First off, in a collision between two vehicles, if you ram another vehicle from the rear, you are at fault. You didn't. Since he was pulling out into traffic, the burden of care lies with him.

He (as was pointed out later in this thread) has obviously no knowledge of his highway code. I would suggest you immediately get a copy and brush up yourself.

You were involved in an accident with no third party or third party property, hence it is a straight claim between him and you. However, he has realised if it goes through his insurance company, he'll be in trouble. I vastly doubt you have managed to get witnesses to the event, which would have simplified things immensely.

Since it was an accident, both drivers should have reported the accident to the police within 24 hours. You should also have exchanged details. I would suggest that as well as reporting it, you should ask for advice at the police station. Note that by making his later statements to you, he has in fact threatened you after the fact.

The fact that you hit his door means he has turned out very rapidly, probably without observation.

In all likelihood, if you both agree not to claim, he will still go ahead and make a "my car was dented in the car park" claim on his comprehensive policy, which would be fraudulent, and then criminal if it involved a third party and this was later reported to the insurance company after a payment had been made.

If I were you, I would do the following:

- go to your GP immediately and get an examination
- immediately (or as soon as possible) report the accident in detail at the police station in the area of the accident, to the traffic section
- ask for advice from a traffic officer
- find a solicitor specialising in road traffic accident claims and ask him to write a solicitor's letter on your behalf direct to the driver which will force him to go to his insurance company
- notify his insurance company of the crash in a private letter, making a statement that you will be making a claim for third party damage to your property
- take your bike to a repair shop, and ask for a repair estimate to repair the bike thoroughly
- send a copy of the quote for the repair to the insurance company and ask for payment within 30 days
- after 30 days, go back to solicitor and get a second solicitor's letter sent to the insurer claiming for the 1st letter, the 2nd letter, and your repair costs

I must warn you though - as a bicyclist, you were not supposed to be travelling along the outside of the traffic queue - you should have been between the parked and the mobile traffic lines, so you are partly at fault. He is also partly at fault for making an illegal (you cannot make a U-turn in the face of oncoming traffic - was traffic approaching?) and downright stupid (you should never make a manoeuvre at the indication of other drivers - make your own decisions) U-turn. There is no "fault" here, so any liability will be divided between the participants. All you can do is "bull" it harder than him to see if you can get his insurance company to pay up.

Be sure that your health is in order, though - this is by far the most important. Bikers can suffer subtle head and neck injuries which only come to light many months later.

I didn't try and claim for my bike, that he wouldn't try and claim for his car.

Just read this sentence through carefully. If this is what he said to you, does it make sense? How can he "make a claim" without engaging a solicitor and make an attempt to sue for damages? You can simply write to his insurer and request reparation! BS, this is just bluster and threat. Go for the throat.

Additionally, you can get him in a small claims court summons if you get no-where: if he doesn't turn up, you are awarded in default. Your solicitor can advise you on this.