Hit and Run - advice needed!

LynnF

On 5th April a vehicle smashed into my car at 3am while it was parked in front of my house. I believe the vehicle to be a lorry as we have a serious problem with them being re-directed by sat nav down our road. My car is now a right off and there do not appear to be any witnesses to the incident. I obtained a full police report and the officer was extremely supportive but feel that the report will not be able to help in any way. Basically it seems as though I may as well have driven my car into a wall myself. The only CCTV footage maybe from Floors To Go on the corner of my road (it's a very quiet road apart from lorries!) which could show which lorry it was although not the actually incident unfortunately. However the footage is not held at the local store and the Man I need to help has refused to get involved!!!

I'm so upset about the whole thing and feel absolutely furious that I can't do anything other than claim against my own insurance. I also need to start thinking about looking for another car and as I've not bought one on the last 10 years I don't even know the best places to look or what key things I need to consider/be aware of/be wary of before purchase (probably from a 2nd hand dealership).

Does anyone have any advice?

sassyblue

Hi Lynn, have you thought about ringing the head office of floors to go and getting advice from them, maybe someone there would be willing to help??

Also, try ringing the police and asking them if they can help getting hold of the footage, it is a crime after all.

Good luck.

LynnF

Hi, I've made 4 calls to Floors To Go head office but I can only get as far as the Receptionist. She was very helpful and gave me the security guy's direct e-mail address but this hasn't helped either. I'm planning on calling the police officer again tonight to see if he can help further. It's just gutting that there are 2 cameras pointing on to the road.:(

Hintza

Strikes me if the camera doesn't show the accident you will still struggle to prove which lorry it was. Can you get a VERY accurate timeline?

You might need to become a private detective on this one.

zappahey

You could try a subject access request under the Data Protection Act, if you believe that *you* might have been caught on their camera at that time. They are supposed to provide you the footage for a small admin fee, but don't be surprised if it was "unfortunately deleted".

bap98189

I think you are going to have to chalk this one up to bad luck and claim on your insurance. The police won't have the manpower to investigate it. Even if you get the CCTV footage, which sounds very unlikely, the chances of you making out a registration plate from a shop CCTV camera are pretty much nil.

atrixblue.-MFR-.

bap98189 wrote: »

I think you are going to have to chalk this one up to bad luck and claim on your insurance. The police won't have the manpower to investigate it. Even if you get the CCTV footage, which sounds very unlikely, the chances of you making out a registration plate from a shop CCTV camera are pretty much nil.

unless you can obtain footage of the driver hitting your car plainly on it, all you will have is circumstantial. no whitnesses is another downfall.

if your car is of old age, not worth anything much, perhaps just scrapping it rather than claiming from your insurer hiking your premium would be a cheaper solution, rather than claiming having them take a cut excess out of your payout for the car and not be left with anything much to go towards another car and having to pay higher premium next year and possibly lose any NCB youve accrued.

EDIT: dont know why its quoted bap? but hey the internet is its own intelligence really!

rancer

Ask the cops to go seize the CCTV - if you can get a decent time line and then show a truck and make out the VRM, the cop can go speak to that company and give them a traff 52 demanding to know who was driving that vehicle at the time as they believe the vehicle MAY have been involved in an RTC.

If the cop plays it smart with how they talk to the company they may get a 'cough'. It may be worth going down the lines of 'I guess the drive didn't notice, because it's such a big truck' then no offence has been committed and all they would need to do is cough up for the insurance etc:

Also, are there any cameras at the other end of the road that may show a damaged / marked truck coming down the road after having bumped your car?

Chances are the traff 12 accident report the cop filled in has already been written off though

property.advert

Get Plod to do their job or start barking at the Chief Constable. You pay their wages and they have to sing to your tune. They are public servants, not that many see themselves in that role.

Don't be fobbed off.