A few weeks ago some **** Head ran into my car on the car park at work and caused £500 worth of damage.

I've reported it to my insurers and am waiting to hear from their solicitor.

I got a letter this morning from that B@stard's slimeball solicitor saying that as the accident occured on a private car park, it is not covered by the Road Traffic Act 1988 and thus is not a matter for the vehicle owner's insurance.

AND GET THIS

He was driving his mother's car, which he is NOT insured to drive and the police can't do him for it because it's private land. But he had to GET HERE for Gawd's sake!

The LAW really is an ***!

I speed, I get done, he drives with no insurance SO WHAT??!!
Why do I pay £1200 a year??????

And it gets better:

Because I'm fully comp, my insurance co. will pay me the damage less my xs (£250), so I'll actaully get £250, but if they can't get the money back off the culprit or his mother, I'll lose 2 years no claims!!!!


WHAT?!

Is any of this true or fair?

 

You got to be sh1tting me? I can't believe this, seems to me it's just not worth abiding by the law - you'll only get punished, whilst those ***** that do as they please get off free.

Good luck, let us know what happens.

Steve.

 

I am not a solicitor but if the land has public access does that not invalidate their arguement ? For example, a Tesco supermarket car park is private land but because the public has access to it you legally treat the land as public and therefore could claim on somebody elses cover (or do all accidents in supermarket car parks turn out like yours?)
Speak to Citizens Advice bureau - they have been a great help to me in the past.

Best of luck.

 

Let me know were he lives !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Justice what justice I was ran off the road and forced into another line of traffic by a Ford KA, the guy in the KA overtook me in a cycle lane over a pedestrian crossing and chevrons, I hit the back of another car causing minimal damage to both cars. My car cost £80 to put right the guy in the Astra I bumped claimed £1760 for damages to the car and took 3 weeks off work but returned in time for his holiday in the Caribbean. Even the guy I hit acted as a witness to the way the KA was driven and said I had no choice to do what I did but the Police said there were no independent witnesses and that unless the KA admitted he was driving like a **** they were no going to follow it up. If you are a law-abiding citizen expect to get screwed as much as possible it's the society we live in.

RANT OVER.

Good luck in getting this one sorted out.

Darren.

 

Rich,
as this was a work's car park, does this mean he works for the same company as you? Is it possible for you to send a company wide e-mail advising people to avoid him when he's in a vehicle, and explain that he's probably not going to be insured? I'm not sure what the reaction would be, but as long as you stick to the facts, I would expect you to be safe.
Martin.

 

Cheers for the support chaps.

The situation is just WRONG. I'm trying to get hold of my insurance's solicitor to check this carpark bollox but she's not answering the phone! (probably out to a 12hr lunch)

Good point about the public access thing. I'll look into that.

It just seems that when you are honest and pay your insurance, road tax and wotnot, you get hammered, but if you are a ******, the world is yours to abuse.

Bet if I'd have knocked the ****** out (as I was sorely tempted to do) I'd have been banged up - which is exactly why I didn't.

Wonder if I could have got away with kicking the **** out of him BECAUSE IT WAS ON A CAR PARK !!!

I'll let you know what happens.

Rich

 

Martin,

As far as I know the scum doesn't even have a JOB!! He was visiting someone.

Rich

Cheers anyway

 

Just report him to the police as you think hes not insured on the vehicle (just give them the registration of the car and hopefully they may get him but as the law goes he would only probably get a 50quid fine and a slapped wrist) but if he hasnt reported the accident to his insurance co then i think he could be in deep ****! as isnt it illegal not to report one??

Tony

 

What a coincidence!

I had the same thing a yr ago at Halfords

Conclusion

Your totally stuffed

I rang police - as my girlfriend caught the culprit read handed. Police said it was nothing to do with then as it was private land, even though the guy in question was being very agressive.

The police did not care at all - they said nothing to do with me.

If I'd have been there the guy would have been severely beaten up, esp. as he threatened the girlfriend

He denied everything, and as there was no actual witnesses we could'nt do anything!

We saw a solicitor who said you cant take out a prosecution without witnesses - even thought the guys paint colour was on the car

We spoke to the company and they said nothing to do with us, theres normally some small plack somewhere saying they accept no liability for damage/theft to the car, etc...

