what do I do? (minor car crash)

First of all - you would be dicounted as a witness.
Police not necessary unless you want to get evil on her for failing to stop at an RTA.

Reply 3

john !!

OP

14

how would they know who she was without the police though? All I have is the numberplate... and yes I do want to "get evil" cos this person could kill someone if they drive that badly all the time.

Reply 4

For those of you saying the police are not necessary.

It is ILLEGAL not to report an accident in your circumstances. The first thing you should do is inform the police.

Reply 5

viviki

14

I would totally call the police she drove away from the scene of an accident and her insurance should be paying for the damage on whoevers car it is.

Reply 6

saz_1989

2

Call you insurance and call the police. You might have to pay the excess yourself. She will get done for driving off.

Reply 7

Pookie

For those of you saying the police are not necessary.

It is ILLEGAL not to report an accident. The first thing you should do is inform the police.

What a load of crap.
If you are suggesting that you need to call the police for every incident on the road, I would be severely worried about Britains crime rate.

But you should definietly report it to the insurance company.

If the lady knowingly left the scene of an accident, then she is liable for prosecution. The problem here is, if your car has a small scrape, the chances of proving she was knowingly leaving the scene of an accident are diminshed.

Considering her out and cheek of knowingly leaving the scene, you should therefore contact the police and report her registration plate.

In fact, come to think about it, the insurers would not even have the information to hand and the police is then definitely the only option. Don't expect information from the police though. Data Protection Act!

Good luck.

Reply 8

walshie

What a load of crap.

*cough*

May I suggest you take a look at this page Click Here , infact I will highlight the specific area for you

A failure to comply with these obligations can mean two offences are being committed: failing to stop and failing to report. It is possible to be guilty of either or both. The penalties for each offence include a maximum fine of £5,000 and five to ten penalty points. The court also has the power to disqualify you from driving for either offence and is likely to do so when both offences are committed on the same occasion.

Reply 9

john !!

OP

14

thanks. I'm certain she left knowing there was a collision, although it might be hard to prove like you said. would I not count as a witness?

Reply 10

Trousers

11

Basically, what you need to do is stop chatting on an internet forum and tell someone! Doesn't matter who - the insurance company or the police. Both will tell you what to do next.

Reply 11

mik1w

thanks. I'm certain she left knowing there was a collision, although it might be hard to prove like you said. would I not count as a witness?

You do not count as a witness. You were a passenger in the car at the time of the incident and therefore are discounted.

In regards to calling the police, you don't generally call the police after a silly incident although your circumstances are a little different.

The insurance company never asks for a crime reference number so therefore there is no need for the police to be invloved generally.

When you next get into a minor accident on the road - call the police. Lets see how they respond. I bet it won't be kind words or any particluar rush.

Reply 12

Pookie

*cough*

May I suggest you take a look at this page Click Here , infact I will highlight the specific area for you

*cough*

referring to your original post where you stated that it was illegal not to contact the police after an accident.

You are still wrong!

READ YOUR LINK CORRCETLY!

it will state that if the driver of the car fails to stop at an RTA, then a police officer must be notofied. Which I stated in my following post!

Reply 13

walshie

*cough*

referring to your original post where you stated that it was illegal not to contact the police after an accident.

Oh dear I missed a bit off the end of my sentence, but as we were talking about this incident in question I do not think it was unreasonable to leave it out.

So for your benefit and understanding I have edited the previous post.

In clearer, and more self-explanatory english

If details are not exchanged at the scene, you must report the incident to the police otherwise you maybe charged with committing an offence. One of these being failure to report an incident.

How would you feel if the person who hit you and drove off, caused a similiar accident the next week but this time fatal. Would you feel guilty for not reporting the person?

Reply 14

Your going off subject!
I agree with you in relation to the last paragraph, but lets not ignore the fact you got ahead of yourself.

And to edit your original post, rather than repost is cowardly!

Reply 15

walshie

And to edit your original post, rather than repost is cowardly!

Not sure how you worked that one out, but you must have some logic to it somewhere that I can not see or understand.

But if you want to :fight:

about it,your quite welcome to it and then we can see who :champ: :wink:

It is only a forum, I didn't explain myself adequately for you and have now done so end of. Relax, chill out and get back on topic to the original topic of the thread.

Report them to the police for failing to stop at the scene of an accident, you will be hard pushed to make a claim without any witnesses that they caused the accident, but least you might be able to get them prosecuted and make them think twice about doing it again.

I know as a girl if someone did that to me I would be quite shaken about it.

Reply 16

Peach

9

The same sort of thing happened to me a couple of weks ago - someone scraped the front of my car and drove off.

You need to pop down to your local police station and fill out a form - stating where and when the accident happened etc. It would be good to do this today, as there is a deadline. Whoever was driving should take their insurance details and driving licence with them.

They will then give you an accident claim number, which you can pass on to your insurance company. So, even if they aren't able to charge whoever caused the accident, you (or your friend) will be able to get the damage fixed through your insurance company without losing your no claims bonus, so it's best to do it.

Hope this helps :smile:

Reply 17

L i b

19

Pookie

*cough*

May I suggest you take a look at this page Click Here , infact I will highlight the specific area for you

Yes, it works for the other person, ie the person who damaged property. That does not mean the affected car or a witness has any obligation under the RTA. If you want to get them for failing to stop, it's really never going to happen.

Don't call the police. For one, they won't give out information on who the car belongs to willy-nilly. For another, they'll probably politely tell you to stop wasting their time. Phone your insurance company and if there's any dealings to be made with the authorities, they'll either do it themselves or advise you.

Reply 18