rant Someone crashed into me on purpose, police won't do anything!! Any advice please.

[Aero-M]

I was involved in a accident today, 15:16pm

 

I was driving along in my Mercedes sprinter van and there was a Renault clio in front of me, It's passenger side rear wheel was bent in at the bottom and also the front was bent round. The car kept snakeing all the way up Woodbridge road in front of me.

 

When we reached the roundabout I went into the left hand lane a car length in front of the clio which had gone into the right hand lane. As I went round the roundabout he speed up and lost the back end of his car again and nearly hit the side of my van, so I mouthed through the window "what the hell are you playing at" and carried on along the road, he then switched lanes and just sped up and drove straight into the back of my van!

 

My mate jumped out and ended up having a big arguement with them, to find out what the hell they were doing, I called the police and then joined my mate, It was getting a bit out of hand and luckily the police turned up quite soon, They said they would arrest us all for public disorder!! wtf We had done nothing wrong. They were normal police not traffic.

 

I told them what had happened and that he had hit me on purpose and they just said they couldn't prove it even after everything I had told them, His car was out of tax which they said they wouldn't do anything about and also wouldn't do anything about dangerous driving or examining his car because no one was injured, And also in the polices own words "money saving exercise"!!

They asked if I had been drinking and the other driver, but didn't do a breath test after we both said no.

 

He claims to have been waiting from 8:30 this morning for the rac to recover his car back to newcastle because of the damage, so why was he driving it? The damaged to the wheel was quite clearly him messing about in a carpark, handbrake into a curb IMO, He had three alloy wheels on and this one was a steel wheel so the damged was obviously the axle.

 

The driver said he changed lanes as he didn't know where he was as he lives in Newcastle, yet when we were arguing he got on the phone to some mates and said he was between the lattice barn pub and the hospital, He couldn't have seen the pub name from where we were so it was obviouse he knew the area. They have said as he hit me from behind it was his fault, and that we should contact our insurance company to advise them what had happened, they will write their report and his insurance company will be in contact with ours.

 

So I need to know where I stand with getting him done for dangerous driving, and also getting something done about him driving a car unfit for the road and also untaxed.

And more importantly why the police seemed to not want to know and why they let him drive of from the scene, even though he had the inital damage to the axle, and the fact he had smashed all his bumper off, bent the bonnet up, damaged the headlight, slam panel etc?

They said they would follow him to his house? He told me he lived in newcastle remember and the rac should have been recovering it to newcastle, but turns out he lived just down the road a few doors up from our office.

 

When I got back to our office which was just down the road his mother turned up asking if I was the one who had the accident with her son, They only live a few doors from our office it turns out, she also knows my boss, She asked what happened so I told her and she started crying saying she can quite beleive it, he is a knightmare and has made her live misery Put her in hospital numerous times, had her arrested etc and he has ADHD.

[comorin219]

not sure about the legalities but i would definitely be in the nearest police station making a complaint about the way it was dealt with, surely their 1st duty would be to get him off the road before he caused more damage or worse

[RobSheffield]

They let it drive off despite being out of tax?

[nasoup]

Sorry to hear about your situation. Nice to hear that the police still take no action unless theres profit involved.

[TopgunTT]

Some people are just small minded.

[benkei]

not sure about the legalities but i would definitely be in the nearest police station making a complaint about the way it was dealt with, surely their 1st duty would be to get him off the road before he caused more damage or worse

 

I agree! Did you take pictures? did you get the names/numbers of the revenue collection officers who turned up at the scene? Sounds like this guy is completely in the wrong, morraly and legally, yet you were treated like the criminal... Amazing how our justice system works!

[Aero-M]

They let it drive off despite being out of tax?

 

Yes, and all the accident damage, and original axle damage. I'm so pissed off that the Knob has done it on purpose, and got away with it, and the defects. I wonder if traffic officers had of attended it would have been dealt with different.

[Aero-M]

I agree! Did you take pictures? did you get the names/numbers of the revenue collection officers who turned up at the scene? Sounds like this guy is completely in the wrong, morraly and legally, yet you were treated like the criminal... Amazing how our justice system works!

 

Didn't get any pictures, I don't have the names of the police officers but should be able to find out either when we receive their write up of events or by ringing up. really angry about how they dealt with it, been sitting here thinking about it more and more.

