I've been a little light on the facts so here's the whole story:

About 8.15 this morning after a night of rain, the first rain for a couple of weeks, I was going to work in light rain. The commute involves going through a series of tunnels on the middle ring road (A86). There was some minor flooding in the tunnels, nothing really to slow down too much for but, it was a bit wet. One of the tunnels is quite long and mirrors, visors, windscreens etc. always fog up on the outside in this tunnel and need wiping 3 or 4 times.

I was filtering and had been for about 12 miles when an idiot on a sports bike came up too close behind me for the conditions. I couldn't let him through as there was nowhere to pull in. Because of this, I'd dropped my speed to about 40 kph (25 mph). Note the normal filtering speeds even in the wet are usually somewhat higher than this.

Going into the long tunnel, which is the 3rd in a quick series, the visor fogged so I wiped the visor and slowed down even further to about 10-15 mph. We went through a couple of puddle type floods, nothing interesting, and the visor fogged again. So a quick wipe and continue. I imagine "charlie" behind was having similar problems.

Now my bike is lit up like a Christmas Tree at the rear (and the front as well). I have side lights in the Topbox as well as brake lights and, yes, they were working perfectly this morning. So when I put my brakes on anyone behind knows about it big time!

Anyhow, I digress.

In the right lane was a 12-ton lorry and in the left lane, White Van Man. So I slowed even further, to under 10 mph, the speed of the traffic, as there was no space to ride between them. The lorry pulled ahead and a good sized gap opened up. As I moved towards the gap, White Van Man veered slightly to the right closing my space. So brakes on to come to a dead stop (not an emergency stop, just a normal stop) with the Stebel Nautilus blaring (sounds great in a tunnel). Charlie behind didn't have ABS, couldn't and oops!

Although he didn't admit it, I believe he was wiping his visor at the time so was distracted. Well, being too close and distracted has cost him his No Claims Bonus for the next two years!

I've critiqued my riding and I doubt I could have avoided the accident, mainly due to the fact, that the slower I went the closer "charlie" came and I didn't have an opportunity to let him through. So, because I had to stop, and could do so in a controlled manner in the space I had available, he couldn't. I'd even "controlled" my stop (i.e. not braked as hard as I could have) to give him time to react.

SO he was taught a valuable lesson. I just hope he remembers it.

Glad to hear no one was seriously hurt! I gotta say, I'm surprised to hear that you got hit by another biker. There's an unwritten code between bikers that they look out for each other. Guess that guy didn't get the memo! Stay safe! Alanna

I am glad to hear no one was injured all the best Max

I am glad you are safe.

I imagine you are very miffed! You wouldn't expect that to happen with another bike! Glad to hear you are safe and well and hope you have a peaceful Easter :)