messiah

Coppers - you're on my **** list... say one thing then do another...

a few months ago some bloke hit my wing mirror, after I found no damage I left (it plainly wasnt my fault and the other bloke admitted liability). at the time the police said that the incident would go no further.

...then i come back off holiday and find a court summons! - "Failure to report Incident"

anyone know what the damage is likely to be?

fast bloke

...at the time the police said that the incident would go no further....

Did you speak to the police?

ajm

I remember you originally posting about this. Do you have legal cover? I would get some advice from a solicitor. It seems to me your chances of making the police look stupid in court would be high.... but I make that opinion based on common sense - something that now seems to be excluded from driving laws if recent cases are anything to go by.

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

I don't rate your chances mate:


If my experiences are owt to go by, the police do tell lies, in and out of court, and aren't above changing their story to suit

Alcazar

messiah

Don't get me wrong - I intend to plead guilty, after all I didn't report it - basically because I didn't know that I had to, if there had been any injuries then I certainly would have done.

Would just rather get it over with, than drag it on - I'm not intending to get a solicitor, just plead guilty and take my medicine (so to speak) I don't think the punishment will be worth arguing over - just a couple of points I'm told (an a fine) although if someone knows a website that can inform me more I'd be grateful for the URL.

It just greives me that I was told by one officer at the time that the police weren't interested in something so minor as clashed wing mirrors, now I've got a letter from his superior telling me otherwise... IMHO - he's just trying to justify his salary.

I'd totally forgot about the legal cover - would this be what I got my insurance policy for the car or is it something else?

RichWalk

One very important point, 'ignorance is no excuse' in the eyes of the law- The police told me a load of rubbish about an offence I commited, ended up with a warrant out for my arrest! Speak to the Courts/ legal bods and get it sorted swiftly!

OllyK

Yes most car insurance policies have optional legal cover to handle such things - check your policy!

messiah

One more point - as I had to take evasive action to avoid a major action - is it too late for me to make a complaint against the other driver for this?

OllyK

Don't think there is a statute of limitations on reporting an incident, dunno it will do you much good unless this is happening as the other party changed their mind

messiah

Actually - I've still not gotten a quote to send to insurance for repairs - although that will change next week as car is going for service... damage is so minor that it'd probably cost more in petrol going to get the quote than it would to have it put right...

ajm

Are you claiming on the other guys insurance then?

CrisPDuk

If it was a simple knock as described why were the driving tax collectors involved anyway.

I've had loads of incidents such as this over the years and not reported them. Are they going to come & incarcerate me for life


BTW, OllyK I think you have to report one involving injury within 24hrs, but I wouldn't swear to it.


P.S. If you've already spoken to a thief c*ntstable about it, why does that not constitute reporting it, I can vouch for alcazar wrt to orifices lying in court to get a result, I've had this happen to me

Dazza01

Did the other guy report the incident to the police ??? if not u may be seeing him there as well

All i know is if u have a minor ding dong NOT resulting in injury then u have 24hrs to report to the police, so that they have it on record and have ur details just in case the other party decides to take it further, thats where ur crime/incident number gets generated from, which all insurance companies now ask for, but u prob knew that anyway

OllyK

Yes but there was no injury in this case.

If you have an accident and nobody is injured then there is no requirement to notify the Police at all (unless the law has changed in the last few years since I did my CPC). You do have to make sure that you speak / contact the other party concerned whether they are there or not (in the case of parked car perhaps) and ensure that they are happy to just exchange details and let the insurance etc deal with it. If you drive off without exchanging details then you are comitting an offence. If on the other hand you feel the other party was driving dangerously, exceeding the speed limit or may be under the influence of drink or drugs, then you are quite within your right to insist that the Police attend.

Ok had a quick Google and I con't find much other than:

messiah

Basically I had to take evasive action to avoid a head-on collision - I swerved right into the verge to avoid him (he was driving to fast to stop for a parked truck on his side of the road and had to go for a gap that wasn't there) I got far enough across to avoid him but he clattered my wing mirror. I stopped and after checking that everything on my car worked ok - decided to leave rather than kick off and probably go down and tw@t him.

It's an incident I'd rather have forgotton and I thought it had been put to bed - but likely not, now I just want to be a vindictive bas***d and give the git as much aggro as possible, for putting me through **** when I could have literally killed him.

As for telling the police - I was under the impression that the police wern't interested in minor knocks unless there had been an injury, so that's why I didn't report it.

I'm going to get the quote sent to my insurers, and let them sort it out - with any luck he won't have protected claims.

jhdee

A traffic accident does not have to be reported to the police unless personal injury is involved - then it must be reported within 24 hours to any convenient station.
What must happen after a traffic accident is that all involved parties must stop and exchange names, addresses, reg nos & insurance details. The latter can be done at some later time but the first three items are done immediately.

Try 5-0 if you need some further advice - genuine officers of the law able to give genuine advice

jhdee

thecirsch

Reading the above, it appears as if the Police were called at the time of the accident, is that correct? If so Police WERE informed, and it would have reported as a 'non-reportable, damage only accident'. Therefore, you've got nothing to worry about surely?

hedgehog

Two things I'm still not clear on:

Did you report the incident to the police? (you posts all mention talking to the police but yet you don't actually say you reported the incident.)

