How long should it take the police to respond? Updated - advice needed please

anewman

Mojisola wrote: »

In the OP's case - it can be very useful to get some photos on your phone of the aggression. It's difficult for the other person to deny being aggressive if you have pictures of them snarling at you.

Unfortunately it's not the sort of thing most people think to do when that sort of thing is happening. And when they're banging on your car and opening your doors you may just inflame them more.

Inactive

Equally unfortunately, we only have one side of a two sided story.;)

ceebeeby

I'm with the OP on this one! There's no way I would have stopped either.

OP didn't hit another car - therefore why should she stop.

Considerations - she had a child in her car and was heavily pregnant.

A stranger twice opened her car door (the stranger could have had a knife or anything, how was OP to know), was by all accounts behaving extremely aggressively, attempted to block OP's exits. This would have terrified me!!

You hear all the time about these sting jobs where people claim you've hit them, or they come out at you quickly and force you into them, then they steal your car, with or without children.

Only difference is I would have reported the incident at the time to the police from a threatened point of view.

hollydays

I agree I wouldn't have got out of the car if I had a child in the car,pregnant or not.
But I too would have immediately reported it to the Police,particularly if I thought I hadn't damaged another persons car,as I would have thought it important to protect myself from a false claim.By doing that you would have instantly shown yourself to have nothing to hide.

If you haven't reported this to the Police yourself by now,I think you should do so immediately,in case they come back to you in a month with " If this happened the way you say,why have you said nothing until now?" I It seems possible that they will have no witnessess any way,but I would cover myself in case. Hope your child wasn't too frightened,it was unforgivable for the other person to act the way they did.

raskazz

cyclonebri1 wrote: »

Can someone clarify this for everyones sake.

My understanding, and I can't say it's still the same but it was a few years ago, is that it is only neccessary to stop. Not stop for a chat or to exchange details, but stop.
Since the OP was stationary, changed from reverse to 1st, she stopped. I had this argument with a copper a few years ago after some clown hit our car then drove off. As he reversed then pulled round he had technically stopped.

Also the need to exchange details I believe only applies in the event that someone is injured??

Can anyone else give the definate answer?

The answer is in s.170 of the Road Traffic Act ("Duty of driver to stop, report accident and give information or documents"):

(2) The driver of the motor vehicle must stop and, if required to do so by any person having reasonable grounds for so requiring, give his name and address and also the name and address of the owner and the identification marks of the vehicle.
(3) If for any reason the driver of the motor vehicle does not give his name and address under subsection (2) above, he must report the accident.
(4) A person who fails to comply with subsection (2) or (3) above is guilty of an offence.

Subection (3) is intended to cater for situations where, for example, a driver is too frightened or intimidated to give details at the scene.

t_obermory

Thanks for the replies.

With the road traffic act, as far as I'm concerned there was no accident to report, so does that still apply?

She must have had my registration to report it to the police, but I've not heard anything from my insurance company, surely if she thought there was an accident worth going to the police she'd have made a claim with her insurance company too?

I guess I should have reported it at the time, to be honest though I put it down to one of those random incidents and given the way the woman had acted I wouldn't hear anymore about it. When I did get the letter from the police I said to my DH should I contact the police about her behaviour and he told me not to as they'd deal with it if they decided to take the investigations any further. Not sure if he's given me rubbish advice now, he's usually spot on with his advice though

I don't know what to do about all this now, my baby's due any day now which doesn't help.

raskazz

The key wording in the Road Traffic Act is "if required to do so by any person having reasonable grounds for so requiring". If there was no accident between you and the third party then it is hard to imagine that the third party would have "reasonable grounds" for so requiring the information, although I'm certainly no expert on that particular point of law.

hollydays

I would think the reasonable grounds for requiring it,would be that she BELIEVED it to be the case that you had hit her car.It presumably would be up to the CPS to decide if there is a case for summonsing you.I could be wrong. Reasonable grounds is a legal term the lay person should probably not try to define.It occurs to me that most police forces have a helpline,it might be best running this past them,you don't have to give your name and see what they say.

She may have tried to report it to her insurance company ,who have then insisted she report it to the police. The insurance side( so- called damage) and driving without due care (she may say you put her at risk by your driving),are linked but seperate.

Try not to worry though,it sounds like a storm in a tea cup.

cyclonebri1

Thanks for the clarifying replies.

It should then be simple. If the OP did not hit the car, no need to exchange details anyway and vehicle already stopped.

If, and its only an if, the OP did hit the car, she had stopped and could have reported it later.

Down to the OP I think.

Also could it have been debris/grit thrown up from the wheels that hit the other car?

t_obermory

Jeez, when the police knock on your door it should be requirement to say don't worry no-one's died.

Ok so I just had a policeman knock on the door wanting to speak to me about this bloody incident, I've arranged to go tomorrow.

Has anyone got any advice about what's going to happen, what I should expect etc?

He's really put the wind up me now, I'd forgotten about the whole situation until then