Part rant and part request...

Some eejit reversed their car (red Clio) into my trailer while i was parked outside the Spar on Ecce Rd, just down from Hunters Bar roundabout last night at about 2:35am. As i was getting out of my car to inspect the damage the driver made a quick exit and drove off. Had this person stopped i'm sure it could have been sorted out in minutes, but as a passer-by got the licence plate, the police are now involved.

They did a quick check on the car details so know who the owner is but I now have to go make a statement at the station to make it official so the person can be charged. What a waste of everyones time. I know it's a long shot but if you were the driver or know who it was and want to avoid this, drop me a PM and the damaged light can be sorted with no official complaint being made.

In the meantime, anyone else been involved in anything similar and what was the end result?

-PK-

I know it's a long shot but if you were the driver or know who it was and want to avoid this, drop me a PM and the damaged light can be sorted with no official complaint being made.

Are you sure about that? I thought failure to stop is an offence in its own right & you wouldn't have any say in stopping things at this point.

Hope the Police track them down for you. It was lucky you had a good witness. People who do that kind of thing shouldn't be able to get away with it.

I think that 'failing to stop' is only an offence if someone is injured ??? could be wrong though...

Some 'eejit' reversed into my classic austin healey a couple of years ago. He then just drive off in a bit of a hurry. A passer by got most of the number plate but not all of it. I also got the make, model and colour of the car, but the police said they did not have enough to trace it......

So it was a full insurance claim and loss of no claims bonus.

Not fair :rant:

I hope you have better luck..:thumbsup:

I think that 'failing to stop' is only an offence if someone is injured ??? could be wrong though...

No it's also an offence if property or another vehicle is damaged too.

I think it's the police who decide whether to pursue a failure to stop though. Unlike the decision over whether or not a claim is made against the driver who caused the damage. Which I think is up the to 'injured party'

Fail to stop and failing to report a road traffic accident is the offence and the police will continue with this even if you state you do not wish to complain. The offending person has 24hours to report the incident but the law states they have to report it as soon as practicable.....
Hope this helps:thumbsup:

Originally posted by Siân
Are you sure about that? I thought failure to stop is an offence in its own right & you wouldn't have any say in stopping things at this point.

I'm not certain, but i think because i phoned the non-emergency line (2202020) and there were no available officers to come and take a statement at the time, they won't continue to look into it until i make a complaint at my local police station. West Yorkshire police will then pass it on to South Yorkshire and they'll follow it up. It's certainly not worth me claiming on any insurance, only a damaged light fitting which will cost around £20. Just seems stupid for the driver to risk points and fines etc over £20.

-PK-

I would make a formal complaint, next time it might not just be a £20 light fitting, it could be someones pride and joy.

I once visited the Design Studio, gadget and card shop on Ecclesall road, on my Suzuki motorbike. I parked outside on the street and put the chain on my bike and went in.
When I came out, my bike was on it's side on the road and the car which had been parked in front had gone. I was very annoyed. But as this bike was an old 250cc and had very little plastic, it had survived unscathed apart from a bent metal bit which I bent back there and then.
If it had been one of my later bikes it would have cost hundreds to replace shattered or scratched plastic fairing.

I had something similar happen just over 4 weeks ago.

Phoned 2202020, and reported the chaps reg' number, then had to go to the local police station, produce my documents and fill in the forms.

If you haven't already done so you MUST attend the police station and follow this up, you should do this within 24 hours, (or as soon as is practical), or you are also commiting an offence (apparently just reporting it on the phone isn't enough).
That's what they told me anyway.

After all this, I still haven't heard anything back from the police, so far.

Still not sure what to do next.

Morons like that don't deserve the chance to be able to settle accidents privately.

I hope the police take the appropriate action and it gives him an expensive lesson in how to behave on the road.

The only drawback is that if it's a young driver who had no insurance or who's renewal will now be so expensive they decide not to bother with any in future.

A friend of mine has just been to court over a DKhead who ran into his car whilst his wife was drving, he admitted that it was his fault and said he would pay for the damage. When he was contacted with the estimate he said they should sue him as he had a witness (who just happened to be his buddy) who would testify that it wasn't his fault. He won the case in court because she had no witness to back up her version of it.

ALWAYS report it to the police and never let it drop without getting a crime report number.:rant: :rant: :rant:

I used to work in motor insuarnce and the reason why your premiums are so high is :

1. Uninsured drivers

2: people failing to stop.

3. People lying about the circumstances,

How people can fail to stop I don't know. Maybe I'm to honest but I would have to stop.