Then we tried the DVLA, who said yeah no probls, just send us I think it was £2.

They wrote a reply back saying that they did not have 'sufficient info' to allow for the release of the details - YOU WHAT!

We know the reg - been looking for the cr for a yr now - if the guy still owns it he's a dead man - a Red F Reg Sierra in Bristol, black guy in early 40's.

Could'nt even think of insurance - loss of 2 yrs no claims, after paying £500 excess and on top of that you would have a claim against you as though you did the accident!

Net cost thru insurance would have therefore been £xxxxxxxxxx's - plus you may have been black flagged anyway cos of the incident.

An insurance company the other month said they wanted to know of every incident, including non-insurance claims (ie were I didnt go thru the insureres and did privately, including glass raplacement - one insurer said that non- disclosure of window breakage some 4 yrs ago, would potentially invalidate the insurance - YOU WHAT - ar*ehols

 

I have reported him to the police and there is a warrant out for him, but no one knows where he is and the Police can't find him.

As Steve rightly said, the Police didn't want to know at first as it was on the Car park, private land makes it not an RTA.

I've had to pressure the Police to get him as it was actually a deliberate act by him
(criminal damage). He has a grievance with our company (which is total bollox and nothing to do with me, but he thinks he's right - I actually think he's nuts) and he saw my car on the car park. It has a private plate which bears the company initials, but the car is mine (I'm a director there), and he's never met me before.

He presumed the car belonged to the company and rammed it out of spite.

Otherwise the cops didn't want to know.
Re the driving without insurance, because I only SAW him drive on the car park, and not the road, he can't be done! GREAT!

It's illegal to leave the scene of or not report an RTA, but as this is on a car park, it's not an RTA say the Police.

so looks like Steve is right - I'm totally stuffed.

I'll keep you all posted on events.

Rich

 

I have reported him to the police and there is a warrant out for him, but no one knows where he is and the Police can't find him.

As Steve rightly said, the Police didn't want to know at first as it was on the Car park, private land makes it not an RTA.

I've had to pressure the Police to get him as it was actually a deliberate act by him
(criminal damage). He has a grievance with our company (which is total bollox and nothing to do with me, but he thinks he's right - I actually think he's nuts) and he saw my car on the car park. It has a private plate which bears the company initials, but the car is mine (I'm a director there), and he's never met me before.

He presumed the car belonged to the company and rammed it out of spite.

Otherwise the cops didn't want to know.
Re the driving without insurance, because I only SAW him drive on the car park, and not the road, he can't be done! GREAT!

It's illegal to leave the scene of or not report an RTA, but as this is on a car park, it's not an RTA say the Police.

so looks like Steve is right - I'm totally stuffed.

I'll keep you all posted on events.

Rich

 

Sounds like you've got to find some decent legal advice - or a new solicitor!. I'm no expert but surely you can forget the whole car insurance bit and pursue him through small claims court for criminal damage or something?....think of it another way, if someone kicks your front door in and breaks your windows, then just because its private property doesn't mean he isn't liable for damages, you have to a)prove it was him and b)pursue him through the legal system. Oh, and c)find him!
Police should advise you of the options. It depends what they try to do him for and on what evidence.

If I'm talking bollocks tell me. I hope you get him tho', mindless damage like that pi55es me off!! usually you have no idea who did it.

Interesting point as our company has trashed everyone's paintwork with wet tar but tries to tell me that they have no insurance cover for our cars, that we should claim on our own insurance. I've tried telling them it doesn't cover private land but unless I want to get another job I can't push it. "So what happens if I knock someone over?" I asked them...

[This message has been edited by Jerry B (edited 12 October 2001).]

 

You have mail mate....

 

Rich

Find out where he lives and we will all come over with you and drag the £500 out of him, after giving him a severe beating of course.

What an absolute tosser this man is.

Who was he visiting at work?

DW

 

I'm going through a similar thing at the mo, last dec 30 i was coming out of the carpet place next door to homebase in Rochdale when this fellow reversed into my car twice and drove off with me running after him, anyway he got away and i reported it to police along with a independent witness, its been to court and got adjourned cos he said he wasnt there and the court arent happy with evidence.

