Car park prang - NO NOTE!
Discussion
I need some advice on how best to find the guilty party.
Let me explain...
3 weeks ago I drove my car home from the station and on exiting the car I noticed my rear bumper and lights had been badly damaged by a parking prang. It obviously happened in the station car park but I hadn't noticed when getting in my car and driving off.
Around £400-500 of damage caused. No note had been left.
I was incandescent with rage.
There is no way he would 'not have noticed' the impact.
The next day I arrived at the station early and watched from the bridge over the tracks( for over an hour) for any cars with recent rear end damage entering the station car parks (there are two big car parks either side of the railway tracks).
Unfortunately I did not see a suspicious car.
I noticed there was CCTV cameras in the carpark but they were placed a long way away from my car. I discussed the incident with the station staff but was told they do not have access to the CCTV cameras and I had to talk to the BTP (British Transport Police). To be honest I thought this would be a total waste of time but driven by my continued rage I decided to call. I apologised for taking up Police time with what is after all a relatively minor affair but was told that they were glad I called as a criminal offence had been committed.
I them my details and the date of the incident. This made me feel much better.
I heard nothing for two weeks and resigned myself to having to fix the damage myself.
Then on Friday morning last week the police called my mobile. The news was mixed. The good news was they had reviewed the CCTV footage and spotted the incident take place. The guilty party had reversed into my car whilst performing a three point turn and the impact was great, causing my two ton Shogun to rock violently. They could clearly see the guilty party as he walked through the ticket hall in the station and has a clear image of his face. To make matters worse the guilty man had been on the same train home as me that night and I had walked past him in the car park to get to my car.
To compound my rage, this bloke had actually parked right infront of me and proceeded to watch me get into my car and drive away with my bumper crumpled and rear lights smashed and dangling on a wire. He even followed out of the car park no doubt staring at the smashed light and wires. At no point did he stop me and fess up.
The bad news was that the Police could only get part of the guilty mans numberplate on the CCTV. The Police are uable to give me the part of the numberplate they do have because of the data protection act. This means nothing could be done.
The Police were very apologetic and offered to review some random CCTV footage in the coming weeks to see if the man could be spotted again. My heart sank. This is needle in haystack stuff. In consoling me the PC let slip that the bloke drove a relatively new dark BMW Touring, petrol blue, on a 58 plate .....
I know the car is not a commuting regular and probably only uses the station car park occasionally for trips to London.
Obviously I will perform regular sweeps of the car park to try and find him but is there any other way I can track down the s*d with the info I have?
Is there a web database of BMW's in my area etc?
Any suggestions gratefully received.
Let me explain...
3 weeks ago I drove my car home from the station and on exiting the car I noticed my rear bumper and lights had been badly damaged by a parking prang. It obviously happened in the station car park but I hadn't noticed when getting in my car and driving off.
Around £400-500 of damage caused. No note had been left.
I was incandescent with rage.
There is no way he would 'not have noticed' the impact.
The next day I arrived at the station early and watched from the bridge over the tracks( for over an hour) for any cars with recent rear end damage entering the station car parks (there are two big car parks either side of the railway tracks).
Unfortunately I did not see a suspicious car.
I noticed there was CCTV cameras in the carpark but they were placed a long way away from my car. I discussed the incident with the station staff but was told they do not have access to the CCTV cameras and I had to talk to the BTP (British Transport Police). To be honest I thought this would be a total waste of time but driven by my continued rage I decided to call. I apologised for taking up Police time with what is after all a relatively minor affair but was told that they were glad I called as a criminal offence had been committed.
I them my details and the date of the incident. This made me feel much better.
I heard nothing for two weeks and resigned myself to having to fix the damage myself.
Then on Friday morning last week the police called my mobile. The news was mixed. The good news was they had reviewed the CCTV footage and spotted the incident take place. The guilty party had reversed into my car whilst performing a three point turn and the impact was great, causing my two ton Shogun to rock violently. They could clearly see the guilty party as he walked through the ticket hall in the station and has a clear image of his face. To make matters worse the guilty man had been on the same train home as me that night and I had walked past him in the car park to get to my car.
To compound my rage, this bloke had actually parked right infront of me and proceeded to watch me get into my car and drive away with my bumper crumpled and rear lights smashed and dangling on a wire. He even followed out of the car park no doubt staring at the smashed light and wires. At no point did he stop me and fess up.
The bad news was that the Police could only get part of the guilty mans numberplate on the CCTV. The Police are uable to give me the part of the numberplate they do have because of the data protection act. This means nothing could be done.
The Police were very apologetic and offered to review some random CCTV footage in the coming weeks to see if the man could be spotted again. My heart sank. This is needle in haystack stuff. In consoling me the PC let slip that the bloke drove a relatively new dark BMW Touring, petrol blue, on a 58 plate .....
I know the car is not a commuting regular and probably only uses the station car park occasionally for trips to London.
Obviously I will perform regular sweeps of the car park to try and find him but is there any other way I can track down the s*d with the info I have?
Is there a web database of BMW's in my area etc?
Any suggestions gratefully received.
I hate it when people do that, someone did it to my wife's car, they got spotted and the good samiritan left a note with the registration, went through the insurance and they are denying all knowledge, might just let it drop and then when I spot it, drop a big fresh loaf on the bonnet 
Go back to the police and hound them.
My son's car was damaged in a car park with CCTV. He went to the police via the local council (owned the CCTV). They found the car and the owner, an elderly gent, and put my son in touch with him whereupon he was able to get the other driver to pay up.
Even if the police only have a limited number plate, they must be able to do a search based on "BMW 318"+"*58*"+"local postcode" and see what turns up. I'm sure they would use this method for a more serious crime.
My son's car was damaged in a car park with CCTV. He went to the police via the local council (owned the CCTV). They found the car and the owner, an elderly gent, and put my son in touch with him whereupon he was able to get the other driver to pay up.
Even if the police only have a limited number plate, they must be able to do a search based on "BMW 318"+"*58*"+"local postcode" and see what turns up. I'm sure they would use this method for a more serious crime.
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