Hit by a TP who made off (again!)... with a criminal twist
Discussion
We took delivery of a brand new car this time last year. Within a week some scrote (apparently in a large white commercial vehicle) drove into it overnight and made off without leaving details. A large (fault) claim had to be made on my insurance to fix it.
Fast forward to today, and a young (mid 20s estimated) girl drove into a side street on which I was parked. It was outside the local school at home time and she came around the corner fully offside, without looking ahead once. She was otherwise preoccupied literally hanging out of her window aperture chatting to a pedestrian as she drove along(!). On seeing she wasn't going to look ahead and knowing she was approaching us, I sounded the horn in warning but she simply swerved left and into my wing mirror, smacking it into the side of the car. Minuscule damage, just a smaller-than-a-stonechip paint chip and small scrape in the clear coat on the mirror housing that later literally buffed away with a rough cloth.
However, after realising what she'd done she simply floored it. Full on tyre squealing acceleration all the way down the narrow street (two lanes, one effective central lane for travel due to parked cars on both sides). I phoned the police and managed to catch up with her a few streets away by sheer luck, having turned around to follow. She refused to stop and pull over when I indicated to her (i.e. you've just hit me, pull in) so 999 diverted units to meet us. Bear in mind I didn't know the extent of damage at this point, just that someone had slammed into my car making a loud bang, and driven away at speed. I wasn't letting someone get away with it twice!
I followed her at a healthy distance (around 6 seconds back) for almost 5 miles. Her driving was both appalling and dangerous driving at 50+ in a busy 30, almost hitting cyclists, pedestrians and other cars as she dodged from one lane to the next and back trying to lose us. She dove down some back streets in a big circle, but as she came back to the junction to return to the dual carriageway she met heavy traffic preventing her pulling out. I took the opportunity to pull alongside and slightly in front of her, effectively blocking her in. She 'innocently' wound down the window and asked what the problem was. I told her she'd hit me and to pull over so we could exchange details. She simply denied anything had happened. I mentioned the police were en route to pull her over and said I had it on dash cam (I didn't because I don't have one!), but it immediately spooked her and her story changed to 'yeah sorry mate I didn't see you', and prompted her to decide pulling over was suddenly a Very Good Idea.
Long story short she produced an insurance certificate, and told me her address was 123 Any Street. I took a photo of it, and asked for her licence so I could do the same (after blatantly taking a photo of the TP also). She said she didn't have her licence on her.
Then when the police asked me over the phone to confirm her full name, address and registration so they could check PNC and MID she decided she now lived at 321 Another Street. The police said those details matched the car and the address it was registered to, as well as the current insurance for it. As such they cancelled the patrols en route and asked me to call into the station to give a statement with a view to prosecuting her for dangerous driving and leaving the scene of an accident. The operator said she'd clearly heard the TP state she 'didn't see me because she was talking to someone out of the car window' and that they had a recording of it.
The TP begged me not to involve insurance as it's "expensive enough in this city already and it'll cripple us both". While I'm sure that's not exactly true for me, rather her, I did agree for such minor damage it was pointless. I remained surprisingly calm, and took the opportunity to tell her it was more the manner of her driving that had concerned me, and had she been five seconds earlier she'd have flattened my two year old instead of my wing mirror. If she "didn't see me" despite my horn warning and being hundreds of metres away from the point she first looked away from the road (never to look back) she'd clearly been negligent in her driving! She just kept apologising and promised to pay cash immediately for any repairs. Anything to make it go away and again she's so very sorry.
The end of the story? Nope.
Having got home I realised the insurance certificate - of which I took a photo - lists the policy holder's DOB (in the name the TP gave as her own). This would make the driver mid 40s, but the driver today was clearly mid 20s! There are no named drivers on the certificate, and moreover the name the TP gave me matched the policy holder on the certificate. I need whatever anti ageing cream she's using! I further noticed that the policy holder's mobile number doesn't match the one scrawled onto a slip of paper by the TP at the scene. The policy docs say the policy is only a few weeks old, so she's surely not changed her number that quickly?
