Not sure what to do after RTA

[Wing Commander]

Hi all

Been a long time since I have been involved in an RTA and today's one was a bit odd anyway, so wanted to get advice.

I was coming along a national speed limit A road, single lane each way. Traffic was light so moved at NSL. There is a roundabout at the end, and traffic is normally 200-300m from that, back up the A road I was on. I slowed down for that, as did the HGV behind me, and we crept forward, stop start for 100m or so.

When I was stopped, I felt a bump. It was similar to the thump you get when you think you are stationary, and you think you are out of gear but you aren't, so you drop the clutch and immediately stall.

Except this was the HGV behind me, as he hit me (3-5mph estimated). Caught me by surpise but then the big shock was he carried on pushing my car, probably for about 50-80m down the road. I had no room to pull left or right safely, and the car in front had moved off due to the traffic clearing slightly. So I was left in the position of sitting on my horn, waving out the window trying to get the driver's attention. After about 50-80m, he stopped, and we both got out. He said he didn't see me because of the sun, but then when we had safely moved the vehicles off a side road at the roundabout, he admitted to me that he was focused too much on his satnav. #understatement.

In fairness to him, he was very apologetic, and gave over all the details, such as his name and company he works for (confirmed by a blank delivery slip he filled out all the details on. I have his name, the company he works for, the reg of the truck, photos of my car and his truck, and the haulage company he works for has just sent over their insurance details.

I rang 101, who couldn't have cared less (no one was hurt), but I just wanted to check that I hadn't missed anything? Strangly, the truck is parked across from my work as that is where they are making their delivery.

So, anything else I need before I proceed with going through their insurers?

Damage to their truck is light, but my plastic bumper is gone. No other visibile damage. My car is an 09 318i E91 estate, in white.

Cheers

[markjmd]

If that was me, I would have called 999, to report careless/dangerous driving. Irrelevant whether anyone actually was injured, someone easily could have been, and badly.

[Pothole]

markjmd said:

If that was me, I would have called 999, to report careless/dangerous driving. Irrelevant whether anyone actually was injured, someone easily could have been, and badly.

First question "what is your emergency?" Don't tie up an emergency operator for an insurance job, you fool.

[Mabbs9]

Was this guy in any way fit to drive? That's a lot more than a button press on the satnav.

[Terzo123]

If its a fairly large hauling company, they will probably quite happily deal with you direct as apposed to go through insurance.

Speak to their head office and find out. Then get a quote from your preferred body shop and they will cover the cost.

That is unless you have suffered an injury, then insurance all the way.

[Wing Commander]

Pothole said:

markjmd said:

If that was me, I would have called 999, to report careless/dangerous driving. Irrelevant whether anyone actually was injured, someone easily could have been, and badly.

First question "what is your emergency?" Don't tie up an emergency operator for an insurance job, you fool.

I'm inclined to agree. There was no immediate threat to life, and no injuries at all. Just someone being less than careless. I appreciate it could have been worse, if he was faster etc.

For this reason, I went off to work after the incident and called 101, for what good it did

[Wing Commander]

Mabbs9 said:

Was this guy in any way fit to drive? That's a lot more than a button press on the satnav.

In fairness to the driver, he seemed completely with it, very polite and apologetic.

I agree, it was more than a press on a button, and I was pretty pissed off with his first response out of his cab, that he didn't see me because of the sun. It was only after we got somewhere safe that he changed that to "If I'm being honest, I was concentrating way too much on my sat nav", which I read as likely dicking around on his mobile, but I have no proof of that, and he did have a standalone sat nav stuck to his windscreen, to be fair.

[markjmd]

Pothole said:

markjmd said:

If that was me, I would have called 999, to report careless/dangerous driving. Irrelevant whether anyone actually was injured, someone easily could have been, and badly.

First question "what is your emergency?" Don't tie up an emergency operator for an insurance job, you fool.

Well, I don't know. Does taking an obviously unsafe driver off the roads not qualify?

[Wing Commander]

Terzo123 said:

If its a fairly large hauling company, they will probably quite happily deal with you direct as apposed to go through insurance.

Speak to their head office and find out. Then get a quote from your preferred body shop and they will cover the cost.

That is unless you have suffered an injury, then insurance all the way.

Zero injuries, not even a twinge of whiplash

Quite a small haulage firm, I believe. Their address is based off a farm, with 2 brothers who run it (both names, with their mobiles only, on their delivery slip)

Again, in fairness to them, I rang both numbers and the brother that I did speak to was very helpful, had already heard about it and quickly sent over the details of his company and their insurers, via email.

So, I think I should have everything covered off. Will call their insurers at lunchtime and get the ball rolling.

I assume that I should press for a BMW approved body shop? First impressions are that its just the bumper which is written off, and no other damage, however you can never tell whats happened underneath the bumper.

