Witness to accident - obligations

[miniman]

I witnessed an accident 7 months ago and filled in an insurance company form at the time. Now some solicitor is demanding that I send another statement to them and are being quite shitty about it because I *shock* didn't send the form back within 3 days.

They haven't even bothered to specify the date or location of the accident and my recollection is a bit sketchy after 7 months.

Do I have any legal obligation to provide another statement? I don't object to doing so, but I do object to the tone of the solicitors who have written to me.

[g_attrill]

I think you must only comply with a witness summons from a court, anything else is you do up to you.

I think that anything you do write must be the truth.

It's possibly that either the form got lost in the post or lost in the solicitor's office.

Gareth

[timsta]

Write to them telling them not to be so damn rude and anything they want to hear they can take you to court to hear, with costs. You already provided the information and they got it.

FFS 3 days late! How much later is it now?!

You're doing them the favour!

[philthy]

Just a thought miniman, who is the solicitor acting for?. He might be trying to piss you off, so you dig in your heels, and become reluctant to assist (maybe it looks like his client is at fault, and you witnessed it).

Phil

[bph]

philthy said:

Just a thought miniman, who is the solicitor acting for?. He might be trying to piss you off, so you dig in your heels, and become reluctant to assist (maybe it looks like his client is at fault, and you witnessed it). Phil

Good point!

[philthy]

The reason I posted the comment above, was because this is what happened to me. The bloke who was at fault, his solicitor pestered me for loads of different detail, asking me if I was sure that was how it had happened. After several letters, and snotty phone calls (one putting me on hold until I got sick of waiting and hung up, they then rang straight back with a bolshey attitude), I contacted the other party. I told him to inform his solicitor of what was going on, and that I would happily stand up in court if necessary, to talk on his behalf.

That shut them up.

Phil

[miniman]

I reckon it was 50:50 to be honest. One numpty waved another numpty out in front of him in a stationary traffic queue. Lights changed, so numpty 1 drove forward whilst numpty 2 pulled out of his drive straight into numpty 1. I was directly behind numpty 1.

Solicitor is acting for numpty 2, who appeared to be 17 / 18 or so driving mummy's brand new car.

[nightmare]

eh? so numpty 1 actively encouraged numpty 2 to pull out and then moved forward into the gap they'd left and therefore got hit? weird!!

[Richard C]

quopte]They didnt even include a return postage envelope the stingy sods.
[/quote]

I return any forms like that in their envelope, unstamped. Surprising how many, esp market surveys, write back moaning that you did not affix a srtamp !

[judas]

I once witnessed a motorbike bike accident where the biker was driving like a maniac and ran into a girl tossing her into the air like a rag doll. I was sure she'd been killed - luckily not though. Called 999 and reported it and then gave my name as a witness to the police when they arrived.

Couple of months later had a call from the biker's solicitor laying it on really thick, saying that Doctor Biker's life could be ruined if he was prosecuted etc. Basically wanted me as a defence witness! I told them I saw exactly what happened and the last thing they wanted was me in the witness box supposedly on their side... Idiots

[IOLAIRE]

Some of these cases guys, can literally take years to resolve.
The last case I was involved in that ended up in court took 2 years and 2 months before the final proof.
The system grinds along at dead slow and stop.
The problem as Miniman pointed out, is that recall becomes very difficult after just a few weeks never mind years, particularly with the degree of accuracy required as a witness.