Onwards to Facebook. The policyholder has an unusual surname and an unusually spelt first name. I found the one and only person of that name in this city on Facebook, and yes, she looks mid 40s. She also graciously accepted birthday wishes posted onto her profile on the DOB listed on the certificate of insurance. Bingo. Thing is, it's not the person who was driving today though! The photos are clearly of someone totally different. After more digging I found someone else on Facebook of the same surname, but a very different first name. Oh look, she's mid 20s and all her profile pictures look identical to the driver today. It also listed her place of work nearby. Tempting...
So, no insurance and probably no licence(?). I really don't want another claim on my insurance for five years, and after all there's nothing to claim for. I've had worse 'damage' just putting my own kids in the car for a day out. It's less than trivial, thanks to the folding action of the mirror when she hit it. However, it does sound like the police will be interested tomorrow. Or am I dreaming and resources are so low it's going to get filed under Bin? Will reporting her for this flag up on the insurance database somehow? As I said the damage is so tiny you'd have to know where to look and what you were looking for. It's less than stone chip. Careless driving, driving with no insurance and potentially no licence, however?...
I know it's pretty obvious it needs reporting in an ideal world, and I have the evidence to go with it (two names, Facebook photos, DOB doesn't match the driver's age, different phone numbers etc). However, I don't want to shoot myself in the foot while I'm doing it. Welcome to the real world I guess. So would you let it go? Is it worth reporting? Will it bite me? I invite your thoughts.
Fast forward to today, and a young (mid 20s estimated) girl drove into a side street on which I was parked. It was outside the local school at home time and she came around the corner fully offside, without looking ahead once. She was otherwise preoccupied literally hanging out of her window aperture chatting to a pedestrian as she drove along(!). On seeing she wasn't going to look ahead and knowing she was approaching us, I sounded the horn in warning but she simply swerved left and into my wing mirror, smacking it into the side of the car. Minuscule damage, just a smaller-than-a-stonechip paint chip and small scrape in the clear coat on the mirror housing that later literally buffed away with a rough cloth.
However, after realising what she'd done she simply floored it. Full on tyre squealing acceleration all the way down the narrow street (two lanes, one effective central lane for travel due to parked cars on both sides). I phoned the police and managed to catch up with her a few streets away by sheer luck, having turned around to follow. She refused to stop and pull over when I indicated to her (i.e. you've just hit me, pull in) so 999 diverted units to meet us. Bear in mind I didn't know the extent of damage at this point, just that someone had slammed into my car making a loud bang, and driven away at speed. I wasn't letting someone get away with it twice!
I followed her at a healthy distance (around 6 seconds back) for almost 5 miles. Her driving was both appalling and dangerous driving at 50+ in a busy 30, almost hitting cyclists, pedestrians and other cars as she dodged from one lane to the next and back trying to lose us. She dove down some back streets in a big circle, but as she came back to the junction to return to the dual carriageway she met heavy traffic preventing her pulling out. I took the opportunity to pull alongside and slightly in front of her, effectively blocking her in. She 'innocently' wound down the window and asked what the problem was. I told her she'd hit me and to pull over so we could exchange details. She simply denied anything had happened. I mentioned the police were en route to pull her over and said I had it on dash cam (I didn't because I don't have one!), but it immediately spooked her and her story changed to 'yeah sorry mate I didn't see you', and prompted her to decide pulling over was suddenly a Very Good Idea.
Long story short she produced an insurance certificate, and told me her address was 123 Any Street. I took a photo of it, and asked for her licence so I could do the same (after blatantly taking a photo of the TP also). She said she didn't have her licence on her.
Then when the police asked me over the phone to confirm her full name, address and registration so they could check PNC and MID she decided she now lived at 321 Another Street. The police said those details matched the car and the address it was registered to, as well as the current insurance for it. As such they cancelled the patrols en route and asked me to call into the station to give a statement with a view to prosecuting her for dangerous driving and leaving the scene of an accident. The operator said she'd clearly heard the TP state she 'didn't see me because she was talking to someone out of the car window' and that they had a recording of it.
