Apparently I backed into someone in car park...

teddyco

My elderly father-in-law was driving with his wife today in their Ford Mondeo and a black 4X4 was turning onto the street and hit their passenger side. The fella got out of his SUV, asked my father-in-law if he had a pen and paper to take his details, and then ran back to his SUV and drove away.

My father-in-law is a heart patient and was having trouble breathing from the stress of the hit and didn't think this fella would possibly drive away without helping him.

My father-in-law waited there for 10 or 15 minutes for the fella to return, but he never did.

It happened today in an area where there are CCTV's, and also in front of the Premier Inn near the M20.

I am driving him to the Police Station tomorrow to give a full report of the accident.

I lost some faith in humanity today....

hollie.weimeraner

BritRael wrote: »

This sounds totally wrong to me.

A couple of years ago my car was damaged in a local DIY store car park while I was shopping. Luckily, some workers there witnessed it and took the details of the vehicle which fled the scene. I contacted the police, who (as there were no injuries) were absolutely not interested as it was not on the public highway. Although sympathetic, they would not even help out with supplying name and address of the driver, so I contacted my insurance company and they sorted it out with no problems.

Why don't you speak to the fella next time you see him in this car park? Just walk straight up and start a friendly conversation. Most people are pretty reasonable. This fella is obviously annoyed that you appeared to have damaged his car and did a runner. Personally, I would have followed you! I don't know if you've mentioned your vehicle type, but if you have a sturdy one, it is possible that you could have touched him and not noticed. Both of you need to look at each others vehicles (at the suspected point of contact) and then make a decision.

The local DIY car park would normally be classed as a public place under the terms of the road traffic act (especially if the store is open) and as such your collision should have been classed as a reportable RTC. With regards to the nursery collision it will only be reportable if the car park is open to normal members of the public and not a private car park which would normally have signage or barriers or both to inform people of that fact.