Didn't have time on Friday but i'll be straight down to my local policestation (Chapel Town, Leeds) on Saturday to report it. It may be unrelated but electrics via the towbar seem to be playing up now, probably just a fuse or something but could have been caused by the jolt.

Re: Insurance costs. I recently considered trading in my trusty astra (117k miles and going strong) for a sierra sapphire retro beast. Was checking out the insurance costs online by swapping the odd option to see the difference in price and for a K-reg 1.8, 3rd party, a 25 yr old male, 7 yrs licence, no no-claims was around £1500. Changed to 1 yr no-claims dropped it to around £600. Just shows how one little bump could keep on costing you in the future. I could have bought the car for less than £500. Crazy.

-PK-

Was checking out the insurance costs online by swapping the odd option to see the difference in price and for a K-reg 1.8, 3rd party, a 25 yr old male, 7 yrs licence, no no-claims was around £1500.
-PK- [/B]


That is OUTRAGEOUS that quote!!! ....Ok its a much bigger car than mine but I pay £165 fully comp!!!!! Sometimes it pays to make the insurance company an "offer", saying you found it far cheaper somewhere else. Most of them automatically are so desperate for your custom they will often knock up to 45% off a quote if you haggle a bit....works for me every time....they cut mine by 45% after I haggled with them repeatedly. I should be paying over £300 according to one company!!!!

My car got hit in the Spar car park in Chapeltown.
I only needed to replace an indicator lens.
The kind lady driver left her telephone number.
I was so impressed by this, that when i phoned her, i told her that, for being honest, i would stand the repair myself.

About five years ago a certain lady driver drove right into the front of one of my now scrapped Fiestas while she was fiddiling with her CD player. She was very nice and aplogized and said it was her fault, which it was, and we swapped insurance details, etc. A month later I received a letter from the rental car company she had been using direct to me stating that her rented car had been written off and it was all my fault, and that they wanted around £14,000 to replace the rented Mondeo!!!! FAINT.......

I was somewhat shocked at this approach by her company and gave it to my insurance company to sort out, and after 3 months the claim for a new car was dropped as my insurance company gave them hell!!! Her Mondeo was inspected and was not a write off at all, but had a broken bumper and dented bonnet.......the most expensive garage could not have charged more than around £500 for the work. It was not structurally damaged in any way, just cosmetic.

I mean, who writes off a car with damage like that, me thinks the insurance company and care hire firm was pulling a bit of a twister there.

Originally posted by GimmeSomePK
Didn't have time on Friday but i'll be straight down to my local policestation (Chapel Town, Leeds) on Saturday to report it. It may be unrelated but electrics via the towbar seem to be playing up now, probably just a fuse or something but could have been caused by the jolt.

Re: Insurance costs. I recently considered trading in my trusty astra (117k miles and going strong) for a sierra sapphire retro beast. Was checking out the insurance costs online by swapping the odd option to see the difference in price and for a K-reg 1.8, 3rd party, a 25 yr old male, 7 yrs licence, no no-claims was around £1500. Changed to 1 yr no-claims dropped it to around £600. Just shows how one little bump could keep on costing you in the future. I could have bought the car for less than £500. Crazy.

-PK-

yeh but 1 year NCB gives you about a 50% discount. It may be cheaper fully comp. A lot of companies look at people witth 0 NCB and a powerful car who want TP cover as liabilities because they may not give a damn about banging their car up.

Originally posted by goldenfleece
About five years ago a certain lady driver drove right into the front of one of my now scrapped Fiestas while she was fiddiling with her CD player. She was very nice and aplogized and said it was her fault, which it was, and we swapped insurance details, etc. A month later I received a letter from the rental car company she had been using direct to me stating that her rented car had been written off and it was all my fault, and that they wanted around £14,000 to replace the rented Mondeo!!!! FAINT.......

I was somewhat shocked at this approach by her company and gave it to my insurance company to sort out, and after 3 months the claim for a new car was dropped as my insurance company gave them hell!!! Her Mondeo was inspected and was not a write off at all, but had a broken bumper and dented bonnet.......the most expensive garage could not have charged more than around £500 for the work. It was not structurally damaged in any way, just cosmetic.

I mean, who writes off a car with damage like that, me thinks the insurance company and care hire firm was pulling a bit of a twister there.

that would be a credit hire company. Accident madam? Surely wasn't your fault was it? Stiff neck? Oops just repeatedly smashed a hammer into your car.....

Sadly I've been involved in such an incident and was very annoyed at the police who then didn't charge the driver.

Worse, the insurance didn't want to fight the case and would only agree 50:50 shared fault.

Since my car was stationary at the time I was not best please.

You'd have thought if someone refuses to stop or give details, they automatically get the blame, but no.