Cheers all - your help is appreciated

Edited by Wing Commander on Monday 14th June 11:31

[Wing Commander]

markjmd said:

Well, I don't know. Does taking an obviously unsafe driver off the roads not qualify?

I do get where you are coming from, but I think that the 999 line is for imminent threats. I will complete the forms etc on the local police website for RTAs and perhaps they will follow it up. Can only lead a horse to water in this case, but do appreciate where you are coming from. I would hope he is followed up with.

[wazztie16]

markjmd said:

Well, I don't know. Does taking an obviously unsafe driver off the roads not qualify?

I'd say no, not at that immediate time, or in the 10 - 15 minutes after when the details will be exchanged etc.

That's not life or death, imminent or likely danger to life etc.

[donkmeister]

A lot of hauliers have pretty decent CCTV systems these days on their trucks (largely to guard against fraudulent claims against them) so the driver may well be shown a video of your car being shoved up the road for 100m with you honking and waving, and asked to explain why the company has lost its no claims rebate and everyone's bonus is going to be a bit less that year.

[Muzzer79]

markjmd said:

Pothole said:

markjmd said:

If that was me, I would have called 999, to report careless/dangerous driving. Irrelevant whether anyone actually was injured, someone easily could have been, and badly.

First question "what is your emergency?" Don't tie up an emergency operator for an insurance job, you fool.

Well, I don't know. Does taking an obviously unsafe driver off the roads not qualify?

As an emergency - No...

[Wing Commander]

donkmeister said:

A lot of hauliers have pretty decent CCTV systems these days on their trucks (largely to guard against fraudulent claims against them) so the driver may well be shown a video of your car being shoved up the road for 100m with you honking and waving, and asked to explain why the company has lost its no claims rebate and everyone's bonus is going to be a bit less that year.

To be honest, whilst I wish no ill to the chap, I do hope he feels a bit of heat for this from his employer. He was clearly messing around, and I am thankful it was just me in the car.

If he does have CCTV in his cab, I guess that will help, although I doubt I ever will hear about it.

[Jamescrs]

So in essence what you need to do is contact your insurer, pass on details and let them deal with it all.

I notice you say OP your car is an 09 plate BMW 318i which has been pushed 50-80metres down the road by a lorry? If so don't be surprised if your car is written off by the insurers, the likelihood of further damage under the bumper is fairly high and in reality it's going to be considered a fairly low value car to the insurer.

[Pothole]

Wing Commander said:

Pothole said:

markjmd said:

If that was me, I would have called 999, to report careless/dangerous driving. Irrelevant whether anyone actually was injured, someone easily could have been, and badly.

First question "what is your emergency?" Don't tie up an emergency operator for an insurance job, you fool.

I'm inclined to agree. There was no immediate threat to life, and no injuries at all. Just someone being less than careless. I appreciate it could have been worse, if he was faster etc.

For this reason, I went off to work after the incident and called 101, for what good it did

There was no real need for that either. you have his details and insurance details, what more were you looking for?

[Pothole]

markjmd said:

Pothole said:

markjmd said:

If that was me, I would have called 999, to report careless/dangerous driving. Irrelevant whether anyone actually was injured, someone easily could have been, and badly.

First question "what is your emergency?" Don't tie up an emergency operator for an insurance job, you fool.

Well, I don't know. Does taking an obviously unsafe driver off the roads not qualify?

You tell me, you're the one who called.

[Wing Commander]

Pothole said:

Wing Commander said:

Pothole said:

markjmd said:

If that was me, I would have called 999, to report careless/dangerous driving. Irrelevant whether anyone actually was injured, someone easily could have been, and badly.

First question "what is your emergency?" Don't tie up an emergency operator for an insurance job, you fool.

I'm inclined to agree. There was no immediate threat to life, and no injuries at all. Just someone being less than careless. I appreciate it could have been worse, if he was faster etc.

For this reason, I went off to work after the incident and called 101, for what good it did

There was no real need for that either. you have his details and insurance details, what more were you looking for?

I wasn't really looking for anything else, apart from being "belt and braces" that I had done everything required of me. As it happens, I just had a call back from the Norfolk Police RTA dept, and they confirmed that as we had both exchanged details, all was fine and that they couldn't care less (I added that last bit!)

Cheers all

[Wing Commander]

Jamescrs said:

So in essence what you need to do is contact your insurer, pass on details and let them deal with it all.

I notice you say OP your car is an 09 plate BMW 318i which has been pushed 50-80metres down the road by a lorry? If so don't be surprised if your car is written off by the insurers, the likelihood of further damage under the bumper is fairly high and in reality it's going to be considered a fairly low value car to the insurer.

Yes, I anticipate there may be further damage, although I think I was, at that stage, off the brake and just letting him push me along. But will just hand it over to insurance companies and let them see what is what.

Cheers

[Garvin]

80m to 100m! Don’t forget to claim for the four hugely flat spotted tyres you must now have!