Motorcyclist sues Met Police over Balmoral crash

A MOTORCYCLIST is suing the Metropolitan Police after being knocked off his bike by a police minibus driver, believed to have been involved in Royal protection duties at Balmoral Castle.

David Hardie, from Aberdeen, has lodged a claim for £15,000 damages at the Court of Session in Edinburgh against Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, the Commissioner of the Metropolitan force, after sustaining head, neck and shoulder injuries in August, 2011, when his Triumph motorcycle was involved in a collision with a minibus eight miles from the Queen’s holiday home on Royal Deeside.

His solicitors claim Mr Hardie was left “traumatised” by the accident, close to the Hilton Craigendarroch Hotel at Ballater.

A spokesman for Digby Brown LLP, the legal firm representing Mr Hardie said: “The claim alleges that the mini bus driver crossed on to the wrong side of the road and struck him head on. The driver was a person employed by the Metropolitan Police and we are suing the Commissioner as technically he was the employer of the person who was driving the mini bus.”

He continued: “Mr Hardie suffered fairly serious injuries. He had a head injury, which he has since recovered from, and quite bad neck and shoulder injuries as well as soft tissue damage to his leg and right hand.

“He suffered for the following three months, and also had some psychological issues which have seriously affected him since the accident.”

The spokesman added: “The fact is it was a head-on collision between a motorcycle and a minibus. The outcome of that could have been very different – to only get scarring and soft tissue damage, Mr Hardie was a very lucky man.”

A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police said: “The Metropolitan Police Service has received a claim in relation to a road traffic collision in Scotland in 2011. The case remains ongoing so it would be inappropriate for us to discuss it further.”

A date for the Court of Session hearing has still to be set.