When we first saw him and his car was snacking up the road, there were pedestrians on the paths that he could so have easily hit by his stupid behaviour, let alone what happened to my van.

I think I will go to the station tomorrow because he won't learn if he gets away with it, I can't beleive the police would let him get away with it like they have so far. I really believe it's all to do with what the police said about saving money by not purshuing (can't spell that) incidents were no one got injured.

[nevins]

Sounds to me that the police new the lad driving imho, and let him get away with it.

[comorin219]

did they check his insurance?

[dude]

There is no way you can do anything about Dangerous driving, that was down to the police and you have no independant witness', the worst part is that if he does not notify his insurance company they will not even acknowledge an accident , you will have to pursue him thru the small claims court which will result in a £ a week offer !!!!!! I know the best way to sort this out but we prob should not go into that here!!!!

[pistonbroke]

Sorry to hear this matey, I can only apologise for the lack of service you seem to have recieved from the Police. From the events you've described, it does seem that the officers have fallen short slightly on their duty. It's true they don't have to report 'damage only' accidents. But if there are other offences present, they still have to deal with them. Even if they didn't want too, they could have called down an Oscar (traffic) unit to attend and report an their behalf. The rats would be more than happy to do so, as their return of work is judged by amount of process. If I were in your shoes, I would take the following course of action :-

 

1) Obviously report the matter to your insurance, you have the other drivers details and reg number to provide to them, so there's no way he'll get away with not informing his insurance company. When informing them, tell them about the previous damage you noticed on his car prior to the accident, and that you feel it was wholly contributory to the accident occuring. Tell them you were informed by the driver that he got bored of waiting for recovery, so he decided to drive the car home. They will then be able to trace the request he made for recovery, in the request, he would have told the recovery the nature of the damage so they could sent out a suitable recovery vehicle, this aids your allegation that the car was unfit to drive at the time of the accident.

 

2) Go to the front office of your nearest police station and ask to speak to the duty officer. He's the inpector in charge of the station and inform him of the events. He'll then investigate on your behalf using the CAD number generated at the time of the 999 call as reference, he'll be able to obtain the attending officers identity, and look into any wrongdoing on their part. He can also potentially inform traffic possibly to take up investigating any alleged offences.

 

The above advice is obviously given impartially based on the information you've described above, if you've chosen to withhold information which paints it in a different light, that's down to you. Hope this helps.

[Josh]

If you know where he lives, pay him a visit.. I'm not saying go round and whoop him but if you know it was on purpose then see what he has to say about it.

 

If that doesn't work then go complain to the police.

[dude]

Sorry to hear this matey, I can only apologise for the lack of service you seem to have recieved from the Police. From the events you've described, it does seem that the officers have fallen short slightly on their duty. It's true they don't have to report 'damage only' accidents. But if there are other offences present, they still have to deal with them. Even if they didn't want too, they could have called down an Oscar (traffic) unit to attend and report an their behalf. The rats would be more than happy to do so, as their return of work is judged by amount of process. If I were in your shoes, I would take the following course of action :-

 

1) Obviously report the matter to your insurance, you have the other drivers details and reg number to provide to them, so there's no way he'll get away with not informing his insurance company. When informing them, tell them about the previous damage you noticed on his car prior to the accident, and that you feel it was wholly contributory to the accident occuring. Tell them you were informed by the driver that he got bored of waiting for recovery, so he decided to drive the car home. They will then be able to trace the request he made for recovery, in the request, he would have told the recovery the nature of the damage so they could sent out a suitable recovery vehicle, this aids your allegation that the car was unfit to drive at the time of the accident.

 

2) Go to the front office of your nearest police station and ask to speak to the duty officer. He's the inpector in charge of the station and inform him of the events. He'll then investigate on your behalf using the CAD number generated at the time of the 999 call as reference, he'll be able to obtain the attending officers identity, and look into any wrongdoing on their part. He can also potentially inform traffic possibly to take up investigating any alleged offences.

 

The above advice is obviously given impartially based on the information you've described above, if you've chosen to withhold information which paints it in a different light, that's down to you. Hope this helps.

 

He can report it to his insurance company all he likes, if the other driver does not report it to his then as far as they are concerned there is no accident, even more difficult is if he does not have the other drivers policy number etc. I speak from experience. The police won't help far to difficult for them and no ££££ in it.

