Failing to stop after an accident

Live_Forever

Hi

Looking for any advice on behalf of a friend here. My friend returned to her car after work to find substantial damage to the car - basically somebody has hit it and drove off. There is a rather large dent which has knocked the wheel alignment, along with paint scuffed from the other car, which she's been quoted £500 to repair.

She was parked in the secure work car park (monitored by CCTV, security guards and controlled access to permit holders only). The car park holds around 150 spaces and she took the last space, so it could have only really happened between 3pm and 5pm when staff were leaving.

Work have refused access to CCTV footage due to data protection, and say that part of the car park isn't covered by CCTV anyway (despite it being fairly close to the entrance which definitely is covered, and there is a number of cameras dotted around anyway).

They've been very un co-operative though and have advised not to pursue it as they "aren't liable." Nobody is suggesting they are, but they do hold CCTV and have details of all permit holders so could identify the culprit from the reg (if found).

Does anyone have any advice? Long shot I know, but £500 is a lot to pull out in the current climate.

Cheers

sassy_one

Insurance claim? - I would hope she was insured.

Regards failing to stop, the offence is there but there is a lot of evidence required to secure a prosecution against someone for that offence.

The CCTV would go in her favor in order to attempt to get teh Police to do something.
To go past the DPA (Data Protection Act) as you stated, the Police will need to make a request under PACE (Police and Criminal Evidence Act) for DPA to be breached in line with a criminal inquiry.

Many people have asked what you are on here in the past, I myself have been a victim of someone Failing to stop after hitting my car, the Police however are rarely interested due to lack of public funds, time and simply most cases they can't secured a conviction, specially as your friend's incident was in a private owned car park, it would lead to civil law - so I doubt the Police would touch her case.
It would be a small claims court job, and would cost upfront a lot, and you risk a lot losing the case, which sounds like she'll lose.


Sadly it's one of those things, it happens and there isn't anything we can personally do about it.

sarahg1969

Your friend or her insurers could make a request under ss29 and 35 of the DPA (for the purposes of detecting a crime, or in anticipation of court proceedings). Alternatively, as sassy-one suggests, she could report the matter to the police, and they may take a look at the CCTV (but don't hold your breath). I suggest she tells her employers that they must retain the evidence and tries to get her insurers to take on the case. Alternatively, she could try to make the request for the information herself, as above.

My husband's car was badly damaged in a leisure centre car park, and we requested the CCTV footage, which they were happy for us to see. After we'd seen it, the police came and took a look, and the "gentleman" who vandalised the car was given a formal caution and paid for the repairs.

System

Would 'failing to stop' hold water on what is obviously private land, not open to the public?

Kilty_2

!!!!!! wrote: »

Would 'failing to stop' hold water on what is obviously private land, not open to the public?

If there is no public access at all to the land, the Road Traffic Act doesn't apply....

King_Nothing

Criminal damage would still apply though.

hollie.weimeraner

King_Nothing wrote: »

Criminal damage would still apply though.

Crininal damage wouldn't apply as there has to be intent. Although "reckless" is also in the definition, with it being a vehicle collision the police never treat collisions as criminal damage (unless they can prove it was deliberate of course).

mikey72

Not 100% sure if they can claim they aren't liable.
They control the access
They have security
They monitor by cctv
So the only people there, are people they are responsible for allowing on, and they maintain a watch on them as well.
So they may have a degree of liability, despite the stock excuse of parked at owners risk.
They are allowed to look at the footage, and they can advise what's on it.

redlooney

RTC on private land - not a police matter

vaio

Sarahg's view gets my vote

The RTA duty to stop etc applies to "road or other public place". The CPS define public place as "a place to which the public, or part thereof, have access." I'd say that the workers who park there are "public or part thereof" and the duty to stop etc does apply.

Having said that, the police are unlikely to be interested but the car park operators should provide the CCTV coverage as per Sarah's post and once you’ve done the hard work and identified the culprit they probably will get involved

System

vaio wrote: »

The CPS define public place as "a place to which the public, or part thereof, have access." I'd say that the workers who park there are "public or part thereof" and the duty to stop etc does apply.

I would disagree. Using your argument all places would be public as anybody who can enter them is by definition a member of the public.

The car park is secure I.E. entry is controlled. The only people entitled to use it, and it is controlled as such, are the employees of the company. As such they are there for a specific reason and not as a member of the public.