Car accident caused by third party - now he is lying!

Auticko1

Hello, I have been driving for about 5 years and lucking never had any problems until a few weeks ago.

I was parked in a bay on a narrow street and had to put my little one into her car seat from the road side. I looked both ways and all was ok, half-way through doing the seat belts up, a car came from behind, tried to squeezed between my car and other car parked on the other side of the road and you guess, it hit my car door while squeezing me in between my car and the door. And the driver did not stop and drove off. Came back after a couple of minutes, looked through the window at my car, did not stop again and drove off. Luckily, a parking attendant saw all that and agreed to be a witness.

Now, I knew going through insurance would be a hassle but the third party are claiming I opened my car door into his path and his car is a write off! How disgusting and immoral! I am so angry that after he did not even stop, he now wants to make money out of this as well.

I am hoping the parking attendant will be true to his word and be a witness now because if not, I guess, I will end up paying money for something that is no fault of my own.

I also thought that drivers who do a hit and run get punished but now I am being told that the police will check if he is insured and if he is, they will not bother anymore. So I guess, hitting somebody's car and driving off has become ok as long as the insurance is valid.:mad:

Any thoughts/personal experiences, please?

Hintza

Auticko1 wrote: »

Any thoughts/personal experiences, please?

You should have called the police at the time (failing to stop), if in doubt call them.

Tell your insurer exactly what happened and give them details of your witness.

Auticko1

Hintza wrote: »

You should have called the police at the time (failing to stop), if in doubt call them.

Tell your insurer exactly what happened and give them details of your witness.

Hello, I went to the police next day, filled in a form and when I rang them to follow it up, they explained if their checks on his insurance are fine, they will not do anything about it. I was told that sometimes hit and run is not classified as hit and run if for example a female driver feels in danger if she needs to stop and exchange details! And yes, I do think this does not sound right if you ask me.

McKneff

Surely none of this would have happened if you had put your child in from the kerb side. And it would have been a lot safer for you and the tot.

I think youre going to have a job not taking any of the blame to be honest.

Auticko1

McKneff wrote: »

Surely none of this would have happened if you had put your child in from the kerb side. And it would have been a lot safer for you and the tot.

I think youre going to have a job not taking any of the blame to be honest.

I do agree, that the safest way is to fit her in from the non-road side. However, the car seat is fixed in already and to move it to the other side of the car takes good 10 minutes. It is just not practical to keep moving it everytime. Also, trying to put the little one into the car seat in through the other door is a nightmare due to the lack of space in the car.

So I clearly see your point and I have learnt that not all drivers have common sence - i.e. don't go through a tight space when you cannot fit in!

Prothet_of_Doom

Auticko1 wrote: »

Luckily, a parking attendant saw all that and agreed to be a witness.

Now, I knew going through insurance would be a hassle but the third party are claiming I opened my car door into his path and his car is a write off! How disgusting and immoral!

Any thoughts/personal experiences, please?

People lie. Some get found out, some get away with it.

When YOU take him to the small claims court and YOU ask the court to insist your witness attends, the witness will have to attend and tell the truth, or be in contempt of court.

That is my thought. You are lucky to have a witness, but some people DO the right thing.

scheming_gypsy

First rule of insurance club - do not admit liability.

It'll be down to your insurance companies to argue it out and as long as you have a witness you should be ok.

Fish_n_Chips

Child car seats should always be fitted behind the front passenger seat...I'm a Father of three never had any problems

OddballJamie

Fish_n_Chips wrote: »

Child car seats should always be fitted behind the front passenger seat...I'm a Father of three never had any problems

What would you do with twins then? Stack them?

scheming_gypsy

7 seater obviously!

Biffer

You say the police weren't bothered. I wonder if they'd have taken a different view if you or your child were injured? Whether or not you should have been opening your door into the road is not the point, all drivers have a duty to avoid injuring people with their vehicles.

The police don't seem to care unless someone is hurt. However, if he'd have done the same thing to a police officer they'd have locked him up, no doubt about it!

For anyone that cares to read it, this is what happened to me
I had a similar incident last year. I pulled in and stopped on a very narrow country lane to let a farm vehicle pass. He was driving way too fast, he didn't slow down, ignored the passing place ahead of him and did £3,000 worth of damage to the side of my car as he shot through a gap barely large enough for two small cars.

He was nice as pie at the scene but later denied responsibility. He said I was in the middle of the road doing 40mph+. He wasn't too bright and dug himself into a hole with his statement, saying I was 2ft off the verge and all sorts of stupid impossible stuff. If I were 2ft from the verge he would have driven over my bonnet.

This went to court and my barrister was very confident about winning. In court it transpired that the other driver had failed to declare his numerous driving convictions, was travelling too fast for his agricultural tyres and he even admitted to lying about something on the stand.

He said he never stopped on that road as it was wide enough to pass. I said I always stopped as it wasn't even wide enough for cars to pass at driving speed. He said my vehicle was moving at the time of the collision.

The verdict - the judge said it was my fault. He said I took 'a risk and a chance' and the other driver was the more reliable witness. 'Impressive' was one of the words he used to describe this idiot.

So what can you do? There's no complaints procedure for judges and an appeal would cost me in the region of £10k. What are the chances that the next judge would be just as insane as this one?