Police action following an accident.

Eric C

Hi,
Last September I was hit by a car. It pulled out from a side road while I had right of way.
The driver was not paying attention but stopped following the collision.
I was taken to hospital in a neck brace but police recorded details of the driver and witness statements at the scene.
I suffered injuries to my hip, cuts and bruises. My new bike cost £750 and was a write off.
The police told me to wait a couple of weeks before requesting the drivers details.
Following five months of frustrated attempts to do this, I have been told they are lost.
I did not have cycle insurance so am a bit stuffed, however, I am completely staggered and still can't quite believe this has happened.
Has anyone knowledge of similar situations?
regards
eric

Gambatte

Surely they can be sued for some lack of 'duty of care' and I thought coppers were in serious trouble if they lost their notebooks?

Have you tried contacting a solicitor?

cntl

>> The police told me to wait a couple of weeks before requesting the drivers details.

Now you know the reason why...

You should definitely contact a solicitor.

Cunobelin

I don't know whether they can actually help, but the http://www.mib.org.uk/Default.htm (Motor Insurance Bureau) can assist with uninsured and un-traced drivers.

Worth giving them a prod though. - A colleague of mine got her car replaced after an uninsured and drunk driver totalled hers.

ademort

I smell a rat here. Even a rookie police officer would advise that you get things sorted out as quickly as possible, to be told that you should wait a couple of weeks is a joke. Would definitely seek legal advice here. Good luck Ademort

Mithras

Something went wrong here, I certainly would have given you details there and then!
There should have been an incident created.
Go back to the police with the date time and location of the incident. All details should have been recorded over the comms system and be on the incident!

Eric C

Hi,
The police have a log of the accident and the CAD number, but insist the drivers details cannot be found.
I called the police following the accident and the officer who attended the scene said the driver was insured and the details were posted to another department who I should contact.
The details never arrived and from what I understand, either they were torn and posted from the officers notebook or the notebook was lost.
Bikeline, who are solicitors specialising in cycle accidents, are acting on my behalf and have contacted the MIB.
However they say it's unlikely I'll recover the cost of the bike and subsequent travel costs which are substantial as I cycled to work.
The MIB might pay injury compensation but this would get eaten by Bikelines costs would have been part of the settelement with the drivers insurers, which of course we thought would not be a problem.
regards
eric

Mithras

It's highly unlikely that a page was torn out of an offcers notebook. Possibly a lost notebook and or a missing RTC File.
Goodluck with it anyway.
Steve

richardast

At the very least, the car's registration mark should be on the police CAD message.
Even if they have lost the paper report, you should be able to find out the registered keeper of the car.

If you were injured, the police had a duty to report the collision. If they've lost the report and failed to furnish you with the other party's details then you should write a letter asking that they stump up themselves.

How long ago was it?

Eric C

The only information on the CAD was the location. It happened last September.
eric

ademort

Hi Years ago a friend of mine had an accident, only she was in her car and had just passed her driving test. At the scene the police officers on the scene were certain that she was in the right and the driver of the other vehicle was to blame. Funny enough she got details from the driver of the other vehicle involved and was told by the attending policemen that they would be in touch. She went and made a statement at the police station, but admitted later that the police officer who took her statement was acting very strangely towards her, as if she was to blame. The police officer told her to leave it with him and he would personally take care of it. A number of weeks past and my friend decided to call the police and find out what was going on as she had not had any contact from the police whatsoever. She spoke to a number of different officers and eventually spoke to someone who was able to inform her of what was happening, she was invited to the police station for an explaination as it was a bit difficult to explain over the phone. On arriving at the police station she was met by the same officer and told that the man driving the other vehicle (who was definitely to blame, as they said that at the scene) was a senior police accident investigater who was visiting friends in the area at the time. She was told that even if she went to court the chances were that she would lose as it would be her word against his and what the police attending the scene at the time said would not count as evidence.My friend got nothing at the end of the day and was really pissed off. What made it even worse for her was that she had just started training as a POLICE CADET,AND NO I AM NOT JOKING, Please see my earlier posting, and thats why i smell a rat. Bet if the driver had hit a police car they would be able to locate him or her. Greetings Ademort

richardast

I've got a friend, who's got a friend, who said that once....

