Court rejects £200k cycle accident compensation appeal

An appeal court has told a man he will not be able recover the £200,000 insurance claim he was made to repay to Aviva after what a judge deemed to have been a “staged” cycling accident.

Alan Joyce, 49, who lives near Sedbergh in Cumbria was a welder at the time of what he still maintains was a collision with a car which struck him from behind as he rode along the A683 towards the Fat Lamb Country Inn, reports the Westmorland Gazette.

Mr Joyce was said to have suffered injuries to his head, eye and back, and to have experienced psychiatric problems as a result of the incident which took place in 1998.

Six months later, Gordon Hobson, at whose wedding Mr Joyce was the best man, is said to have arrived on his doorstep to tell him he had been the driver of the car which struck him.

Mr Joyce said he had not seen Mr Hobson since his wedding day and that it was a “coincidence” that he was the driver of the car which had caused his injuries.

Aviva, formerly Norwich Union, sued Mr Joyce for the return of the money and won the case. It was alleged that Mr Joyce had paid Mr Hobson £700 to hit him with a stick and to drive over his bike.

The Civil Appeal Court in London rejected Mr Joyce’s appeal against a ruling made by a judge at Manchester County Court in March. At that hearing he was ordered to repay the money after the judge found that "on the balance of probabilities" the accident had been staged.