Help with Hit & Run

bruce9329

Hi, I firstly would like to say that I'm new to the forums and am looking for a bit of advice on a car on car hit and run incident which happened last sunday (17/02/13)

I was in the (correct) middle lane on a busy roundabout and was coming up towards a set of traffic lights which were red, as i was coming to a stop a guy in the inside lane clipped my drivers rear wheel arch. When the lights turned, i went off to pull over at the side, but the guy cut across the roundabout and took the first exit on the left, and made a run for it.

I immediately rang 101 and they told me to report it to a station (which had just closed) so i waited until the next morning to report.
I didn't manage to grab a VRN as he was up my !!!! but I've been told by the police there are CCTV/traffic cameras on the roundabout, which they said they will try and have a look at.

My concern is that I'm worried that this will be settled as a 50/50 as most roundabout incidents are, but does my rear wheel-arch count as a "rear shunt" and on impact i was either approaching the lights at 2MPH(ish) or stationary, i cant be too sure.
Im just concerned that after all this work to try and find the guy, i will be lumbered with the payout, I've never had to deal with an insurance claim so am not clued up on the subject.

This is the best description i can possibly give on the accident, sorry if i have missed anything out but will happily elaborate anymore if needed.
The question is....by the sound of it, am i to blame in any way?

Nick.

InsideInsurance

Roundabouts often end up on a 50/50 as neither party agree on what happens and there are no independent witnesses or CCTV to prove which side is telling the truth. Typically party A says that party B cut the roundabout and hit them and Party B says Party A went wide and hit them.

By the sounds of it you either have big problems of an untraced TP in which case you will be "at fault" because there is no one else to claim against or there is CCTV footage in which case it will identify the TP and prove what really happened.

fivetide

He might well have nicked it which means MIB if the car needs fixing and CCTV supports you. I believe that can be a drawn out process.

InsideInsurance

fivetide wrote: »

He might well have nicked it which means MIB if the car needs fixing and CCTV supports you. I believe that can be a drawn out process.

The TP is untraced and so unless things have changed they'd only be able to claim for injury against the MIB. If the TP was traced but insured then the MIB could be used in terms of the damage to the vehicle

chris_dee

Wait until the police check cctv - the driver of the car that made off has broken the law re fail to stop/fail to report a collision. There may be insurance and driving licence offences too. If the police fail to deal with the matter to your satisfaction you can complain about them - if the driver of the car that hit you does not accept your allegation you are back to the cctv evidence to support your account of what happened even if they committed the other offences. Minor damage to your car is annoying but at least you were not injured.

bruce9329

Thanks for the replies, i think I'm going to have to take chris's advice and wait for the police to come up with something. it is only minor damage but will still cost a fair bit to repair, and i don't think its worth claiming on my £850 excess.
I currently have muscle inflammations in my back but that was 3 days before the accident, but i believe the crash has made it worse but i doubt i will be able to prove anything as my symptoms are already similar to that of whiplash, but I'm off work for 2 weeks because of it and have extensive physiotherapy.
But i think il read up on the MIB and see what it has to offer.
yet again, thanks.

fivetide

InsideInsurance wrote: »

The TP is untraced and so unless things have changed they'd only be able to claim for injury against the MIB. If the TP was traced but insured then the MIB could be used in terms of the damage to the vehicle

Says injury and property here (unless i'm reading it wrong)

http://www.mib.org.uk/Customer+Services/en/Accidents+in+the+UK/Untraced+Drivers+Agreement/Untraced+Agreement.htm

Hermione_Granger

If a small shunt that caused "minor damage" was enough to make your back injury worse, maybe driving wasn't advisable until your medical problem was better.
If you do manage to claim from the MIB, this may be something they consider when/if it comes to compensation.

InsideInsurance

fivetide wrote: »

Says injury and property here (unless i'm reading it wrong)

http://www.mib.org.uk/Customer+Services/en/Accidents+in+the+UK/Untraced+Drivers+Agreement/Untraced+Agreement.htm

Either (a) it could have changed or (b) my memory could be wrong but there used to be two different agreements, the Untraced Driver and the Uninsured Driver agreements. One was PI only the other was PI and vehicle damage

fivetide

InsideInsurance wrote: »

Either (a) it could have changed or (b) my memory could be wrong but there used to be two different agreements, the Untraced Driver and the Uninsured Driver agreements. One was PI only the other was PI and vehicle damage

There still are. That one is for the driver though and definitely says property and injury. could be more in the small print.

They also seem to have added a green card one for overseas drivers.

bruce9329

I can't help but not drive, its a must for my job and for me to attend pysio/appointments.
We also have our own medical system with our own doctors so its going to be pretty difficult to get help from any compensation schemes.