Help! Clipped by car on zebra crossing in carpark

GT60

Altarf wrote: »

A car park is a "public place" and someone driving dangerously or carelessly could still be prosecuted. As a car park normally has a lot of pedestrians moving around, a driver should take account of this and drive accordingly. Running over someone on a black and white striped piece of tarmac, wouldn't meet that test.

If you have the registration number, I would report it to the police.

Wrong a car park on private land is only a public place IF there is a pay and display ticket machine or some other way making a payment for parking.
Thus you are inviting the public to come and pay to park on your land.
Was told this by the L.A. when some muppet hit our car in a hospital car park and the police said it was private land.
Niall

hollie.weimeraner

niall24 wrote: »

Wrong a car park on private land is only a public place IF there is a pay and display ticket machine or some other way making a payment for parking.
Thus you are inviting the public to come and pay to park on your land.
Was told this by the L.A. when some muppet hit our car in a hospital car park and the police said it was private land.
Niall

Sorry but you're incorrect. A public place is any place where the public have access by payment or otherwise. This includes pub car parks, hospital car parks, supermarket car parks etc etc. Very simply they only become private when and if the premises close OR if there are local prohibitions such as staff only parking areas. In your case if you weren't parked in a designated parking area you may have been in a private area which is not covered by the road traffic act which means the Police have no powers, it doesn't mean that your insurers could not pursue a civil case though.

Regarding the OP this is a reportable Road Traffic Collision under the terms of the Road Traffic Act if the person struck by the car suffers an injury. By definition the crossing cannot be a zebra crossing but would be a recognised crossing area which would be taken into account by any investigating officer.

As with a lot of threads involving law and especially Road Traffic Law there has been a lot of supposition and speculation in this thread and its original poster is noticeably absent for some reason. I do speak from a position of some knowledge as I deal with RTC's on a daily basis. Public places are open to debate and in some cases the final decision on whether a place is private or public is decided in a court of law.

Wig

niall24 wrote: »

Wrong a car park on private land is only a public place IF there is a pay and display ticket machine or some other way making a payment for parking.
Thus you are inviting the public to come and pay to park on your land.
Was told this by the L.A. when some muppet hit our car in a hospital car park and the police said it was private land.
Niall

AFAIK "public place" in the RTA has not been defined, but a court would use a wide ranging definition to include any place the public has open access to. This may even include places that are open but the public do not have permission to enter, the fact that the public can enter unchallenged may make the place public.

Also why were you talking to the police about the incident? Because different sections of the RTA introduced "public place" in different years. It could be at the time you asked the police they were correct and it was at that time for that purpose (that you asked about) not covered in the RTA.