Police cock-up.
 

Got back from france in september, having been away three months, to find a quite old message on my answer phone asking me to contact a PC in Doncaster.

I did so, and he was always "not available", or would "ring me back when available", but never did.

Si being a bit worried, I finally escalated it and asked to speak to the duty sergeant, who was also unable to tell me what it was about, but would have the PC call me asap.

he did...within an hour.

THEN it got even more mystifying as he wanted to know about an accident I'd had and driven away from in Sainsbury's carpark, Doncaster.

Except I hadn't...either had an accident and driven away, or even BEEN in that carpark, ever, (except once when I bought the car, to top up with diesel, about three years ago).

So he starts asking questions and then drops out about my car being a Vectra. Nope, it's an Astra. Easy mistake to make, says he, and then when I describe it as silver metallic, admits that his report says black..........

So he says he'll get back to me.

He does so half an hour later. His first question is my age. Apparently they have a report of some young man driving a black Vectra hitting another car and leaving the scene. Whoever wrote this down has entered my reg No. as **?? FWC, where the real number was **?? FVC.
So I get an apology and an assurance that it's all being dealt with.

But today I get a letter from my insurers telling me there's a claim against me.......THEY are now contacting South Yorkshire Police to find out what's going on.

Not good. WHY didn't the officer go back to the driver of the vehicle that had been struck and TELL HIM/HER that the reg number was wrong?

See...another reason to dislike coppers. Lazy work.

And yes, I've told my insurance co to put it in writing that I'm not responsible and there is NO CLAIM against me.

all sounds a bit Suss , if you ask me ...

so you did a hit and run, swapped cars and disappeared to france, come back and deny all knowledge ;) lol

remind me never to stand next to you when its thunder and lightening, i think your one of the most unlucky people ive known of haha

Its kind of understandable how this could happen, but the law is with you on this one. Write to their data protection officer, keep it factual, and give them 28 days to remediate the situation fully (including any reports to statements provided to the insurers); send a copy to Dave Jones (the chief) and Paul Kennedy (deputy) as information management sits under him. State principle 4 of the data protection act, also play it up a bit that this is causing you undue distress as well as having a negative impact on your ability to insure your vehice. As they are the souce of the problem make them feel the pain of putting things right.

So the injured party or witness has written the wrong reg down and given it to police, in a genuine attempt to help the inquiry. Or the offending car driver had deliberately altered his reg before hand.

So, a quick phone call to you shows that it has been a mistaken identity.

Prior to any of this - the injured party has already contacted his insurance company (probably shortly after the incident). Giving the reg known at the time (ie yours). Insurance company starts its own investigation and contacts you at a later date.

The police can not direct an insurance company as to how it investigates accidents. Even if the police have gone back to the original driver and told him the reg is wrong, we can not stop the driver from contacting his insurance company. The driver may decide to ignore what the police have said and submit the wrong reg anyway, or the insurance company may have asked him to supply the reg given to him at the time - even though they may know it to be wrong, they still want to have a starting point and contact you.

Is this not a fault of the insurance company for not contacting the police first? And how do you know the officer has not updated the original driver?

ooooohhhhhhhh.......... bugger!

Nope....claim only gone in in the last month or so, I sorted it beginning of September.

And how do you know this hasn't happened? How do you know that the driver is adamant that the reg number given is correct and believes they may be a cloned car. How do you know what information was given to the insurance company by the driver? Is it possible that the insurance company does not want to pay the data protection fee to the police and just writes to you instead? What inquiries do the insurance companies need to make to establish a thorough investigation - they may need to contact you in any-case to rule you out. Have you phoned the officer back up and asked how the job was concluded and if he spoke to the driver again?

Find out more information first before jumping to conclusions

Ah, give it up felix.

I've explained that the claim went in quite recently, certainly SINCE I sorted it with the local copper.

He's obviously updated no-one. The claimant WOULD NOT insist it was me, since a) he/she didn't see the accident, and b) the car description and driver ages are both wrong.
Even when I rang him first off, I had to escalate to talking to a duty sergeant to get him to ring me back. He was always going to, but never did.

Your colleague is IN THE WRONG. Live with it.

No - you assume he updated no-one. Your argument is 'post hoc' to say the least!

