Car identified after hit and run but police taking no action

forgotmyname

Police prosecuted a driver that damaged (barely) my parked car.

Builders working on the house next door got the full number. I went to the police station to report it think they would just get his details.

But the policeman on the desk said i could be charged for failing to report within 24 hours. I said when your on holiday do you rush home daily to see if someone has damaged your car? How can i report something i knew nothing about?

Made a quick statement and heard nothing for a while, then a letter dropped through the door with his insurance details and info saying they prosecuted him for failing to stop. Points and a fine..

If he had stopped and left a note offering a bottle of T-Cut i would have been happy. After rubbing the black marks off it was barely visible and the car must have been about 8 years old.

Car_54

Strider590 wrote: »

I know it's frustrating, but there are many reasons why the Police might not take action:

"Not in the interest of the public" = "Police informant"
Friends
Family
Local councillors
Political correctness

I'm afraid their hands are often tied in all directions.

Let's assume none of those apply, and their hands are not tied. What would you suggest they should do, in the absence of any reliable evidence?

w06

It's a low priority incident it seems. My car was written off when six months old by someone who didn't stop, in a 30mph zone. Snapped the rear axle and wipe out the back end, must have had a lot of damage to their own car and appeared to have been going much faster than 30mph. Police didn't even come to see the damage or extensive evidence on the road.
Annoyingly it's considered a fault claim on my insurance as there was no third party to claim against

Strider590

forgotmyname wrote: »

But the policeman on the desk said i could be charged for failing to report within 24 hours.

Which is blatantly attempting to have you drop it, just to try to avoid the paperwork

Mercdriver

Strider590 wrote: »

I know it's frustrating, but there are many reasons why the Police might not take action:

"Not in the interest of the public" = "Police informant"
Friends
Family
Local councillors
Political correctness

I'm afraid their hands are often tied in all directions.

Strider590 wrote: »

Which is blatantly attempting to have you drop it, just to try to avoid the paperwork

Come on Strider, what has the Police done to you to make you spout such a lot of anti police nonsense across the whole of this forum, not just this thread?

PasturesNew

The problem you have is lack of resources and the cost it takes.

You are out of pocket by a few hundred quid .... it would cost the police/lawyers/court etc several thousand pounds to try to take the other fella to court, on the "flimsiest" of evidence that he happens to live in the same street, with a car that has a partial plate match. Even if he laughed in your face and said "Yeah ... prove it!" it's not helpful as it's the "evidence" bit that's lacking.

This is where "life sucks", but there's only so much time/money to chase every crime that's committed/reported and this week you got the short straw.

thetcutkid

Sorry I can't seem to quote the post but Car 54, how exactly do I get someone's insurance details off the Internet?

Geoff1963, after we found the car, the first thing I was gonna do was have a good look round it and take some pictures - it hit a red car so I sort of assumed something might show up on black paint.

Trouble was the car was parked right up against their house on the drive and I thought someone is bound to see me and frankly, if this person is the sort of selfish moron who drives away after hitting someone else's car, I didn't fancy getting into a conversation about what I thought of him/her.

Car_54

thetcutkid wrote: »

Sorry I can't seem to quote the post but Car 54, how exactly do I get someone's insurance details off the Internet?

Oops! I was wrong, you can't. Sorry!

Herzlos

thetcutkid wrote: »

By sheer fluke, about a week later, we noticed a black Mercedes parked in a drive further up the road with the same 4 numbers on the registration plate. My friends got back in touch with the police with this new info and the full reg no. and the police said they'd reopen the case.

Depending on which 4 numbers (like the first 4) there could be dozens or hundreds of black Mercedes with the same numbers in an area.


Did said Mercedes have equivalent damage on it? Was there any other distinguishing feature to prove it was the same car? Like a logo next to the plate, sticker on the window, novelty arial etc?

If so, then you might be able to do something, more likely just claiming on their insurance (you can always ask them first).

Car_54

Herzlos wrote: »

Depending on which 4 numbers (like the first 4) there could be dozens or hundreds of black Mercedes with the same numbers in an area.


Did said Mercedes have equivalent damage on it? Was there any other distinguishing feature to prove it was the same car? Like a logo next to the plate, sticker on the window, novelty arial etc?

If so, then you might be able to do something, more likely just claiming on their insurance (you can always ask them first).

But we don't know that the car involved was a Mercedes, the witness only said it was a black car. There would therefore be thousands of possible culprits, not hundreds.