Witness to a car accident

sujac

Not sure if this is the right place to ask. Back in April I witnessed a car accident which involved an element of road rage. I was contacted by the solicitor of the car I believe had no fault. I was sent a questionnaire to fill in including drawing a diagram of what happened, sent this back and heard no more.

Came home today to find a business card and note through my door asking to contact this person who is a accident investigator. He wants to come and take a statement of what happened from me. I asked who had instructed him and he said it was the solicitor for the other party (the one I believe at fault, was on a very busy roundabout and they went through a red light). This investigator said he was independent so has no bias, but I'm not so sure. Do I have to talk to him or can I just send him a copy of what I have already said and if there's any other questions it can go to court.

spacey2012

I would tell them an hour of your time costs £100.

Strider590

How did he get your address? If he has your address then so does a potentially very angry 3rd party.

PintAndAPie

sujac wrote: »

Do I have to talk to him or can I just send him a copy of what I have already said and if there's any other questions it can go to court.

No, at this stage you are not legally obliged to do anything at all. If it goes to court and you are summonsed as a witness then obviously you should go but this accident investigator has no legal power to get you to do anything.

The investigator will be unbiased, all they do is collect statements, they don't care who is at fault as that's not part of their job.

mcfisco

I wouldn't talk to them but then, why talk to the first solicitor?

TBH, you don't want to get involved with deciding yourself who's to blame, it not your place to do so, if you want to be a witness, just write down what you saw and give it to both parties and refuse any further discussion unless summonsed to court

vaio

PintAndAPie wrote: »

No, at this stage you are not legally obliged to do anything at all. If it goes to court and you are summonsed as a witness then obviously you should go but this accident investigator has no legal power to get you to do anything.

The investigator will be unbiased, all they do is collect statements, they don't care who is at fault as that's not part of their job.

really? I'd have thought that an investigator that phrases questions & get statement that tend to support the commissioning party's case will get lots of business and vice versa.

If an investigator couldn't subtly influence the statement then there would be no point in employing them and all insurers would just use a standard written questionnaire

fivetide

mcfisco wrote: »

I wouldn't talk to them but then, why talk to the first solicitor?

Because believe it or not some people feel it is an element of civic duty to help out those that they believe have been wronged.

You've done your bit as needed OP and you can be happy that you have done a decent thing. If the same happened to me I'd be very grateful that someone took the time to be a witness to the accident.

As said though, you can leave it alone now unless it goes to court. The legal beagles should share any info they have so there shouldn't be a need for you to do it all again.

mcfisco

fivetide wrote: »

Because believe it or not some people feel it is an element of civic duty to help out those that they believe have been wronged.

What I mean is ........... why talk to one and not the other or vice versa?
Everyone then has the same info
I'm not sure a witness should be taking sides really, just telling it how they saw it.

fivetide

mcfisco wrote: »

What I mean is ........... why talk to one and not the other or vice versa?
Everyone then has the same info
I'm not sure a witness should be taking sides really, just telling it how they saw it.

Because technically, the legal beagles should share the information they have. As said, by providing their existing statement the OP has helped both sides depending on their interpretation. If anyone wants to contest the account, court is the place to do it.

Mojisola

sujac wrote: »

Not sure if this is the right place to ask. Back in April I witnessed a car accident which involved an element of road rage. I was contacted by the solicitor of the car I believe had no fault. I was sent a questionnaire to fill in including drawing a diagram of what happened, sent this back and heard no more.

Came home today to find a business card and note through my door asking to contact this person who is a accident investigator. He wants to come and take a statement of what happened from me. I asked who had instructed him and he said it was the solicitor for the other party (the one I believe at fault, was on a very busy roundabout and they went through a red light). This investigator said he was independent so has no bias, but I'm not so sure. Do I have to talk to him or can I just send him a copy of what I have already said and if there's any other questions it can go to court.

A friend found herself in the same position - the advice she got was not to have any contact with the accident investigator - he will probably try to get you to word things differently, make you unsure of what you saw, anything that will get your evidence dismissed.

Talk to the solicitor who you sent your statement to and let them know the other side have contacted you.

sujac

vaio wrote: »

If an investigator couldn't subtly influence the statement then there would be no point in employing them and all insurers would just use a standard written questionnaire

Think this is what is bothering me, what benefit to the insurers company does this serve.

In answer why talk to one an not the other, (I didn't stop at the scene as was very busy and nowhere safe to do so as I had my 16 month old daughter in the car) but when it was safe I pulled over and called 101 and reported it to police who said they were already aware of incident so I just left my details in case I was needed. If the other side contacted me first I would have given exactly the same account and would be asking the same question if I was contacted again.

It is difficult not to place blame as they went through a red light onto a busy roundabout at speed on a very busy afternoon. Anyone who drives would find it difficult not to place blame as it goes against what you are taught.

Thanks for the replies