[Swampy442]

Ive seen enough Road Wars on telly to know that if your car isnt taxed they impound it for an amount of days, and if its not reclaimed they crush it. Suffolk Police are lacking in that area alone. First off glad nobody was hurt but secondly smacks of really lazy police work.

[Septic]

Like Dude says, there is a way to sort it out but, me being in the legal profession, I can't state what it is.

 

Sorry to hear this. What a complete utter fucking dick

[Ian C]

Ive seen enough Road Wars on telly to know that if your car isnt taxed they impound it for an amount of days, and if its not reclaimed they crush it. Suffolk Police are lacking in that area alone. First off glad nobody was hurt but secondly smacks of really lazy police work.

 

Yeah but they are on telly at that point, that's why they are polite and competent

 

I'm sadly unsurprised that they couldn't get rid of the OP fast enough to get back to, errrr, catching white male taxpayers doing 3mph over the limit on a clear dual carriageway I guess.

[ScottC]

I'm sadly unsurprised that they couldn't get rid of the OP fast enough to get back to, errrr, catching white male taxpayers doing 3mph over the limit on a clear dual carriageway I guess.

 

Or handing out £60 fines and claiming they witnessed you throw an empty plastic pint out of the drivers window.

[Hammer]

Sad day for you mate. Sorry to say the possibility of him having any insurance if he had no tax is pretty much none. That is going to leave you with a really frustrating and misrable time ahead trying to get any compensation. Sounds like the police acted as expected - did nothing to help the injured party.

Bad deal all round for you I think.

[Pete]

When I got back to our office which was just down the road his mother turned up asking if I was the one who had the accident with her son, They only live a few doors from our office it turns out, she also knows my boss, She asked what happened so I told her and she started crying saying she can quite beleive it, he is a nightmare and has made her life a misery. Put her in hospital numerous times, had her arrested etc and he has ADHD.

In terms of insurance claim hopefully that'll work its way out.

As for you wanting to see a punishment I would say having let the situation calm down you and your boss drop by with his mum as witness and see what he has to say for himself.

If he's regretful and repentant then for the families sake I'd make him understand how lucky he's been and for him to regard this as a wake up call. On the other hand if he's just in your face then I'd pursue the lack of Police action.

 

It depends on your boss really - it's his vehicle/business reputation at the end of the day.

[Terminator]

From your description of events it seems the police acted with total disregard for the law and a complaint is due.

 

From a completely different tack, this guy is a menace, if he is prepared to deliberately drive his car into another vehicle because he lost control of his emotions, what is he actually capable of doing to someone else. To date he has totally got away with it, even the police ignored what had happened, this could give him the mistaken belief he could go further next time. How long before he seriously injures someone or worse.

[Aero-M]

Thanks for all the advice.

 

He is insured, I was told to contact our insurance company to tell them what has happened, which we did today. As far as I can make out from the police is they will right a report and his insurance company will contact ours?

 

My boss has been to see him and he has asked us to let him pay for it rather than going through insurance as he is still young and will go up a lot. He is convinced it will only be £100, Ha Ha. I took my van to an accident repair place today and they have said it will need a new metal step, the plastic cover over the step, the end caps, The bottom panel of the van has been pushed in and also a new door.

He is going to cost it out and tell us monday but I imagine it will be the worse side of £1000. they said it will be £450 for the step alone as thats how much the last one cost.

 

As for the police I have grown up being law abbiding and understanding the police are there to catch whoever doesn't. All the road wars etc etc where people are abusive to the police and totally disrespect them amaze me, If I had done something wrong I would be scared of the police not abuse and threaten them.

This has really annoyed me that the police couldn't really care, made me feel like a criminal with the threat of arrest for public dissorder, let the moron drive off with the car in such a state, they did say they would follow him to his house which they didn't.

I definatley want to purshue this further as he hit me on purpose so therfore was in my mind trying to injure me, all because he has a screw loose. And the police should have dealt with it as some sort of dangerous driving offence.

