Car reversed straight into the side of my lorry.

[Baaaartz]

Hi all, I was driving In Goffs oak today going towards cuffley on the B156, a white van that was Infront of me at first has stopped in the middle of the road with no indicator or hazards to warn hes going to pull off any manoeuvre, for me it has looked like he was gonna turn into a drive that infact was on his right.

The van proceeded with the manoeuvre, he has turned right and went up the drive a little bit, at that point my lane was clear and I started to proceed forward.

Out of nowhere he has put his reverse gear in, and reversed with no hesitation, without even looking or giving it a second thought, he had clipped the side of my lorry.

After the incident I have obviously stopped, as soon as I have opened my door and started getting out, the driver put his foot down and of he goes, he has committed a hit and run.

Now I'm debating whoever's is at fault here, obviously as soon as my lane was clear I thought I have the right of way as he was on the opposite side of the road?
Also if he was going to pull of a manoeuvre like that I believe he should have done it with caution and not reversed like a complete idiot ignoring everything that's behind him? I'm not sure what he was planning to do maybe he wanted to turn around on a busy main road, however I find that a bit strange as there is a mini roundabout about 100m further down the road.

I have reported the incident to the police just incase something nasty was going to come out of it, sadly I didnt clock his number plate however with a bit of luck the cameras on my lorry would have recorded him as at the beggining he was right in front.

If this was to go down the nasty way, considering my boss will probably find out his number plate, who do you believe was really at fault?

Picture of the road that it has happend on:



I believe it is not a safe manoeuvre to do a u turn on a road like that when there is literally traffic coming from both directions, also I believe he should have warned people around him that he is going to be pulling off a stunt like that and not expect everyone to read his mind?

[surveyor]

You may well be right. or you could argue that his intentions were not clear and you jumped in a tad too quickly.

Tend to think he thinks he is guilty if he scarpered.

[Lonely]

50/50. He shouldn't have reversed into you and you shouldn't have gone ahead until safe to do so.

Was the contact obvious? Would he know he'd hit you before he drove off?

[Chrisgr31]

If he has turned off up a drive its hardly unreasonable to assume he is going to stay there. 100% his fault in my opinion

[Lonely]

Chrisgr31 said:

If he has turned off up a drive its hardly unreasonable to assume he is going to stay there. 100% his fault in my opinion

Only part way on a drive. Never assume - always be aware of what others may do.

[Baaaartz]

Lonely said:

50/50. He shouldn't have reversed into you and you shouldn't have gone ahead until safe to do so.

Was the contact obvious? Would he know he'd hit you before he drove off?

Definitely obvious, to the point where I'm unsure if his back doors of the van will open up without any help + I pressed my horn about 2 times when he started speeding off.

I appreciate your view on that though, like I said though he turned towards the drive with no indication whatsoever, when he started going up the drive I assumed he is going to park there, at that point my lane was clear of any obstruction so I started slowly moving off, never expected him to put reverse gear all of a sudden and without even looking at his surroundings reversing like an idiot, if he cant see a 44t lorry behind him then I'm not sure he should have a driving license at all.

As far as I have been taught never perform such manoeuvre unless first its clear to do so and you made your intentions clear to other road users, secondly look at your surroundings, this should be an obvious one?

He has pretty much blocked traffic from both directions, no one in their right mind will try to turn around on a busy main road when there is traffic freely flowing from both sides.

He is lucky he has hit a lorry and not a cyclist or a kid as there is a school near by.

Also, hes bit himself in the foot here, as regardless who was at fault, him doing a runner ultimately puts him at fault.

Edited by Baaaartz on Thursday 3rd December 21:16

Edited by Baaaartz on Thursday 3rd December 21:18

[Lonely]

Hopefully your wagon camera gets the reg and police can follow it up ok.

[Baaaartz]

Lonely said:

Hopefully your wagon camera gets the reg and police can follow it up ok.

My boss is not really bothered as the lorry believe it or not hasn't really got any damage on it other than paintwork from the van, few dents on a plastic side panel and a wheel nut cover that costs about 50 quid to replace.

We have reported the incident to the police regardless, they're waiting on the footage and the reg to be confirmed.

I'm just not sure why he has done a runner would or been so much easier stopping and talking it through, probably would even get resolved without any insurance claim if he didnt want to go that route as like I said damage to the lorry is bare minimum and could probably be fixed with around 100 quid.

The biggest damage was done to my pride, no accident since passing my hgv gone out the window lol

[Taylor James]

[quote=Baaaartz]

My boss is not really bothered as the lorry believe it or not hasn't really got any damage on it other than paintwork from the van, few dents on a plastic side panel and a wheel nut cover that costs about 50 quid to replace.

We have reported the incident to the police regardless, they're waiting on the footage and the reg to be confirmed.

I'm just not sure why he has done a runner would or been so much easier stopping and talking it through, probably would even get resolved without any insurance claim if he didnt want to go that route as like I said damage to the lorry is bare minimum and could probably be fixed with around 100 quid.

The biggest damage was done to my pride, no accident since passing my hgv gone out the window lol[/quot

Probably uninsured. I read recently there are around 1M/4% uninsured out there. I would not be surprised if it was higher.

[Lonely]

Baaaartz said:

Lonely said:

Hopefully your wagon camera gets the reg and police can follow it up ok.

My boss is not really bothered as the lorry believe it or not hasn't really got any damage on it other than paintwork from the van, few dents on a plastic side panel and a wheel nut cover that costs about 50 quid to replace.

We have reported the incident to the police regardless, they're waiting on the footage and the reg to be confirmed.

I'm just not sure why he has done a runner would or been so much easier stopping and talking it through, probably would even get resolved without any insurance claim if he didnt want to go that route as like I said damage to the lorry is bare minimum and could probably be fixed with around 100 quid.

The biggest damage was done to my pride, no accident since passing my hgv gone out the window lol

Several reasons spring to mind - no documents, disqualified driver, too many points already, stolen vehicle etc. It'll all come out in the wash.

Sorry about your bruised pride