Car Accident - False Witness Statement

anewman

If a genuine accident occurred at high speed and I was hurt at the time of the accident, I would consider going after some whiplash compo because it is completely feasible, and it would help keep me out of pocket for getting a replacement car and covering the increase in insurance costs. I would of course never stage accidents.

I wonder what medical reports they have to back up their case, although as I understand it all you need is some report and they prod your back and ask if it hurts or something.

Iamthesmartestmanalive

Firstly re the whiplash claim, this could be feasible, maybe they didnt realise straight away etc? If they did actually attend a hospital and medical records they have proof

Also the witness, yes its unlikely they saw anything but you have no proof they didnt

Maybe they were in a nearby building and they were approached after you and the police left etc

Its you who needs to be careful as its you who is slandering the other parties here

Debt_Free_Chick

Adelaide wrote: »

My other thought was to get a solicitor to draft a letter on their letterhead to the bogus witness to the effect "that I will pursue him for damages in a civil court if the matter is settled in favour of the other driver, on the basis of his statement, which I know to be false."

Does your motor or home insurance include legal cover?

suckmaster.burstingfoam

Iamthesmartestmanalive wrote: »

Its you who needs to be careful as its you who is slandering the other parties here

1. It's not slander unless proven to be untrue.
2. You can't claim to be slandered in a totally anonymous setting like this.

Iamthesmartestmanalive

suckmaster.burstingfoam wrote: »

1. It's not slander unless proven to be untrue.
2. You can't claim to be slandered in a totally anonymous setting like this.

1. it could be proven untrue if their is an independent witness
2. you can if you can be traced by the information provided, im sure people out their who know the peoples involved could hazard a guess etc

I.e I witness a crash in company premises, I tell boss, give statement
boss then comes across someone on website in same area accusing witness of lying, boss puts 2 and 2 together and I am professionally and personally tarnished as a result

Its unlikely but very possible

The OP has no reason to say the witness is lying and they crossed the line in not looking for advice but making what is a potentially damaging statement to what could be a genuine independent witness

C_Ronaldo

I thought the police had to write a report up after an incident,
surely the fact that no witness made themselves known to the police then surely your covered your end,

Taters_2

I wouldn't get too hung up over the fact that there is no Police report, it's quite common in cases like these for there not to be. Your insurance company can 'interview' the police officers to get their opinion and what they did etc. This again is a normal procedure and your Insurance Company has to pay a fee to the Police Force in question.

The biggest problem I can see you having is persuading your Insurance Company to fight the case some see it cheaper to pay out than go to court, after all they are not losing any money as they will increase yours and everyones elses premium to cover.

I suggest that you ask for a copy of the witness statement that has appearred. Read it carefully and highlight any points that are obivously wrong and then inform your insurance company in the hope that they will write back and tell them to get stuffed.

Unfortunately this is a result of the compensation culture that we find ourselfs in, we all think it's free money but in comes from somewhere!

Hey_Dude

Adelaide wrote: »

Could really do with some help as at wits end with this - it's a long one so please grab your cup of tea now!

Other Driver (OD) reversed into my husband on one way street at approx 5 miles per hour. OD denied responsibility - one passenger in his car (child) and one in ours (adult). Police called out by other party. Police arrived checked everyones' details, all okay and said because no injuries a matter for insurers not police. Police asked both parties if injured, both said no.

Couple of weeks later we get a personal liability claim against us for injury for whiplash for OD and his child passenger. Also claim for excess on his insurance and damages to his vehicle. Apparently they, notwithstanding comments re no injuries to police, both needed medical attention at local hospital immediately after accident.

We sent claim to our insurer - we're fully covered - with a statement to effect, that OD reversed into us and we denied any wrongdoing. Our insurers legal team got an investigator to take a statement from my husband but they've never visited scene of accident or asked for a diagram even.

We have now heard from our solicitors that OD has a witness who holds my husband fully responsible for accident, despite their being no witness at the scene or one that made themselves known to police. Our solicitors are saying because of witness statement they think they should settle.

We were somewhat flabergasted at this completely fabricated witness statement so went to local police and met with one of PC's in attendance at accident. He said no recollection of witnesses and nothing in his notebook. He has confirmed that his colleague PC also has same recollection and no reference in notebook.

Given that the witness statement is clearly a falsification and given that we don't have a witness - where do you go with a situation like this? It will cost us the excess, plus an at fault accident on my husbands record that he didn't do plus a claim on my insurance - all putting our premiums up.

I feel that if somebody was able to test the witness statement - ie sat down and asked him where he was, why didn't he make himself known to police and why he only let OD know who he was - the case would fall apart but nobody seems inclined to do this? Can I demand that my insurers/legal team do this.

As a matter of principle I don't see why OD should be able to profit in this way by effectively lying and getting his mate to lie for him as well?

If you got to the end of this thanks for reading, if you can help thanks again! Bit rambling but we feel pretty strongly about this.

Some good advice given - some not so helpful

Police are only interested if there are injuries - the response they gave you was standard.

PI - again not unusual - not much you can do about this.

Liability - this is the big one - from your description the other guy was clearly at fault - your Insurer should be battling for you - if this went to court - based on the balance of probabilities - you would win.

Witness - if it's false - and your Insurer and Solicitor are doing their jobs properly - it will come out in court.

All the best,

Dude

Sunday_Morning

With airline insurance, the passengers are always coveed by the airline they travel in. Thus if there is an accident, with say a plane from airline A hitting, at being at fault for hitting, airline B, then any passengers on airline B would secure their compensation from the insurers of airline B, who in turn would subrogate against airline a.

The way I see it, car insurance should be like airline insurance. You should only be able to claim off your own insurers for anything that happens to you as a result of driving a vehicle. Your own insurers would then have to make out whether they have a case to pursue against your insurers.

If you are not insured, then tough. Whatever and whoever was to blame for the accident, you should be entitled to nothing.

If you are insured then scams, such as this might be, would be that much tougher in that you are relying on your own insurance company to take up the case on your behalf.

blossom30

Hi Adelaide you poor thing... I hope you are not too stressed out over this as people like the scammers always get what they deserve...it's thelaw of Karma.
The same thing happened to my brother a sales manager a few years back.Someone went into him on a roundabout. They both got out exchanged details and all of a sudden a "mystery" witness appeared for the other driver. My brother stood his ground and fought it , he too discovered a major flaw in the "witness" statement. The witness was asked to also sketch the accident scene and where he went wrong was that the road lay out had changed since the accident and the "witness" had used the more recent layout, they obvoiusly were not that clever that they did not corroborate their stories.Stand your ground on this one..goood luck shrewdal