Bike injury boy wins compensation from Halfords

[Steveb]

From www.bikebiz.co.uk

Halfords has paid £12,500 to a boy who had his spleen removed after he JRAed into a tree when the brakes on his Apollo bike failed. The crash happened six years ago. The bike was bought in a box, assembled at home and later serviced by Halfords. The company does not admit liability.

According to IC Wales, Berwyn Pearce, of Pontypridd, was aged 11 when he lost control of the bike. Pearce, now 18, suffered two broken ribs and a ruptured spleen.

Halfords, which sold and serviced Pearce's Apollo Guru bike, has now agreed to pay him £12,500 in compensation. The company has not accepted liability for the accident.

Pearce said:

"The bike was a present from my mum and dad. It came in a box and my dad put it together but before the crash we took it down to Halfords to get it serviced. I'd taken it out three times before the brakes failed.

"The steering went as well and that's when I hit the tree."

Pearce's lawyer, Clare Griffiths of Russell Jones and Walker in Cardiff, said:

"When you take something to be serviced you expect someone to do a good job. It's particularly important with cars and bikes because, as this case show, you can be seriously injured."

[thetrailbuilder]

would like to see a pic of the 'failed brake'

[chris_the_sham]

its an apollo, what did he expect. thats a joke. opens it up for all the numptys to claim now

[Steveb]

Yep. Which in turn will force bike shops to stop selling bikes in boxes and raise their standards. Which for those of us who already do this, is good. It'll mean that the cowboys won't be able to undercut us by skimping on the service/support.

[chris_the_sham]

right. i fell off that bike you sold me steve. actually, all the bikes you sold me. i want compensation. 3 jaffa cakes please

[thetrailbuilder]

im going to sue myself for breaking my collor boner on one of my own jumps, IM GOING TO BE RICH

[Steveb]

right. i fell off that bike you sold me steve. actually, all the bikes you sold me. i want compensation. 3 jaffa cakes please

But did you fall off it because I built it or fitted parts incorrectly? Or did you fall off cus your rubbish?

[chris_the_sham]

all 3

[marko]

think i will sue bell, my helmet broke when i hit a tree and i got concussion as a result.

[Aaron p]

All this compensation business is so stupid! seems you can get compensation for nothing lol! wonder what is considered a failed brake? he probably just jammed the v's and did a nice endo over the bars

[marko]

personally i think that is a disgrace. there are certain things that must be considered, what speed was the lad doing? was the bike doing the job it was intended for? did the lad pedal around the carpark etc first to make sure the bike worked before going for a ride? what exactly constitutes a 'fail'? did the cable snap? was the ground wet/mucky at the time resulting in residue on the pads?

i think the fella should not have got a penny. think how many other parents are going to try and get compensation now.

[scotty]

£12000 without even getting the paying company to admit liability is a result though !!

[Steveb]

I agree that the whole compensation culture is wrong, but I also see some utter monsters coming into the shop for "repair". Basic things like forks round the wrong way, brakes that are just not connected let alone setup, the list could go on. Very often it's on bikes that have jest left the shop from which they were bought. Especially Xmas bikes. Just before last xmas I saw a lot of people coming in with boxed bikes, exactly as they came from the manu's, bought from a local bike chain. They shop in question said they didn't have time to set the bike up, that it was easy to do and anyone could do it at home. That's disgraceful.

Yes, it's wrong to always look to blame others for your own stupidity, but yes it's right that when businesses get it wrong and put profit before the safety of their customers they should be punished.

[marko]

surely there is a form of watchdog that could clamp down on such bike companies that don't put customer safety first?

[baz]

The other thing to bear in mind (and not that I want to appear to be defending Halfords in any way) is that it may just have been more cost effective to give the lad and his family some money provided no liability was accepted, than to have to go through the courts and win, but still have to pay legal costs.

[Conor]

I agree that the whole compensation culture is wrong, but I also see some utter monsters coming into the shop for "repair". Basic things like forks round the wrong way, brakes that are just not connected let alone setup, the list could go on. Very often it's on bikes that have jest left the shop from which they were bought. Especially Xmas bikes. Just before last xmas I saw a lot of people coming in with boxed bikes, exactly as they came from the manu's, bought from a local bike chain. They shop in question said they didn't have time to set the bike up, that it was easy to do and anyone could do it at home. That's disgraceful.

