hit & run help

Jumblebumble

comeasyouare wrote: »

Hello seeking some advice.
my car was parked outside my home & was bumped into by another vehicle.There was no one in my car at the time & I did not witness the incident however my neighbour witnessed it & then told me.
Neighbor advised the driver then drove away but must have parked further down the street as was seen walking back up past my car. (assumably going to visit another neighbor in the area) but the witnessing neighbour did not see what house the driver went into. The witness described the make, model & color the car to me & right enough the drivers car was found parked a few houses down the street.
I managed to get pictures of the drivers car which had damage on it corresponding to the damage on my car. I also took photos of the registration.
The matter was reported to police. A full statement was given, images of damage to both vehicles sent & witness contact details provided.
it was also reported to my insurer.
It is now months down the line. Contact from the police has been minimal & they still have not been to get a witness statement (despite having contact details).
The police now advise that the car was sold 3 days after the incident & they cannot trace the former keeper & as such are "closing the line of inquiry".
I suggested that the DVLA would be able to provide them the details of the former registered keeper but they said DVLA will not disclose that (find that hard to believe?)
I also stated that the new keeper should have contact details for the former keeper but the police kept saying "due to the way the vehicle was sold" the new keeper doesnt have details for the old keeper - again not sure how accurate that is. Having personally bought cars from private sales & completed v5 i know you are required to put in the details of both former & new keeper. Perhaps it went to auction or was sold via a middle man (though given the timescales i highly doubt it) in which case i guess it's possible the new keeper wouldnt have details for the old keeper but surely the police could just request that information from the 3rd party. can companies refuse to provide details that are part of a police investigation?

honestly i feel like i'm being completely fobbed off to be honest & have lost faith in the police. This person committed a crime at the end of the day & is getting away with it meanwhile I have to pay out my own pocket for damage repair & will be a claim against my policy.

Now, know who the drivers insurance provider is (at least according to my insurer) so again, couldnt the police just contact that insurance company to get details of the driver?
The witness has also seen the driver since back in our street (clearly must visit someone here but not sure which house) in a different car. I have requested police use the registration of the drivers new vehicle to trace them.

is there anything else I can do/suggest to the police. I'm not happy with their response at all. I know it's not a huge crime or anything but really feel like bc of that the police just don't want to waste their time with a trivial investigation. But at the end of the day i'm the victim & i'm being penalized.

Also it shouldnt take months for the police to go & get a witness statement should it?

If anyone can provide any advice or let me know whether I have any rights.

thank you in advance.[/QUOTE

Perhaps the car was exported.
It occurs to me that the type of person who hits and runs may also be the type of person who has no insurance or a ghost policy and does not give either the DVLA or the insurers their real details.
I predict that You will get nowhere complaining to the Police

Car_54

phill99 wrote: »

You need to adjust your expectations in terms of what the police see as an allocation of their resources.


Although a motoring offence has been committed, what the police are actually saying to you is that they aren't willing to take this further as it involves spending too much of their resources on what is a very low level offence.
People struggle to get police involvement when they have been burgled, robbed or assaulted. The motoring offence committed here is much further down the crime pecking order than any of these other crimes, so the chance of you getting further involvement is zero.
I don't necessarily agree with the polices attitude, but in reality, that's how it is at the moment. Remember we have lost 20000 police officers in the last decade due to austerity cuts and sadly, low level offence don't get dealt with.

To put it in context, a colleague of mine had his car broken into. He was told it wouldn't be investigated, and he agreed with that as he was a retired chief constable and was well aware of the need to prioritise the use of resources.
That was in 1989, long before the "austerity" cuts.

Shaun_of_the_Dead

comeasyouare wrote: »

according to my insurer the vehicle is insured however as stated above i am unclear whether that reflects current status or status at the time of the incident.
Of course they won't disclose the name of the policy holder (current or former) to myself, but again I believe this IS information the police would be able to get, but they are saying the cannot access those details.
that's why I'm asking, where does that leave me if the police are essentially refusing to progress with the enquiry.