Stinks

 

Not totally connected with this topic but are we to assume :

You cannot be done for speeding in a car park ?

What happens if somebody runs over a child in a car park ?

What about private roads ?

This is crazy !!!

 

Sorry to hear about the incident, it will be extremely difficult to do anything your hands are tied.

Last year some dappie women managed to reverse into my door at my work place, doing £500 worth damage and drove off, me and my mates saw her do it from a distance.

I managed to get the reg etc, spoke to Police and got the usual sh1te. Fortunately we have CCTV and i got it on video. 2 months later i saw the same car in the car park, and left a note on it to contact me. She contacted me and I informed her i had witnesses and video evidence, she duley paid up. I know this is rare but some people are OK and pay up.

If you read my Door Dent storie it has happened again, this time cracking the front bumper and denti8ng the bonnet. Car Alarm went off so they must have known they hit it and fecked off.

Good luck

 

Rich
Sorry to hear this mate, and the police wonder why people take the law into their own hands, Go batter the Ba$tard.
Hope you get it soerted mate.
Cheers
Colin

 

Now this is weird.

I know for a fact that my waiting room, although privately owned by me, is regarded as a Public place because the public have free access to it. That is why I am required to have Public liability insurance.

Why should a car park with free access be any different ?

 

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:<HR>It's illegal to leave the scene of or not report an RTA, but as this is on a car park, it's not an RTA say the Police.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Thats not true. As long as you exchange document details at the scene the police do not have to be involved at all in an RTA.

The only time they have to be is if someone is injured.

 

Cheers for all the advise/support again chaps.

I spoke to my solicitor on Friday and it seems that as the facts of this case are rather unusual, it's going to be a long drawn out process getting my money. It also turns out this guy doesn't even live in this country, he was over visiting, so bringing any form of legal action against him is unlikely to be easy.

Kicking his f*cking head in seems the best answer, but I bet I'd get hauled away if I did and locked up.

No one can find the b@st@rd anyway.

Just sickens me that the Police, the courts and the insurance companies can't help in these cases, imagine if the car had been smashed to bits and I couldn't have afforded to repair it??

If I do get recompense, it certainly won't be for a while.


Cheers

Rich

 

Mr Felstead is correct.

With regards to the warrant out for his arrest, has he skipped bail or escaped custody or something?

Because if there is a warrant out for arrest, he wont get past passport control at any port/airport.

[Edited by RonaldoH - 10/15/2001 8:50:41 AM]

 

Rich

I suspect the most expensive part of this could be the loss of NCB. However, even if you actually claim off your own insurance co - as long as you re-imburse them to the tune of 100% of their loss, they will re-instate your NCB. (At least mine did).

Mine was similar, but the repair cost £1000 - it was substantially cheaper to pay it than lose my 2year NCB (esp if you compound the extra cost of insurance over the next 2 years).

I know this sounds harsh, but if I was you, I'd pay the £500 yourself and forget it, it could be so much hard work and stress to get the money back (plus lost earnings from work etc etc) it wouldn't be worth £500 to me (IMHO) - this **** is never going to pay you the money so you'll throw more money on court cases etc etc (IMHO) even if you win he'll miss payments and you'll have to expend even more money enforcing any CCJ.

(All IMHO, I am not a lawyer etc if someone else knows better please say)

Gary

 

What a load of **** - the lawyer is trying it on. The argument that it doesn't count a an RTA because it's on private land does not hold water - threaten to do him for criminal damage in that case instead. Otherwise you can cheerfully go round to his house and sledgehammer the **** out of his car on his drive....

I agree with the previous comments - report the driver to the police for driving without insurance.

Worst comes to the worst, pay the full £500 yourself to maintain your no claims bonus.

good luck!
Gordo

 

We run our own business and have a car park for customers to park in, we have to have public liability insurance, this is only as a safeguard should someone have an accident on our property that was our fault ie. fall down a pothole.

If an accident between two vehicles occured in our car park not only would the police not be able to do anything about it (not on a public highway) but neither party could hold us liable unless the accident was as a result of aforementioned pothole (for example).

[/b]

[Edited by scoobychick - 10/15/2001 11:39:27 AM]