The 2 week thing is not suspicious in itself. It would allow time for a report to be written. Supervised. Put in internal despatch. Collected by a courier. Taken to a local sorting office. Taken to the premises that deals with accident reports. Delivered to somebody's "In Tray". Catalogued onto the relevant database, then filed or allocated for further actions.
Think of a really big company with loads of different premises and think how long a piece of internal mail takes to arrive.

None of this, however, excuses or explains your situation 5 months later.

Why don't you go to or telephone the local station and ask to make a complaint. That way somebody will look into it and will end up speaking to the people involved.
If they have failed to discharge their duty to you, then you've got a reasonable claim that they should see you right financially.

el_presidente

If the cops can all get away scot free with shooting an innocent man in cold blood, I doubt whether you will get much joy with them losing driver's details that leave you slightly out of pocket.

Good luck though.

alfablue

I'm not absolutely sure, but I believe the police have "crown immunity" (maybe with the exception of manslaughter, health and safety and discrimination laws). Maybe a more legally well informed forum member can comment. If so, suing the police may not be an option, even though I think they should be accountable for their alleged negligence in this matter.

richardast

el_presidente may have unearthed a conspiracy here.
Perhaps it's the same officers involved.

Or maybe it's one of the other 30,000 that work in London and have never shot anybody.

There's no crown immunity. Anyone with a half-sensible claim can sue the police for just about anything.

alfablue

richardast wrote:

There's no crown immunity. Anyone with a half-sensible claim can sue the police for just about anything.

That is good to know.

el_presidente

richardast wrote:

.

...one of the other 30,000 that work in London and have never shot anybody.

Yet

ademort

Joined: 05 Aug 2007
Posts: 106
Location: Herts, UK.
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PostPosted 11 Feb 2008 12:04Reply with quote Report Post
el_presidente may have unearthed a conspiracy here.
Perhaps it's the same officers involved.

Or maybe it's one of the other 30,000 that work in London and have never shot anybody.

There's no crown immunity. Anyone with a half-sensible claim can sue the police for just about anything.
I just wonder how many people have sued the police and how many have won? greetings Ademort

richardast

http://www.met.police.uk/foi/pdfs/annual_report/mps_annual_report_2006-07.pdf

It's all in the public domain.
Look at the bottom of page 38.

sufferingpete

Accept that you are £750 out of pocket.
Count yourself lucky that you are ok.
Don’t try getting any recompense from the Police the term, David and Goliath spring to mind. You will safely be ignored and pushed to one side.
Learn that under no circumstances EVER TRUST A POLICE OFFICER.

Mithras

sufferingpete wrote:

Accept that you are £750 out of pocket.
Count yourself lucky that you are ok.
Don’t try getting any recompense from the Police the term, David and Goliath spring to mind. You will safely be ignored and pushed to one side.
Learn that under no circumstances EVER TRUST A POLICE OFFICER.

Good advice that..never ever trust a police officer. I mean what a useless bunch. You know there was a burglary the other day where someone left thier front door unlocked and somebody walked out with the a huge Plasma screen TV. They didn't get anyone in for it.
Oh and there was an innocent bloke in the town centre, drunk, high on drugs and happily shouting swearing and intimidating the public. The this copper approached him and like a real Nazi asked him to calm down and move away. Copper deserved the spit in the face he got from that poor Hep B sufferer and didn't deserve to get arrested.
Right bunch of tossers with absoleutley no interest in joe public and not to be trusted.

Gambatte

sufferingpete wrote:

Accept that you are £750 out of pocket.
Count yourself lucky that you are ok.
Don’t try getting any recompense from the Police the term, David and Goliath spring to mind. You will safely be ignored and pushed to one side.
Learn that under no circumstances EVER TRUST A POLICE OFFICER.

Read this and thought - Garbage!!
Wonder if Petes either a Copper or loaded. Wouldn't have thought theres many of us who can so easily write off £750+!!

Eric - talk to a solicitor / CAB etc. After that I'd probably be thinking of:

1 Official complaint
2 local newspapers

But look for that free legal advice first. (You're not a CTC member are you?)

Eric C

I will pursue this through CAB and newspapers.
I assumed the attendance of the police was a good thing.
Ironically, if they hadn't attended, I would have asked one of the witnesses/paramedics to get the registration and wouldn't have had to go through all this.
I'll know next time!