And again, how do you know what the insurance company asked of the claimant? He may not be insisting it was you, but has the insurance company asked for the information that was passed to him at the time. Does the insurance company not need to investigate the accident fully - and as part of that, they need to speak to you themselves - rather than going on and update given to them via the claimant

Or does the claimant phone his insurance company:

Claimant - "I'd like to make a claim for an accident - the registration left with me at the time turned out not to be the offending car, so can i just have some money"

Insurance Company - "Oh of course - if someone else has investigated already it saves us a job - here have some money straight away"

Is this when you approach the MIB ?

Sigh...but the police now KNOW the reg of the offending car.

TBH Felix, you are once again defending the indefensible.

Stick to demanding money with menaces, there's a good chap;)

Again you assume...... and again its all post-hoc

How do you know the insurance company have not asked for the information which was left at the time so they can begin their investigation. And how do you know what information was passed to the company by the claimant. How do you know that the claimant (like yourself) thinks all police are corrupt and hence does not believe the update given to him.

Stick to the speed limits then you wont be out of pocket or cause injuries which you later have to wriggle out of - there's good chap :thumb:

More b/s from another defender of the indefensible.

I KNOW because I've spoken to both my insurance company AND the officer after he actually was FORCED by his sergeant to phone me back. Go on...defend that...being asked to phone me back FOUR times before I had to escalate it?

I suppose he was busy on a donut run?

And YOU wonder why most of Joe Public no longer support you...LOL

We don't sit by a phone all day, we are out and about - If he's busy, he's busy. Although this will have to be justified by him and his sergeant.

And, if you have already spoken to your insurance company, then you will have all the answers to the above questions. So what did they say when you asked them the questions?

Based on that, put a complaint in about the officer. If it is the case then it will go down the lines of 'failure to investigate' and is a disciplinary offence. I certainly don't want to be associated with officers who 'fail to investigate' - so complain away.

Let me know how you get on.

And just for the record - I enjoy a lot of support off the public I deal with! :thumb:

Glad you do..the police in general, however....:(

My insurance co said they would do his work for him, (their words), and get back to me.

As for complaint, I can't even remember his name or number, I stupidly threw it away when he assured me it was dealt with.

If it a non-injury RTA, then the insurance companies deal with them in any case - so he is doing his own work for himself and has all the resources he needs including PNC.

As for the complaint - you don't need to know his name. Your name, address, phone number and registration number will all be linked to the original incident. So just quote any of these and they will find the incident and the oic.

Instead of moaning about it on here, do something positive and complain - that way you will find out the answers to all the questions that are niggling you. This officer may have a history of doing this and this complaint might be the straw required to get him kicked out.

If you don't do it for yourself, then do it for me - cos I don't want officers in the job who are as bad as what you say.

Nope, not going to lose anyone their job, and it's not important enough to me to want him disciplined.

Just adds fuel to my fire;)

you have more chance of picking a turd up by the clean end than a plod getting told off over this event, even if you could be bothered to complain :thumb:

Not so - he wont lose his job and it will be more of a learning exercise. Otherwise he will do it again and again.

Other way to look at it - don't moan if your not prepared to do anything about it

And your basing this on..........

you are jokin , right ? :lol1:

you have come across this one before ??

Inportant enough to whinge on here again though?

You really are not happy unless you are unhappy....

LOL, if you had my luck, matey.......:rolleyes:

Meanwhile, my insurance say that South Yorkshire Police are "dragging their feet" and SYP say the insurance company don't want to pay the fees...(what fees?)

Someone is supposed to ring me back tonight after 8pm, but I'll end up ringing her as I'm at the hospital for the results as to what the mass is on my pancreas.

And as far as she can see, SYP STILL have it recorded as my fault:mad:

felix: your unwavering support of your colleagues does you credit...NOT. ;)

JGlanza: What IS important is that we don't end up with a claim against us that we had nothing whatsoever to do with.

I agree with that. If you put half as much effort into sorting it out as you do posting about it on here, it would be sorted by now in sure!

And how much effort do you KNOW I've put into it so far, pray tell?

Your arrogance knows no bounds, does it?

Lol.

Never happy unless you are unhappy.

I bet you are such a ray of sunshine to be around....

Again, you presume.......

You are really an arrogant person aren't you? How can you tell anything from an internet persona? It's like saying there's nowt bud bad news these days...because the good never gets published.

Haud yer weesht, man.