The TP begged me not to involve insurance as it's "expensive enough in this city already and it'll cripple us both". While I'm sure that's not exactly true for me, rather her, I did agree for such minor damage it was pointless. I remained surprisingly calm, and took the opportunity to tell her it was more the manner of her driving that had concerned me, and had she been five seconds earlier she'd have flattened my two year old instead of my wing mirror. If she "didn't see me" despite my horn warning and being hundreds of metres away from the point she first looked away from the road (never to look back) she'd clearly been negligent in her driving! She just kept apologising and promised to pay cash immediately for any repairs. Anything to make it go away and again she's so very sorry.
The end of the story? Nope.
Having got home I realised the insurance certificate - of which I took a photo - lists the policy holder's DOB (in the name the TP gave as her own). This would make the driver mid 40s, but the driver today was clearly mid 20s! There are no named drivers on the certificate, and moreover the name the TP gave me matched the policy holder on the certificate. I need whatever anti ageing cream she's using! I further noticed that the policy holder's mobile number doesn't match the one scrawled onto a slip of paper by the TP at the scene. The policy docs say the policy is only a few weeks old, so she's surely not changed her number that quickly?
Onwards to Facebook. The policyholder has an unusual surname and an unusually spelt first name. I found the one and only person of that name in this city on Facebook, and yes, she looks mid 40s. She also graciously accepted birthday wishes posted onto her profile on the DOB listed on the certificate of insurance. Bingo. Thing is, it's not the person who was driving today though! The photos are clearly of someone totally different. After more digging I found someone else on Facebook of the same surname, but a very different first name. Oh look, she's mid 20s and all her profile pictures look identical to the driver today. It also listed her place of work nearby. Tempting...
So, no insurance and probably no licence(?). I really don't want another claim on my insurance for five years, and after all there's nothing to claim for. I've had worse 'damage' just putting my own kids in the car for a day out. It's less than trivial, thanks to the folding action of the mirror when she hit it. However, it does sound like the police will be interested tomorrow. Or am I dreaming and resources are so low it's going to get filed under Bin? Will reporting her for this flag up on the insurance database somehow? As I said the damage is so tiny you'd have to know where to look and what you were looking for. It's less than stone chip. Careless driving, driving with no insurance and potentially no licence, however?...
I know it's pretty obvious it needs reporting in an ideal world, and I have the evidence to go with it (two names, Facebook photos, DOB doesn't match the driver's age, different phone numbers etc). However, I don't want to shoot myself in the foot while I'm doing it. Welcome to the real world I guess. So would you let it go? Is it worth reporting? Will it bite me? I invite your thoughts.
Edited by rainmakerraw on Wednesday 3rd May 23:18
In my experience you are wasting your time involving the Police.
I had a 17 year old girl crash into my car which was parked in a 1 hour bay along the side of a high street. It was her mums car, she had no licence and wasn't insured to drive it and had no L plates on. Her mum was in the car with her and had just decided to let her daughter drive for some unknown reason.
It was a proper mess. Door and quarter panel. They tried to drive off after they did the damage but some passers by intervened and phoned the police who happened to be nearby.
They came back to my car to find the police in attendance. The gave me all the woman's details and pretty much left it at that.
I spoke to the attending officer a day or so later to discover that the girl didn't have licence, insurance etc. But they weren't going to do anything to her as she has "probably learned her lesson and no one was hurt".
I went fairly mad at the officer and told him I wanted her ticketed for the offences she had committed. He then had a go at me saying it "didn't work like that". Nothing happened in the end.
My own insurance company paid for my damage and then started a long drawn out process of trying to claim in back something from the woman's insurance.
And only last week one of my employees was hit by a driver who then made off, and he caught it all on his dahcam. He was following a Micra with L plates on, and the standard of driving was clearly that of someone who hadn't really driven a car before. Despite being wary of their driving and keeping well back, they managed to roll back several meters into him at a junction, and then in a panic of mad revving and trying different gears managed to make off nearly causing another accident as they went. When you watch the video it looks like a learner driver in a car on their own without supervision.
His car suffered a damaged front bumper and the learner driver had her rear bumper cracked in half by the impact.
He called the police and told them about the incident and said he had it all clearly on camera, and here we are a week later and they still haven't even phoned him back to ask to see the footage or go and see the other driver.
