Hit brick wall with car - possible damage and who to tell?

Spicy_McHaggis

jj42 wrote: »

The brick wall (I describe it liks this, when really it was about 3 bricks high and 5 bricks wide on the corner of a junction) was in the middle of nowhere (no property nearby) in the middle of a triangle of mud/grass that was surrounded by roads as a junction.

There was no damage to the wall from what I was able to determine at the scene, and even if there was I wouldn't know who to contact.

Do the police and/or the insurance company need to know if there was no damage to the wall itself?

Well if there was no damage to the wall the police don't need to be informed. So may argue if you've damage your car how are you sure the wall isn't damaged.

You should inform your insurance, but it's up to you whether you breach the policy conditions or not.

jimjames

InsideInsurance wrote: »

Unfortunately its due to these sorts of attitudes why we also get all the posts about people returning to their car/ home etc and finding it damaged by an unknown party and being stuck with a repair bill from no fault of their own

I was pleasantly surprised when my car was hit in a car park recently that the owner of the vehicle had waited to let me know and then passed on their details.

I didn't go via insurance and used dent removal to sort it. Total cost came in under £50. I was asked by the dent guy what amount I wanted the invoice for but given the guy was honest enough to stop it would be have been very unfair to inflate the cost.

veryoldbear

Did the brick wall stop? Did it sound its horn?

fivetide

Spicy_McHaggis wrote: »

The police should have given you his name and address.

No they won't. Data protection.


They will give you a surname and the contact for their insurance company but not house number/street etc.


I've just been through the same thing before Christmas. Luckily the driver was spotted by an off duty cop who stopped him driving off before calling his on duty colleagues.


They won't give me his name to say thanks either.

jimjames

fivetide wrote: »

No they won't. Data protection.


They will give you a surname and the contact for their insurance company but not house number/street etc.
.

They do.

Had an incident last year and was hit while stationary by third party that didn't stop.

Received letter from police with the name & address of registered keeper.

arcon5

InsideInsurance wrote: »

Unfortunately its due to these sorts of attitudes why we also get all the posts about people returning to their car/ home etc and finding it damaged by an unknown party and being stuck with a repair bill from no fault of their own

Unfortunately it's due to peoples attitudes when incidents are reported that more and more people choose to not stop. How many posts do we see where people have had extremely minor incidents which have been blown well out of proportion by the TP whom have seen the situation as nothing less than a cash cow!

Spicy_McHaggis

fivetide wrote: »

No they won't. Data protection.


They will give you a surname and the contact for their insurance company but not house number/street etc.


I've just been through the same thing before Christmas. Luckily the driver was spotted by an off duty cop who stopped him driving off before calling his on duty colleagues.


They won't give me his name to say thanks either.

Really, the road traffic act says you're entitled to it.

fivetide

Spicy_McHaggis wrote: »

Really, the road traffic act says you're entitled to it.

All I can tell you is Police Scotland gave me a surname, the details of the car and the insurance company to speak to. They would not give me the address of the person.

Essentially they gave me all the details I needed to make a claim against him but not enough to go round his house and batter him. That said, Having the surname and town, plus the reg would have meant I could have dug out the details easily if I wanted.

jimjames - Police Scotland left a card on my vehicle with an incident number and a note to call the PC who attended. He flat refused to give me any details of the actual offender and instead told me to call in the incident number and get the information outlined above. Perhaps Police Scotland have a different policy?


It makes sense if you think about it. Otherwise I could simply call in and ask for the home address and details of vehicle ABC123 alleging an incident when non existed. Would be a stalkers dream.

Spicy_McHaggis

fivetide wrote: »

All I can tell you is Police Scotland gave me a surname, the details of the car and the insurance company to speak to. They would not give me the address of the person.

Essentially they gave me all the details I needed to make a claim against him but not enough to go round his house and batter him. That said, Having the surname and town, plus the reg would have meant I could have dug out the details easily if I wanted.

jimjames - Police Scotland left a card on my vehicle with an incident number and a note to call the PC who attended. He flat refused to give me any details of the actual offender and instead told me to call in the incident number and get the information outlined above. Perhaps Police Scotland have a different policy?


It makes sense if you think about it. Otherwise I could simply call in and ask for the home address and details of vehicle ABC123 alleging an incident when non existed. Would be a stalkers dream.

But the same road traffic act?

fivetide

Spicy_McHaggis wrote: »

But the same road traffic act?

Not arguing with you. Taking the thread off topic. All I can tell you is EXACTLY what was said to me and what I did just a matter of a few weeks ago.


The point is you can't just ring up and get them. You might be entitled but there will be hoops to jump though. They do seem to provide (as said) details to let you make a claim against a third party though.


If the Police are already involved then I fail to see the issue? I believe you can even refuse to give your information at the roadside if you feel threatened and hand them over to the Police later. In that scenario wouldn't it be a bit daft of the Police to then provide every single detail?


Indeed, Essex Police require you to fill out forms to get the information http://www.essex.police.uk/contact_us/road_collision_admin.aspx


Presumably, that is to stop exactly what I said above, people calling and just getting information on vehicles they have no business with that's all.