Procedure when a police car collides with you

bigjl

helpingafriend wrote: »

Thank you all very much for taking the time to respond. This is not actually my accident but it involved my elderly mother who is now terrified of having this hanging over her head for the next 6 months or even having her licence revoked. Hopefully this will now reassure her as the officer who took the statement did say nothing more would come of it.

In all honesty the officer was just keeping her informed incase traffic turned up in several months and she never expected them.

If the Police driver was at fault then the collision will be investigated usually by at least a Traffic Sergeant(spelling?) And i supposs they may want to take an additional statement.

I remember being asked by the senior traffic officer why my car was 6ft beyond the white light at the traffic light i was stationary at.

My answer was i wasn't till that police hit me up the !!!!, despite 3 other Police vehicles seconds earlier having no problem.

The funniest thing was the WPC driving was standing beside the now rather bent van and a Metro Panda car kept ferrying Officers from the nearby station(Kentish Town i think) for a laugh then they would drive off again.

I suspected at this point she may have not been the most popular person at the nick.

There would have been plenty of evidence taken on the day in the form of measurments and photos.

And they would have already told her if they thought she was in anyway to blame though obviously i don't know the circumstances.

Though the policy of blaming a vehicle illegally on the road for a PolAcc was alive an well before i retired.

And i can see where they are coming from. If somebody involved in a PolAcc had been following the law then vehicle would not have been there to be involved in the collision.

Confusedandneedhelp

helpingafriend wrote: »

Thank you all very much for taking the time to respond. This is not actually my accident but it involved my elderly mother who is now terrified of having this hanging over her head for the next 6 months or even having her licence revoked. Hopefully this will now reassure her as the officer who took the statement did say nothing more would come of it.

Licences dont get revoked for having accidents.

They CAN be, as in she may receive penalty points, but thats for a court to decide. Basically what im saying is she is in exactly the same position as if she'd hit a non police vehicle.

helpingafriend

Thank you all so much, your comments are greatly appreciated. I don't believe she is to blame and as the officer involved sent his apologies, that, in itself, is for me enough to show that she is not being held responsible. The damage is minor, nothing a £200 touch up spray won't fix and she doesn't want to take anything further. I am sure that she will now feel a lot happier about the whole thing as it has left her very shaken.

dacouch

bigjl wrote: »

I think you will find they claim exemptions from the road traffic act.

The highway code is not really relevant is it?

And my post is factually correct.

You are free to disagree with the facts that i have posted.

All information gained from real life and not a text book.

The Ambulance service is different.

In my experience they assume it is the driver of the ambulance at fault if on blues as the assumption is made they were claiming an exemption at the time.

Since lights and sirens are merely visible and audible warning devices tat the driver of the vehicle displaying them may be about to or is claiming an exemption of the road traffic act.

I am happy you felt the need to spend ages disecting my post and adding various helpful "comments"

I had a quick skim of yours and got bored:rotfl:

Whether your car was legal to be on the road does not affect whether the police are liable or not. If they're liable then they're liable that's the law.

Stoke

If it's anything like my local police force expect them to make your life misery for the next, hmmm, 6 to 12 months, including pulling you over at every opportunity to check you're under the limit, check your tyres, check your spare, check you haven't got any drugs, check all your lights work, check you haven't got any kidnapped children, check your vehicle is displaying a tax disk, check you have insurance (despite the fact they already know), check the car is roadworthy, check you have a pulse, check you're not smuggling stolen goods etc etc etc.

nobbysn*ts

bigjl wrote: »

I think you will find they claim exemptions from the road traffic act.

The highway code is not really relevant is it?

And my post is factually correct.

You are free to disagree with the facts that i have posted.

All information gained from real life and not a text book.

The Ambulance service is different.

In my experience they assume it is the driver of the ambulance at fault if on blues as the assumption is made they were claiming an exemption at the time.

Since lights and sirens are merely visible and audible warning devices tat the driver of the vehicle displaying them may be about to or is claiming an exemption of the road traffic act.

I am happy you felt the need to spend ages disecting my post and adding various helpful "comments"

I had a quick skim of yours and got bored:rotfl:

No one would ever skim yours, they're normally so wrong they're hilarious, and this is no exception. To the op, Onan gave you the right info.

helpingafriend

Thank you very much. My mother is now much reassured that all will be ok. It has been very kind of you all to take the time to post and to clarify things for me.