I had a 17 year old girl crash into my car which was parked in a 1 hour bay along the side of a high street. It was her mums car, she had no licence and wasn't insured to drive it and had no L plates on. Her mum was in the car with her and had just decided to let her daughter drive for some unknown reason.
It was a proper mess. Door and quarter panel. They tried to drive off after they did the damage but some passers by intervened and phoned the police who happened to be nearby.
They came back to my car to find the police in attendance. The gave me all the woman's details and pretty much left it at that.
I spoke to the attending officer a day or so later to discover that the girl didn't have licence, insurance etc. But they weren't going to do anything to her as she has "probably learned her lesson and no one was hurt".
I went fairly mad at the officer and told him I wanted her ticketed for the offences she had committed. He then had a go at me saying it "didn't work like that". Nothing happened in the end.
My own insurance company paid for my damage and then started a long drawn out process of trying to claim in back something from the woman's insurance.
And only last week one of my employees was hit by a driver who then made off, and he caught it all on his dahcam. He was following a Micra with L plates on, and the standard of driving was clearly that of someone who hadn't really driven a car before. Despite being wary of their driving and keeping well back, they managed to roll back several meters into him at a junction, and then in a panic of mad revving and trying different gears managed to make off nearly causing another accident as they went. When you watch the video it looks like a learner driver in a car on their own without supervision.
His car suffered a damaged front bumper and the learner driver had her rear bumper cracked in half by the impact.
He called the police and told them about the incident and said he had it all clearly on camera, and here we are a week later and they still haven't even phoned him back to ask to see the footage or go and see the other driver.
In that case Ninja I may well go with Plan B. Roll into her (professional, government regulated) place of work tomorrow. Catch her eye, and say "Hello Real Name, or should I say Fake Name?", then invite her to pay me for adequate repair and a polish lest I need to talk more loudly in front of her colleagues... 
rainmakerraw said:
In that case Ninja I may well go with Plan B. Roll into her (professional, government regulated) place of work tomorrow. Catch her eye, and say "Hello Real Name, or should I say Fake Name?", then invite her to pay me for adequate repair and a polish lest I need to talk more loudly in front of her colleagues...
Sounds very reasonable.I would do this for sure. Hopefully it will give her a little wake up call and put her off trying to deceive people in the future (we can hope!)
21TonyK said:
As others have experienced I was also hit by an uninsured driver who left the scene with me sideways across a dual carriageway and a £4K repair bill.
Absolutely no interest from the Police or insurance company. Chase her up yourself or forget it and move on.
Well, it's a civil matter isn't it. For the record, no, not in the slightest it's not. I know that the Police get a lot of stick, but in some cases they really do not help themselves.Absolutely no interest from the Police or insurance company. Chase her up yourself or forget it and move on.
Send a message to them both advising that damage is X, will cost £X to make good and that the police will be very interested in the dashcam footage you have of the driver who doesn't appear, from facebook pictures, to be the driver on the policy. Then shop them to the police once they've paid up 
"Hello, police? I'd like to report stalking and harassment by some bloke who has tracked me down to my workplace and is now demanding money from me. I'm a girl and very scared, he looks cross and is shouting."
They'll be more interested in that than a minor fender bender. Back of the van for you.
They'll be more interested in that than a minor fender bender. Back of the van for you.
Cold said:
"Hello, police? I'd like to report stalking and harassment by some bloke who has tracked me down to my workplace and is now demanding money from me. I'm a girl and very scared, he looks cross and is shouting."
They'll be more interested in that than a minor fender bender. Back of the van for you.
Yes, this is the danger. I would tread very carefully and ideally pursue the legal route.They'll be more interested in that than a minor fender bender. Back of the van for you.
Might your insurance provide legal assistance?
Or more likely "Hi love, you asked me to arrange repairs direct with you. Here I am to sort it out...", with the implicit foreboding of having your real identity busted.
If the police aren't interested in driving without insurance, possibly no licence, leaving the scene of an accident and providing false details, I hardly think they'd care for the victim turning up to a public place as requested by the third party to arrange restitution.