Yes, it's wrong to always look to blame others for your own stupidity, but yes it's right that when businesses get it wrong and put profit before the safety of their customers they should be punished.

I'd agree there. An awful lot of the work Tom does in his shop is rebuilding bikes that people have bought from other shops that haven't been built properly. It ranges from cheap kiddies bikes with poorly setup brakes to high end MTBs bought from "reputable" shops where the customer has no confindence in the shop's ability and is paying Tom to build it properly. This has happened a few times!

It's not that difficult to build up a partially assembled bike but you have to be thourough, and some shops don't take it seriously, not many, but a few.

[Jamboy]

i also agree with not selling bikes in boxs, i work in halfords as a tech and i have never sold a bike in a box or with out a pdi, its not something any joe bloggs can do thats we get trainning!!!!

[AndyL]

...high end MTBs bought from "reputable" shops where the customer has no confindence in the shop's ability...

I know that feeling. It's been a long time since I've paid for a mechanic's time on my bike. I've been doing it myself under supervision (payment is usually in jaffa cakes, coffee, helping out etc) and will now only send shocks and forks away for service with the manufacturers agents myself.

I've had too many instances of dodgy and potentially dangerous work that I've paid for in the past. Not any longer, I take the responsibility myself now.

As for the story, if halfords didn't do the service correctly then it is their bad. But how do you prove that (for example) stem bolts weren't loosened by the fella to stage a crash and get a few quid? Halfords would have a lot of trouble proving they left the shop tightened...

[baz]

Halfords would have a lot of trouble proving they left the shop tightened...

You'd imagine they'd have a standard assembly checksheet (set up gears, check brakes, tighten all bolts, etc) that would be filled out by the technician for every bike that's bought. This would be signed off by the tech and then kept on record for this type of thing. This would weigh in their favour, although it's not proof. We used to have that kind of thing in the last place I worked for the assembly and testing we did.

[Jamboy]

Both jjb and halfords have something like that if there is any problems the tech who signed it has to say what the crack is and such

[marko]

ok i am just after reading what IC Wales said:

the boy was aged 11 when he lost control of the bike

now read that again and again and again, each time you read it focus more on the words 'he lost control' and in particular the word 'he'.

Does it have the same effect on you as it has on me?

I could put so many cases like that foward, for example, the man was aged 23 when he lost control of the car and hit a pillar. He suffered broken ribs and a punctured lung. The car had been bought from the garage before christmas as a present and was serviced before the crash. He had taken it out 3 times before the brakes failed. The tyres and steering failed aswel when he hit the pillar.

Now tell me this; would the garage payout for the man crashing into a pillar????

[Steveb]

ok i am just after reading what IC Wales said:

now read that again and again and again, each time you read it focus more on the words 'he lost control' and in particular the word 'he'.

Does it have the same effect on you as it has on me?

I could put so many cases like that foward, for example, the man was aged 23 when he lost control of the car and hit a pillar. He suffered broken ribs and a punctured lung. The car had been bought from the garage before christmas as a present and was serviced before the crash. He had taken it out 3 times before the brakes failed. The tyres and steering failed aswel when he hit the pillar.

Now tell me this; would the garage payout for the man crashing into a pillar????

Marko, I think everyone can see where your coming from, and you have valid points. But to be honest, until you have experienced the way some shops turn out bikes, your never going to see it from the other side.

Regards to the reg body to ensure bikes re road worthy: Yes I'm sure they exist. But like most reg bodies they are utterly ineffective. Lets say I wanted to tunr out cheap bikes and didn't care about the setup, the man from the reg body would need to be standing next to me and inspecting every bike. Now even if he had the time to do that he'd also need to be experienced in bike setup, which I suspect he wouldn't be. So the end user must rely on bike shops getting it right and not cutting corners. Obviously some need additional motivation to make them do this (the law is clearly not enough) so big fines for when they get it wrong are justified.

IMO.

[stinkydeeluxstu]

mate if you worked in a certin well known bike chain near xmas that had a turnover like it does then you would come to accept that you cant build every kids bike when it comes to the last few days before xmas trust me when you have got 40 build bikes going out for the last few days aswell as more people wanting there bike build sometimes you just have to say look here the score you take it home and try it yourself cause it reali isnt hard to assemble a bike especialy one that is a cheapie it takes common sense to tighten up a few nuts and bolts it aint like the guys selling the bikes are asking you to build the rear mech or but in the headset

I agree that the whole compensation culture is wrong, but I also see some utter monsters coming into the shop for "repair". Basic things like forks round the wrong way, brakes that are just not connected let alone setup, the list could go on. Very often it's on bikes that have jest left the shop from which they were bought. Especially Xmas bikes. Just before last xmas I saw a lot of people coming in with boxed bikes, exactly as they came from the manu's, bought from a local bike chain. They shop in question said they didn't have time to set the bike up, that it was easy to do and anyone could do it at home. That's disgraceful.

Yes, it's wrong to always look to blame others for your own stupidity, but yes it's right that when businesses get it wrong and put profit before the safety of their customers they should be punished.

[stinkydeeluxstu]

matey see once you have gone thru all the court business and even if you did win there is no way a company like halfords would waste its time to do so if you bring something back to halfords and they say no refund or exchange if you ask for head offices number the manager will most likely bend backwards for you and pleed you not to fone head office and that he wll give you your refund , it costs halfords something like 300 quid just to process a customer complaint weather there in the wrong or not so you see they will just say aww **** it a 80 quid refund and a happy customer now is better than a happy and a smug customer after he gets his 80 quid refund as well as costing halfords 300 quid to process the complaint just for them to say tothe store o its ok just give him his refund

The other thing to bear in mind (and not that I want to appear to be defending Halfords in any way) is that it may just have been more cost effective to give the lad and his family some money provided no liability was accepted, than to have to go through the courts and win, but still have to pay legal costs.

[stinkydeeluxstu]

what halfprds would stand by in that case would be if there was a pdi form filled out (pre delivery inspection) then they would take the word and trust that the mechanic has tightened them and if it is proven that he hasnt then well its him that would get sacked trust me ive seen it happen but at the end of the day ive seen staff at halfords tick every box to say that they have looked over something and checked that it is road safe and that they havnt even touched it

I know that feeling. It's been a long time since I've paid for a mechanic's time on my bike. I've been doing it myself under supervision (payment is usually in jaffa cakes, coffee, helping out etc) and will now only send shocks and forks away for service with the manufacturers agents myself.

I've had too many instances of dodgy and potentially dangerous work that I've paid for in the past. Not any longer, I take the responsibility myself now.

As for the story, if halfords didn't do the service correctly then it is their bad. But how do you prove that (for example) stem bolts weren't loosened by the fella to stage a crash and get a few quid? Halfords would have a lot of trouble proving they left the shop tightened...

[stinkydeeluxstu]

and thats exactly what halfords have a pdi form (pre delivery inspection)

but like i said, staff tick all the box's and dont actuli check the bike

You'd imagine they'd have a standard assembly checksheet (set up gears, check brakes, tighten all bolts, etc) that would be filled out by the technician for every bike that's bought. This would be signed off by the tech and then kept on record for this type of thing. This would weigh in their favour, although it's not proof. We used to have that kind of thing in the last place I worked for the assembly and testing we did.

[stinkydeeluxstu]

right see at the end of the day if it was me that servied the bike in that story i would 100 percent stick up for halfords and myself in saying that the bike left the shop 100 percent road worthy but having worked in halfords for 4 years i have seen other staff cut corners as you say and that they are rushed off there feet or want to get the job done quickly to get home or wotever, so therefore you cant leave the blame down to halfords and the mechanic who "aparently" serviced the bike as he could be like me who done things right or he could have been like the other staf member that cut the corners.there are so many factors to take into consideration theres the bike theres the mechanic theres the rider... there are so many facotrs that halfords just paying the family out 12000 or so is the easyest and hastle free way of going about things i no it dnt look good for them evern thou they are not admiting liability but it takes alot of time and money to take it thru the courts and weather you think it or not halfords (and not in my opinion either) are the uk's biggest bike retailer and they are that for a reason they have customers that come back to them so there must be a few more guys out there like me that work for halfords and do things right.

i enjoyed this debate keep it going!