Speak to the other driver at the scene and exchange details? (Again I'm not clear if you actually spoke to the other driver or if you drove off before an exchange of details took place.)

It occurs to me that perhaps you decided the damage was minor and the other driver appeared to drive on but that he returned a few minutes later to find you gone and reported you to the police. However, it seems unlikely that he would have got your number under such circumstances.

The other thing that occurs to me is that perhaps the other driver is now claiming that he was injured in the incident and is going for compenstation. Any possibility that this is what happened?

In the end you will probably find that he is in the same lodge as the police officer who you talked to.

Sbradley

Here we go again

Oddly enough the rest of that particular post was sensible stuff...

SB (Happy to enquire if the copper is a mason if you let me know the area and his name...)

messiah

No Police attended the scene - other driver made a complaint because I didn't speak to him. Police came to my house 2 weeks later and I went to station following day to make a recorded interview.

Other driver was uninjured, or so I beleive, Police would have been a bit quicker than 2 weeks I suspect if he was.

One thing I should point out - when I slammed by brakes on and stopped in the road, I looked in rear view mirror, and that's when i saw his brake lights come on - so obviously he wasn't going to stop unless I did.

after posting on 5ive-0, it appears I could well lose my license for this, 5-10 points is the going rate and I already have 6...

Leslie

All the legal requirements have been covered well enough in previous posts.

I had an incident where a driver hit my wing mirror at night because he strayed over to my side of the road. I could not see him when I walked back because he had stopped in a farmyard where he was hidden so I carried on and told the police the next day.

He had also reported it and was trying to claim for his mirror from my insurance and said his finger was cut by glass from the mirror!

The police eventually dropped the case since his passengers do not count as independent witnesses and I was also alone in my car, so they said there was insufficient evidence.

I did not claim for my mirror since the cost of the job was less than the excess anyway. I heard no more from his insurance company. Hope this helps.

Les

Jye

Similar thing happened to me a few years back. Lorry parked on left side of road, me travelling on other side of the road, car overtakes the lorry (not enough room), we hit wing mirrors. Initially the other driver failed to stop, I chased after him, got him to stop, he told me to **** off (car was full of huge workies, so not much I really could do), I took his number, police told me tough **** that they would not be following it up, no one injured, no independent witnesses, only a wing mirror, blah, blah went back to eating his pie and reding his paper. So there you go, the ever helpful and consistent police and me out about £80.

CrisPDuk

As somebody has already stated, get some legal advice (especially if it's free as part of your ins policy), I can assure you from personal experience that if you don't, by the time it gets to court the police will ensure that you don't have a leg to stand on

As an aside, there seems to be a general reluctance on this board for agrieved persons to get professional advice in these sorts of situations. I know if it was me, I wouldn't hesitate, you can't trust your fate to the spurious,often contradictory (but usually well meaning) advice provided on an internet bbs by peoply you hardly know.

hedgehog

I agree that you need to see a solicitor on this one as there still seem to be a number of things that don't add up. Put the cost of a solicitor into perspective against the likely cost of a potential ban in terms of increased insurance, incidential costs such as taxis etc.

Many solicitors offer free, or inexpensive, initial consultations but it may be worth your while to look around for someone who specialises in, or has extensive experience of, road traffic law.

If you talked to police at the scene then clearly you reported the accident to them. If you spent enough time at the scene for police to arrive etc. but didn't speak to the other driver then it seems reasonable to assert that, if he was so keen to speak to you, he had plenty of opportunity. Despite this there still seems to be something very odd going on here.

messiah

once i found out my car was ok i left, it was his fault, so my opinion was that it was his tough luck - the police came to me 2 weeks later.

am going to search out a solicitors advice at luchtime. I'm also planning on making a police complaint against him if it's not too late and may seek compensation for the stress and sleepless nights i continue to have over this...

scoobydooooo

sleepless nights ? , it's not that serious , to me it sounds like a minor thing , nothing to loose sleep over !!! get a grip , are you man or mouse ??

messiah

It doesn't sound serious - but a bit of paper with "Court Summons" on it makes you think the worst.

Read a post from a copper and there's a fair chance I could lose my license (points could put me over the 12), so there could well be a MY00 turbo in the for sale section next week.

Hopefully will chat to a Solicitor later - will post findings later...

i love scooby snacks

Ive been told you get free legal advice from the AA if you have breakdown cover (but I may be wrong and it may depend what level of cover you have).

Bubba po

I don't understand this. I had a minor accident about a year ago that wasn't my fault. Insurance dealt with it. I reported it to the police and was told they didn't need to know, as it wasn't illegal to have an accident in your car!

Aaquil

I was in an accident when a car got v.lightly shunted (5-10mph). I went to the police to report it. They said that it did not need reporting as no-one had any serious injuries/ death etc. They did note it down on a piece of paper but that was it!!!

Go to the your local police station and ask then 'generally'. I'm sure you are not at fault but also get some legal advice. Did the bloke who hit your car report it? What about him has he also got a summons?!!!

I also once got a court summons for not producing my document which I did. They wrote that I did not produce them at a certain police station which was different to the one I actually produced them at (the named police station on the 'Producer'). I sent a letter to the Court clerk with a copy of the receipt (the police give you after seeing your driving documents) and all the other letters/ producer etc. I never heard from them again after that even though I did request a reply to confirm receipt. So they do get it wrong.

I hope you get it sorted mate.