If the police aren't interested in driving without insurance, possibly no licence, leaving the scene of an accident and providing false details, I hardly think they'd care for the victim turning up to a public place as requested by the third party to arrange restitution.
rainmakerraw said:
If the police aren't interested in driving without insurance, possibly no licence, leaving the scene of an accident and providing false details, I hardly think they'd care for the victim turning up to a public place as requested by the third party to arrange restitution.
Ha! You're a bloke, she's a girl. You'll be the one who gets lifted. OP - you have already stated this young woman has appalling driving standards, doesn't pay attention to the road and has no qualms about causing damage and fleeing the scene of an accident. She is not above driving uninsured either and maybe doesn't even have a full licence.
You have already alluded to the fact she could have run down your child. How are you going to feel when there's a local story about some young woman maiming or killing someone and the face is oh so familiar?
She's a scrote no more or less, is probably laughing thinking she's got away with it (again??) and she needs to feel the full weight of the law, hopefully it might teach her a valuable lesson in life. Maybe not but if you don't report it she definitely won't learn anything. IMHO you have a moral obligation to report her in full (the mother has also been colluding in this matter or her daughter is also guilty of twoc).
You have already alluded to the fact she could have run down your child. How are you going to feel when there's a local story about some young woman maiming or killing someone and the face is oh so familiar?
She's a scrote no more or less, is probably laughing thinking she's got away with it (again??) and she needs to feel the full weight of the law, hopefully it might teach her a valuable lesson in life. Maybe not but if you don't report it she definitely won't learn anything. IMHO you have a moral obligation to report her in full (the mother has also been colluding in this matter or her daughter is also guilty of twoc).
I’d like to say “Report the scrote” but I’m also thinking “what’s the point?”.
If the Police DO investigate and IF the CPS prosecute and IF the Mag/Judge finds them guilty what’s the worst that will happen? She’ll get banned from driving (as if she’ll care), she’ll get a £200 fine (which she won’t pay, or she’ll pay at £5/month). All that effort and money spent… for what exactly? The most effective outcome would be to seize the car.
If the Police DO investigate and IF the CPS prosecute and IF the Mag/Judge finds them guilty what’s the worst that will happen? She’ll get banned from driving (as if she’ll care), she’ll get a £200 fine (which she won’t pay, or she’ll pay at £5/month). All that effort and money spent… for what exactly? The most effective outcome would be to seize the car.
anonymous said:
[redacted]
I was about 21 at the time and still at that age where you didn't challenge the police, didn't complain to them, didn't have a go at them and tell them you think they are wrong, you just take it and respect their opinion.Plus at that age I had spent the last 3 years or so being stopped by the police quite often in various cars for no reasons other than: It was a nice car/I was young/it was late at night (delete as appropriate). So I was quite wary of the police as my interactions with them to that point hadn't been positive at all.
And here we are with me now aged 37 and I still haven't had a positive experience with them.
Myself and my close family members have been the victims of crime numerous times in the last 20 years or so (Burglary, fraud, theft, attempted theft, aforementioned traffic incident etc) and not one single one of them has been 'solved' for want of a better world, yet they have happily wasted my time on numerous occasions and never caught me doing anything wrong.
That, in a nutshell is why I have absolutely no time or respect for the police despite being a law abiding middle class citizen.
Am I wrong in thinking that unless someone is hurt the police tend to let you sort it out yourself? If that's the case then if you are in the car when you have a knock then would it not be prudent to have some sort of injury (not ambulance chasing blame for claim or anything that immoral) just to ensure it is properly dealt with? and recorded by said officer of the law?
Not that I don't think they do a wonderful job or anything, I'm sure they'd much rather hunt down rapist, paedos and murderers but someone has to enforce the s
tty boring bits as well. Too many uninsured, idiot, lying scumbag drivers out there at the moment and it would be nice to see my premium actually go down for once.
Not that I don't think they do a wonderful job or anything, I'm sure they'd much rather hunt down rapist, paedos and murderers but someone has to enforce the s
tty boring bits as well. Too many uninsured, idiot, lying scumbag drivers out there at the moment and it would be nice to see my premium actually go down for once. Gassing Station | Speed, Plod & the Law | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff