Witness refused to give contact details

steve1500

I safely reversed out of a supermarket parking bay & was about to go forward, when I saw some reversing towards my passenger door.

Despite sounding my horn the person carried on reversing until they hit the passenger door.

The accident was witnessed by a child (12)When the father of the child realised he couldn't "help" with repairing my car he refused to give me any contact details.

Is there anything I can do? The other parties insurance company are saying 50:50.

With the witness it is a slam dunk.

Sadly no CCTV in the car park, but I did get the registration number of the witnesses car


TIA

DUTR

You can't force somebody to be a witness, I see things and fortunately not fatal, so I'm not giving up my time and I fear others feel the same, I always reverse into a car parking space, it vastly reduces the opportunity of incidents like yours.

AndyMc.....

No you can’t force them to provide details. Give it’s a child I doubt they’re want to use them anyway.

sevenhills

steve1500 wrote: »

I safely reversed out of a supermarket parking bay & was about to go forward, when I saw some reversing towards my passenger door.
Despite sounding my horn the person carried on reversing until they hit the passenger door.
The other parties insurance company are saying 50:50.

I thought the exchange of details was a legal duty, but if you have insurance details does it matter.
If it does you could report it to the police. Someone reversing into your car does sound like a clear fault, not your fault.+

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Aylesbury_Duck

In summary, there's nothing you can do. You can't compel someone to provide a witness statement for a car park bump. I wouldn't give out my contact details if I was asked, either. For a more serious accident where people were injured or if someone had obviously driven recklessly or dangerously I would of course, but not for a car park collision.

foxy-stoat

Aylesbury_Duck wrote: »

In summary, there's nothing you can do. You can't compel someone to provide a witness statement for a car park bump. I wouldn't give out my contact details if I was asked, either. For a more serious accident where people were injured or if someone had obviously driven recklessly or dangerously I would of course, but not for a car park collision.

Any reason why not? Dont they just get you to fill in a statement form and thats the end of it, or you worried about endless phone calls and letters from ambulance chasers?

Aylesbury_Duck

foxy-stoat wrote: »

Any reason why not? Dont they just get you to fill in a statement form and thats the end of it, or you worried about endless phone calls and letters from ambulance chasers?

That, plus calls from the person I volunteer to help when things don't go their way. Several years ago I helped someone who was side-swiped at a roundabout in front of me by completing a statement for their insurer and when the other party disputed the claim, I had various calls wanting me to make further calls and emails to their insurer to back their case. They basically insinuated that my statement wasn't enough in their favour. For what was such a trivial incident I received a lot of calls and texts in the weeks afterwards.

foxy-stoat

Aylesbury_Duck wrote: »

That, plus calls from the person I volunteer to help when things don't go their way. Several years ago I helped someone who was side-swiped at a roundabout in front of me by completing a statement for their insurer and when the other party disputed the claim, I had various calls wanting me to make further calls and emails to their insurer to back their case. They basically insinuated that my statement wasn't enough in their favour. For what was such a trivial incident I received a lot of calls and texts in the weeks afterwards.

Fair enough, never been a witness yet - waiting for an accident to happen in front of me and I can sell the dash camera footage for a few stirlings !!

AndyMc.....

sevenhills wrote: »

I thought the exchange of details was a legal duty, but if you have insurance details does it matter.
If it does you could report it to the police. Someone reversing into your car does sound like a clear fault, not your fault.+

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For drivers it is.

Rosemary7391

Aylesbury_Duck wrote: »

That, plus calls from the person I volunteer to help when things don't go their way. Several years ago I helped someone who was side-swiped at a roundabout in front of me by completing a statement for their insurer and when the other party disputed the claim, I had various calls wanting me to make further calls and emails to their insurer to back their case. They basically insinuated that my statement wasn't enough in their favour. For what was such a trivial incident I received a lot of calls and texts in the weeks afterwards.

Maybe it would be better just to give name and address? That's all they need after all, should be a fairly straightforward process.

wgl2014

Rosemary7391 wrote: »

Maybe it would be better just to give name and address? That's all they need after all, should be a fairly straightforward process.

As a witness (not involved in the incident) you would be asked for an account of what you saw but are not obliged to give any details at all.

Don't get it mixed up with the legal obligation to exchange details after a collision if you are driving.