, not only could the van turn right, but something could have come out of the drive/side road. Although the van driver didn’t even look, the biker did put himself in harms way. I rest my case! The van driver is still a knob though!!

On the overtake near a Junction. When taking both my Police road bike courses, it was a straight fail if you did ovetake on a junction. No issue setting up an overtake, then pop past the second you are past the junction. Not worth the risk, the motoring public are too undredicatable, dont trust them. Same with filtering as gaps in traffic start to appear I now stop filtering, again somone will go for the gap and they just dont look for bikes. I restrict my filtering to pretty much static traffic which shouldnt kill you.

That's why I don't filter in moving traffic Doesn't matter if you are in the right when you are dead or badly injured.

I was filtering North valley rd in colne a lets say lady seen me then sped up not letting me back in to flowing traffic allmost knocking me off my bike,then after a few choice words off me she then shouted at me sayin i was breaking the law.what else can i say.

The van accident was avoidable. That entrance to the right rings huge alarm bells for me, and is the obvious reason to be extremely cautious. The Ducati rider had zero reason to believe it was safe to pass. All he knew was that the van was in his way and travelling slower than him, nothing else. Common sense and self preservation dictates that he has no reason whatsoever to believe that it’s safe to pass.

Second clip, so many warnings for the Duke rider, slow maintenance van, cross road sign on the bridge van just stopped, looking where to go, the slow speed of the van going into the what looks like a village crossroads, I would not go for a pass, its a tiny twisting country road no white lines, they stopped before the bridge, even the white lines up to the bridge were long warning danger when overtaking. The van is in the wrong, but sadly.

1st clip, car looks like a merc (mirrors only there for decoration) and the reason why I only filter through stationary traffic. Filtering here is legal between 0-30km/h. 🇦🇺

With the 2nd clip, van could have done all the breaking required before the bike came into view, then it is just lack of signalling.

Watched the video with the BT van....brake lights not being seen are a non issue, I do all my braking in a straight line, also the van was out of site so could have braked then.

A bikes speed relative to the surrounding traffic is key. Filtering is fine but at a reasonable speed differential. We all want to be given a chance to get it right and be able to react to our surroundings.

I came around a bend on a country lane when I was very young to find a school bus taking up the entire road - both mirrors folded back because of the trees either side. 2 months in hospital having a major operation every week, nearly lost my leg, had to be resuscitated on the operating table, golf career rather buggered. While in hospital the bus Company countersued me for the dent my knee put in their coach… I got nothing for that accident other than some delightful scars. My lawyer told me to forget about it as we wouldn’t get anywhere trying to sue a local authority… unreal. Still got my leg though. 👍

Can i ask what is the procedure after an accident, i have no legal cover etc, is it just a phone call and fees are taken from the case win thanks.

Al's question about what speed is too fast to filter is something I've often wondered about, because at some point it's technically undertaking? I always air on the side of caution as I'm aware I'm always going to lose out to a car or truck : /

I wonder what the insurance companies rules are on these cases. Do they weigh the case on weather they can win or not, or by the merits of the case. Also how much do they adjust for 2 customers with the same insurance company.

Very interesting Cheers

I never overtake when there’s a junction on the right, as this type of accident nearly happened to me.

i had someone pull out of sationary traffic back in march as i was filtering, bike was written off and not have a 8" plate in my arm, he didnt indicate or look in his mirrors, just pulled straight out on me. there was no side roads or anything either, just wanted to pull a U-Turn.

Love this series, eye-opening stuff. An old friend overtook a car on a T-junction (there was a turning off to the right) and hit a car pulling out of the junction head-on. Wrote off the bike, broke both his wrists. Don't do it.

I think it's amazing that in the first video the BMW indicated at all.

Incidents involving commercial or company vehicles are the worst. They will admit nothing and counter claim as a matter of course no matter how straightforward things appear.

You need to always mind the gaps, drivers love filling gaps. That was such a fast flick. If I was in this situation I would have checked the car mirror to observe for driver head movement but maybe there was none in this scenario 😕

My initial thought on the second clip was that the van initially seemed like he was pulling to the left, nevermind about to swing right across the road.