Car accident - whose liability?

tortoiseshellcat

My son was involved in a car accident at the weekend. He was parked half on the kerb, on the left hand side of the road facing the right way. He checked his mirrors and on seeing the road was clear started to pull away. Unfortunately at this time a van came hurtling round the bend and up the road and crashed into the driver's side wing of his car, shunting my son's car forward by about fifteen foot and causing it to crash into a parked car with consequently that went into another car which crashed into lamp post. On the other side of the road the van crashed into my son's company van causing this damage to. The van driver drove up the road a bit then walked back saying he was in a rush to get his wife to the hospital so gave my son his address and told him to come round later.

I saw the van coming up the road extremely fast and also in my opinion if he was doing 30mph (the speed limit) he would have been able to slow down or stop even if a car had started pulling out, not career into it with such force that it sends a car flying fifteen foot forward. The bloke also admitted he was in a rush.

I phoned the police about it but they wouldn't come out because nobody was hurt, they said to report it to the police station because the bloke hadn't given his name, reg or details.

The thing is the insurance company have said that my son is at fault because he was the one pulling out...he genuinely checked his mirror and the van was not in sight as he started pulling out. So it looks like he is liable for it regardless of the fact that the van driver was speeding, driving without due care and attention and failed to give his details.

I'd be grateful if anyone knows if I can do anything about this...also I would have thought that the bloke should receive at least a caution for his out of control driving and failure to stop.

lisyloo

also I would have thought that the bloke should receive at least a caution for his out of control driving and failure to stop.

Do you have any proof of any of this? e.g. independent witnesses? video? CCTV?

One persons word against anothers is rarely enough for winning a civil case (for damages) and definitely nowhere near enough for a criminal prosecution.

However the driver MUST give his details to the police within 24 hours (this caters for cases of immediate urgency like wife about to give birth or cases of feeling threatened). It's against the law not to under the Road Traffic Act (there is a reference to the relevant law in the highway code).

Did your son get a registration number of the vehicle or does he have no details
at all?
Did the bloke come round?

tortoiseshellcat

My son went round to the bloke's address who wasn't in but the van was outside the house so he got the registration number. As far as I know he hasn't given his details to the police and seemed a little miffed that we had contacted them about it.

He did come round and told my son his insurance broker name but had no policy number. He was trying to get my son to write down what had happened for his insurance company (!) but I told my son he didn't need to do that .

Personally I also think it's gone against my son that he is only 22 and only been driving six months.

I feel it's really unfair that this idiot will get away with driving like this and could cause more accidents. I've seen him locally before when he drove at me and yelled at me down a road that was double parked when I'd stopped to let him go through when I should have had the right of way. I think he's just a generally nasty person.

ILW

tortoiseshellcat wrote: »

My son was involved in a car accident at the weekend. He was parked half on the kerb, on the left hand side of the road facing the right way. He checked his mirrors and on seeing the road was clear started to pull away. Unfortunately at this time a van came hurtling round the bend and up the road and crashed into the driver's side wing of his car, shunting my son's car forward by about fifteen foot and causing it to crash into a parked car with consequently that went into another car which crashed into lamp post. On the other side of the road the van crashed into my son's company van causing this damage to. The van driver drove up the road a bit then walked back saying he was in a rush to get his wife to the hospital so gave my son his address and told him to come round later.

I saw the van coming up the road extremely fast and also in my opinion if he was doing 30mph (the speed limit) he would have been able to slow down or stop even if a car had started pulling out, not career into it with such force that it sends a car flying fifteen foot forward. The bloke also admitted he was in a rush.

I phoned the police about it but they wouldn't come out because nobody was hurt, they said to report it to the police station because the bloke hadn't given his name, reg or details.

The thing is the insurance company have said that my son is at fault because he was the one pulling out...he genuinely checked his mirror and the van was not in sight as he started pulling out. So it looks like he is liable for it regardless of the fact that the van driver was speeding, driving without due care and attention and failed to give his details.

I'd be grateful if anyone knows if I can do anything about this...also I would have thought that the bloke should receive at least a caution for his out of control driving and failure to stop.

According to the highway code, you also need to look over your shoulder before pulling away. Mirrors alone are not enough.

At least he is not being done for careless driving.

rs65

In my view, the only relevant parts of your post are that the guy was proceeding along the road and your son pulled out into his path.

Your son is at fault.

It will be very difficult to prove that his speed was either excessive or contributed to the accident.

The issue about giving details has no relevance to the accident, nor does him previously yelling at you.

Sorry its not what you want to hear.