[marbleapple]

Sorry to hear this matey, I can only apologise for the lack of service you seem to have recieved from the Police. From the events you've described, it does seem that the officers have fallen short slightly on their duty. It's true they don't have to report 'damage only' accidents. But if there are other offences present, they still have to deal with them. Even if they didn't want too, they could have called down an Oscar (traffic) unit to attend and report an their behalf. The rats would be more than happy to do so, as their return of work is judged by amount of process. If I were in your shoes, I would take the following course of action :-

 

1) Obviously report the matter to your insurance, you have the other drivers details and reg number to provide to them, so there's no way he'll get away with not informing his insurance company. When informing them, tell them about the previous damage you noticed on his car prior to the accident, and that you feel it was wholly contributory to the accident occuring. Tell them you were informed by the driver that he got bored of waiting for recovery, so he decided to drive the car home. They will then be able to trace the request he made for recovery, in the request, he would have told the recovery the nature of the damage so they could sent out a suitable recovery vehicle, this aids your allegation that the car was unfit to drive at the time of the accident.

 

2) Go to the front office of your nearest police station and ask to speak to the duty officer. He's the inpector in charge of the station and inform him of the events. He'll then investigate on your behalf using the CAD number generated at the time of the 999 call as reference, he'll be able to obtain the attending officers identity, and look into any wrongdoing on their part. He can also potentially inform traffic possibly to take up investigating any alleged offences.

 

The above advice is obviously given impartially based on the information you've described above, if you've chosen to withhold information which paints it in a different light, that's down to you. Hope this helps.

 

Sensible advice.

 

I know from my own experience that the Duty Inspector usually takes matters seriously.

 

He can report it to his insurance company all he likes, if the other driver does not report it to his then as far as they are concerned there is no accident, even more difficult is if he does not have the other drivers policy number etc. I speak from experience. The police won't help far to difficult for them and no ££££ in it.

 

Wrong on so many levels Dude. An insurance company will accept third party notification against their insured. You also forget that the Police attended so the guy can't say he was there etc. I have sued many an Insurance Company on PI matters that didn't know anything about the accident until my Letter of Claim landed on their desk. They won't dispute a rear end shunt and in all likleyhood wont even ask the Insured.

 

With regard to not having the other Insurer's details, there is a thing called a MIDAS seach that will provide all the details you need. Police, insurance companies and solicitors have access to MIDAS.

[Josh]

Thanks for all the advice.

 

He is insured, I was told to contact our insurance company to tell them what has happened, which we did today. As far as I can make out from the police is they will right a report and his insurance company will contact ours?

 

My boss has been to see him and he has asked us to let him pay for it rather than going through insurance as he is still young and will go up a lot. He is convinced it will only be £100, Ha Ha. I took my van to an accident repair place today and they have said it will need a new metal step, the plastic cover over the step, the end caps, The bottom panel of the van has been pushed in and also a new door.

He is going to cost it out and tell us monday but I imagine it will be the worse side of £1000. they said it will be £450 for the step alone as thats how much the last one cost.

 

As for the police I have grown up being law abbiding and understanding the police are there to catch whoever doesn't. All the road wars etc etc where people are abusive to the police and totally disrespect them amaze me, If I had done something wrong I would be scared of the police not abuse and threaten them.

This has really annoyed me that the police couldn't really care, made me feel like a criminal with the threat of arrest for public dissorder, let the moron drive off with the car in such a state, they did say they would follow him to his house which they didn't.

I definatley want to purshue this further as he hit me on purpose so therfore was in my mind trying to injure me, all because he has a screw loose. And the police should have dealt with it as some sort of dangerous driving offence.

 

I went into the back of a van a few years ago and the damage wasn't that bad. When I got the report/summary of the damage, the damage to the van was nearly £2000.

 

I'd ask him to either pay up the £2000 and get it fixed. If he doesn't have the cash and can't get it ASAP (which I assume he wouldn't) I'd just be a pr*ck and go through the insurance. It'll put his premiums up but will teach him a lesson. You never know it might stop him being able to drive as he can't afford it which could save the life of the next person he decides to crash into.

[dude]

Sensible advice.

 

I know from my own experience that the Duty Inspector usually takes matters seriously.

 

 

 

 

Wrong on so many levels Dude. An insurance company will accept third party notification against their insured. You also forget that the Police attended so the guy can't say he was there etc. I have sued many an Insurance Company on PI matters that didn't know anything about the accident until my Letter of Claim landed on their desk. They won't dispute a rear end shunt and in all likleyhood wont even ask the Insured.

 

With regard to not having the other Insurer's details, there is a thing called a MIDAS seach that will provide all the details you need. Police, insurance companies and solicitors have access to MIDAS.

 

So whats to stop him saying the OP reversed into him, he has a witness the same as the OP.