[Sunnyshine]

Hello

Can you please advise on the following?

I unlocked my car while my daughter and friend ran ahead to get in to avoid the windy weather (both 11 year olds). I was stood a distance back waiting outside a shop for my mother in law to catch up.

My daughter called panicking to tell me the wind blew the car door open as she got in, and wasn’t sure if it nudged the car next to her, but the car occupant got out and took photos of her door and my reg number, and drove off before I had a chance to get there to assess if there was any damage. I didn’t see anything from where I was stood.

Where do I stand with this? Obviously, I’ve been unable to give her my details or been able to speak to her to offer to pay for any damage, or even be able to see if there was any damage to speak of. Should they have left me contact details, or were they within their rights to drive off?

I would obviously want to pay for any damage, if there is any, but I’m scared they’ll try and say I drove off or something when I didn’t, or try to claim when nothing actually happened.

i would appreciate any help and advice.

[TC1474]

The law is quite clear, it states -

If owing to the presence of a motor vehicle on a road, injury or damage is caused to a third party, then the drivers must

1. Stop
2. Exchange names and addresses of the drivers of the vehicle
3. Names and addresses of the owners of the vehicle (relevant is a company car or hire vehicle)
4. Exchange details of registration makes of each vehicle involved.

If injury occurs then insurance must be produced to anyone with reasonable grounds to so require those details. Note that insurance is not legally obliged to be produced in damage only crashes.

If non of the above is complied with then it must be reported to the Police as soon as practicable but in any case within 24 hours for the law to be complied with.

In your case, the third party clearly failed to comply with the law, and if there was damage even though the other driver was not the cause, the offence of failing to stop and report and accident is committed.

So from your point of view, if you comply with the law and report it to your local Police and get an incident number, you are at east covered from a legal point of view, and then as, when and if a claim is made against you, question why they drove off in non compliance of the law and why they failed to allow you to inspect potential any damage you vehicle may have caused.

This smells of a cash for crash scam

[Drivingforfun]

Does everything still apply if this happened on private ground like a supermarket car park? I thought there was no legal requirement to stop if it was just a damage incident

[Beelzebub]

Originally Posted by Drivingforfun

Does everything still apply if this happened on private ground like a supermarket car park? I thought there was no legal requirement to stop if it was just a damage incident

The law applies on a road "or other public place".

Whether it's private land is irrelevant, what matters is whether the public have access, which they clearly have in this case.

[Drivingforfun]

Thanks @Beelzebub, I wasn't aware of that

In that case, by the state of my doors, I've been the victim of crime about a dozen times in my relatively short driving career!! 😳

[Sunnyshine]

Originally Posted by TC1474

The law is quite clear, it states -

If owing to the presence of a motor vehicle on a road, injury or damage is caused to a third party, then the drivers must

1. Stop
2. Exchange names and addresses of the drivers of the vehicle
3. Names and addresses of the owners of the vehicle (relevant is a company car or hire vehicle)
4. Exchange details of registration makes of each vehicle involved.

If injury occurs then insurance must be produced to anyone with reasonable grounds to so require those details. Note that insurance is not legally obliged to be produced in damage only crashes.

If non of the above is complied with then it must be reported to the Police as soon as practicable but in any case within 24 hours for the law to be complied with.

In your case, the third party clearly failed to comply with the law, and if there was damage even though the other driver was not the cause, the offence of failing to stop and report and accident is committed.

So from your point of view, if you comply with the law and report it to your local Police and get an incident number, you are at east covered from a legal point of view, and then as, when and if a claim is made against you, question why they drove off in non compliance of the law and why they failed to allow you to inspect potential any damage you vehicle may have caused.

This smells of a cash for crash scam

Thanks for the helpful info.

I’m not even sure the car door hit their car, my daughter wasn’t sure. If I report it to the police am I admitting liability to something that I didn’t witness and not even sure if there was any impact?

[TC1474]

Originally Posted by Drivingforfun

Does everything still apply if this happened on private ground like a supermarket car park? I thought there was no legal requirement to stop if it was just a damage incident

As mentioned by someone else, the rules apply to any place where the public have access by payment or otherwise or the road is maintained at public expense, so the rules apply in a public car park which includes a Supermarket.

The rules apply just as much in a damage only crash as it would to an injury crash, the only significant difference as I pointed out is that in a damage only crash there is no requirement to produce any insurance details.

[TC1474]

Originally Posted by Sunnyshine

Thanks for the helpful info.

I’m not even sure the car door hit their car, my daughter wasn’t sure. If I report it to the police am I admitting liability to something that I didn’t witness and not even sure if there was any impact?

By reporting it you are not admitting anything, you are simply complying with the law.

Given the behaviour of the third party, work on the assumption that the door did connect, you are simply covering your ar*e.

If the Police say they are not interested in taking details, make a note of the time and date you reported it along with the name, rank and number of the person you speak to even if its a civilian SDO. Cover yourself.