Victim of road rage, damage to car?

Fat_Walt

Tilt wrote: »

I'm not suggesting you can. I'm merely saying that IF the police are not treating is as a 'criminal matter', then it must be then regarded as a motoring/driving matter (or how ever you want to describe it). If the latter, then the OP would be entitled to request the TP's details via the DVLA. However, if the police are treating the incident as a criminal matter (which, from the OP's post would be more appropriate in my opinion) then I would agree that the police should deal with it in it's entirety.

BUT, according to the OP, the police seem to be giving him/her the brush off.

Perhaps the OP can clarify the current position?

It is a criminal matter and they should have recorded the damage. He's not been brushed off, a civilian employee will have recorded the offence and it will be awaiting allocation for investigation.

There's no risk that the OP, so what's the rush? It'll be a summary only matter so they have six months to charge the offender. At the minute they'll be busy catching rapists and murderers, you know real criminals.

Tothepoint.

Tilt wrote: »

See post above (#69).

No, still can see any vehicle or obstruction offences.

Tilt

Fat_Walt wrote: »

It is a criminal matter and they should have recorded the damage. He's not been brushed off, a civilian employee will have recorded the offence and it will be awaiting allocation for investigation.

There's no risk that the OP, so what's the rush? It'll be a summary only matter so they have six months to charge the offender. At the minute they'll be busy catching rapists and murderers, you know real criminals.

Do we know this for sure?

Tilt

Tothepoint. wrote: »

No, still can see any vehicle or obstruction offences.

If the matter is a 'motoring incident', the OP's vehicle has then therefore been damaged due to a potential fail to stop incident (meaning that the required exchange of details hasn't taken place). Therefore the OP has reasonable cause to request keeper information from the DVLA. Please refer to this link for further clarification;

https://www.gov.uk/request-information-from-dvla

Fat_Walt

Tilt wrote: »

Do we know this for sure?

If the OP has made any mention of damage and it's been recorded on the initial incident then in the it will have been audited by now. I can say for sure if it's not been recorded someone will have been instructed to do so.

Remember until it gets to a police officer it's being dealt with by civilians, people who's jobs rely on the volume of working coming in. Either don't do it by the rules or crime drops and they're out on their ear. Why wouldn't they record it?

Tothepoint.

Tilt wrote: »

If the matter is a 'motoring incident', the OP's vehicle has then therefore been damaged due to a potential fail to stop incident (meaning that the required exchange of details hasn't taken place). Therefore the OP has reasonable cause to request keeper information from the DVLA. Please refer to this link for further clarification;

https://www.gov.uk/request-information-from-dvla

You cannot fail to stop for a non accident.

If I pull up at your house and put a brick through you window then drive off. What part of the road traffic act requires me to exchange details with you?

Tilt

Tothepoint. wrote: »

You cannot fail to stop for a non accident.

If I pull up at your house and put a brick through you window then drive off. What part of the road traffic act requires me to exchange details with you?

Hmm, I think you are splitting hairs for the sake of it.

The OP's car has been damaged due to a traffic incident which requires both parties to exchange details or report within 24 hours to police. Similar applies if you collide with street furniture or private property. It don't necessarily follow that 2 vehicles have to actually collide for it to be regarded as a damage related incident. In any event, the OP would have reasonable cause to request keeper details from the DVLA. Obviously the word "request" suggests that it dosn't always mean that the request would be successful. I'm sure it can vary from case by case to whether the DVLA provides the requested info or not.

However, all this seems to be academic as it appears the police are treating this as a criminal damage matter with perhaps other offences meaning that the OP will no doubt able to pursue the 'offender' for damages.

Fat_Walt

Tilt wrote: »

Hmm, I think you are splitting hairs for the sake of it.

The OP's car has been damaged due to a traffic incident which requires both parties to exchange details or report within 24 hours to police. Similar applies if you collide with street furniture or private property. It don't necessarily follow that 2 vehicles have to actually collide for it to be regarded as a damage related incident. In any event, the OP would have reasonable cause to request keeper details from the DVLA. Obviously the word "request" suggests that it dosn't always mean that the request would be successful. I'm sure it can vary from case by case to whether the DVLA provides the requested info or not.

However, all this seems to be academic as it appears the police are treating this as a criminal damage matter with perhaps other offences meaning that the OP will no doubt able to pursue the 'offender' for damages.

No, an accident is owing the the presence of a mechanically propelled vehicle in a public place. The damage was not as a result of the presence of the offenders vehicle.

But I bet you keep trying to say it is.

Tilt

Fat_Walt wrote: »

No, an accident is owing the the presence of a mechanically propelled vehicle in a public place. The damage was not as a result of the presence of the offenders vehicle.

But I bet you keep trying to say it is.

Lol, so the 'offender' removed his car from the scene before causing the damage then? Sorry, but I didn't realise that you were actually there.

But in any event, you have already stated that the incident is now being treated as criminal damage so isn't longer being treated as a 'traffic/motoring incident' which is why I said "However, all this seems to be academic...".

I thought we had agreed on that? Anyway, I see no point in prolonging the thread unnecessarily.

Fat_Walt

Tilt wrote: »

Lol, so the 'offender' removed his car from the scene before causing the damage then? Sorry, but I didn't realise that you were actually there.

But in any event, you have already stated that the incident is now being treated as criminal damage so isn't longer being treated as a 'traffic/motoring incident' which is why I said "However, all this seems to be academic...".

I thought we had agreed on that? Anyway, I see no point in prolonging the thread unnecessarily.

Look at the OP.

Does that sound like an accident involving another vehicle?

spira9 wrote: »

Hi, today I was driving into a supermarket car park trying to find a space, when suddenly a guy in a bmw pulled out on me, forcing me to slam on my brakes. He gave me a dirty look as he was driving by and got really angry at me. I drove down futher into the car park and looked in my mirror to see him turning around and speeding towards me. He pulls up next to me so I just drove off to get away from this idiot. He then starts chasing me around the car park in his car. There's no where really to go as there are bumps around the car park and barriers at the exit. So I try to drive to the exit to get away and this guy speeds up beside me. He then starts shouting asking me to fight him, calling me a p**** and a f*****, along with other nasty words. I just wanted him to go away so I said sorry for making him angry. He kept swearing and then speeds off ahead to block my car. The psycho got out of his car and starts punching my car as I was driving away. I drove out of the car park and he is still chasing me in his car, until he eventually stops to turn a different direction than me. I then drove around to avoid him and made my way back to the supermarket car park. When I got out I noticed he caused a big dent in my car along with scratches.

I am in shock still and don't really know what to do. I spoke to the supermarket employees and had witnesses who gave me a number plate and I spoke to the local police on the phone. I gave all the information I can, number plate, what he looked like etc. The police said they were treating it as a driving incident. They have cameras in the car park so they should get it but I can't view them for legal reasons. However I did ask the car washing place in the car park and they showed me their camera but it didn't catch the number plate, it was too blurry.

I don't know if I should wait for what the police do or contact my insurer to try and get them to sort it out via the number plate? I don't want my insurance to go up higher because of this. I'm also thinking it should be treated more than just a driving incident as he threatened to attack me, tried to attack me and also damaged my car, then also fled the scene. I haven't experienced anything like this before and I'm really worried that nothing is going to happen and I'm stuck with a damaged car.