Can't or won't?

Who have you actually spoken to? For a number of years the police have had access to the insurance database and the history going back a number of years.

comeasyouare

Shaun_of_the_Dead wrote: »

Can't or won't?

Who have you actually spoken to? For a number of years the police have had access to the insurance database and the history going back a number of years.

they say CAN'T but I suspect WON'T

re car being exported, I point blank asked the police if they had spoken to the current (new) keeper & they stated yes (however as i say i pushed for this as prior to that it was a big ambiguous, so i'm not sure if it's actually true in all honesty). if they have spoken to the new keeper who apparently cannot provide any details re former keeper then i'd assume new keeper IS in this country.

Re adjusting my expectations. I don't expect this to be top of their radar i'm fully aware its not a priority crime however it is still a crime at the end of the day & should be followed up given I have provided them more than enough to progress with the enquiry. I'm not sure how they can just refuse to do so.

I think the fact that almost 3 months down the line they haven't even been to take a statement speaks volumes re their attitude to progressing with enquiries from the start & whilst they claim now that there is no point in getting a witness statement bc they cannot trace the perpetrator, this was not known previously & still they did not get a statement.

sevenhills

comeasyouare wrote: »

The police now advise that the car was sold 3 days after the incident & they cannot trace the former keeper & as such are "closing the line of inquiry".

honestly i feel like i'm being completely fobbed off to be honest & have lost faith in the police.

It may be the case that your insureres cannot prove who was driving the car, the name of the former keeper is of no use, so they may repair it as uninsured.
You need to put a complaint in to the police or the Police and Crime Commissioner in your area. It may not get your car fixed, but I would think there has been laws broken. The type of person that drives off and then sells the car, may not own up to driving the car.

Shaun_of_the_Dead

sevenhills wrote: »

It may be the case that your insureres cannot prove who was driving the car, the name of the former keeper is of no use, so they may repair it as uninsured.
You need to put a complaint in to the police or the Police and Crime Commissioner in your area. It may not get your car fixed, but I would think there has been laws broken. The type of person that drives off and then sells the car, may not own up to driving the car.

They dont need to prove who was driving only that a policy of insurance was in place. It would then be down to that insurance company to deny liability.

Shaun_of_the_Dead

comeasyouare wrote: »

they say CAN'T but I suspect WON'T

re car being exported, I point blank asked the police if they had spoken to the current (new) keeper & they stated yes (however as i say i pushed for this as prior to that it was a big ambiguous, so i'm not sure if it's actually true in all honesty). if they have spoken to the new keeper who apparently cannot provide any details re former keeper then i'd assume new keeper IS in this country.

Re adjusting my expectations. I don't expect this to be top of their radar i'm fully aware its not a priority crime however it is still a crime at the end of the day & should be followed up given I have provided them more than enough to progress with the enquiry. I'm not sure how they can just refuse to do so.

I think the fact that almost 3 months down the line they haven't even been to take a statement speaks volumes re their attitude to progressing with enquiries from the start & whilst they claim now that there is no point in getting a witness statement bc they cannot trace the perpetrator, this was not known previously & still they did not get a statement.

They can, who have you actually spoken to?

comeasyouare

Shaun_of_the_Dead wrote: »

They can, who have you actually spoken to?

the police officer allocated to the case. Apparently he is only one that will deal with it.
Is there someone else I should talk to?

Shaun_of_the_Dead

comeasyouare wrote: »

the police officer allocated to the case. Apparently he is only one that will deal with it.
Is there someone else I should talk to?

Someone who knows what they're doing and talking about would be a start.

comeasyouare

Shaun_of_the_Dead wrote: »

Someone who knows what they're doing and talking about would be a start.

is there a certain person i should be asking for as opposed to a police officer?