No police action without corroboration

Roberto di Velo

I got chatting to a guy in our local hospital outpatients department (don't ask). Turns out that he'd had quite a nasty accident some time back; driver pulled out from junction onto him, resulting in a totalled bike and a crushed foot. 3 months down the line the foot is still not right and he's not been able to return to work.

However, what I found most surprising is that the police told him they couldn't take any action against the driver without independent witnesses. Seems crackers to me. Is this right? Is this normal?

monkimark

It certainly isn't right - I know of caseat least one case where the police charged a biker with careless/dangerous riding (i forget which) when they came off with no other vehicles involved or even present to witness it.

napoleond

Not right. You've got corroboration of the circumstance.

The Mechanic

Was this in Scotland perhaps. It is indeed the case in Scotland that a case needs two independent pieces of evidence for a conviction. They are trying to change this but when is anybody's guess. They powers that be seems to have something else on their minds just now. Something to do with a referendum.