Cyclist Incident and an unreliable witness!

KimJongUn88

Sandtree said:

Jenni_D said:

On that last part - at the time of purchasing the new policy the answer No was correct. The incident has occurred between purchase date and inception date.

Then the conversations isnt difficult and you just need to inform them as soon as is practically possible but costs still apply

Not necessarily. It depends if there is a continuing duty of disclosure to the new insurer regarding incidents and claims. Some insurers are satisfied that you just advise them at renewal or upon policy inception.

williamgriffin

Belenus said:

ps124, I suggest that you take no notice of comments about criminal offences. They serve no useful purpose here.

The police and the law will have absolutely no interest in this incident. The only time they might get interested is if the so called victim decides to commit fraud and even then they are very unlikely to get involved.

So you're making fail to report and careless driving a civil matter now and if the cyclist claims for her injuries it's fraud? Interesting point of view. 

williamgriffin

Sandtree said:

Car_54 said:

I'm afraid there is. Road Traffic Act 1988 section 170. The simplifed version from the HC is:

"Rule 287

If another person is injured and you do not produce your insurance certificate at the time of the crash to a police officer or to anyone having reasonable grounds to request it, you MUST

• report it to the police as soon as possible and in any case within 24 hours
• produce your insurance certificate for the police within seven days."

The interesting bit though is the "OR"

It doesnt say you have to produce it to the police and also anyone else with reasonable grounds to request it, that the requirement can be met by producing it to, for example, the cyclist as they would have grounds to request it.

My understanding, which may be wrong, is if the police or someone else requests and you fail to produce it then the the bullets apply. It also doesnt cover the scenario here where no one was apparently injured at the time and only later were injuries claimed. If your interpretation is correct then the "within 24 hours" is also unclear as to from when.

The whole clause however is generally out of date as these days they will just do a MID check and see that the car is insured and wont ask you for a certificate at all.

You fail to glance over the fail the cyclist had a minor injury therefore law is quite clear.

If, in a case where this section applies by virtue of subsection (1)(a) above, the driver of [F4a motor vehicle] does not at the time of the accident produce such a certificate of insurance F5... or other evidence, as is mentioned in section 165(2)(a) of this Act—

(a)to a constable, or

(b)to some person who, having reasonable grounds for so doing, has required him to produce it,

the driver must report the accident and produce such a certificate or other evidence.

The 24 hours in this case is from the time of the accident. 

Vectis

The whole thread seems to have got bogged down with people trying to show off how much they know and 90% of it is probably of no use to the OP.

OP - ring the police, 101, and your insurance companies. Tell them what's happened and leave it to them. But, you've probably done all that by now anyway.

Belenus

Vectis said:

The whole thread seems to have got bogged down with people trying to show off how much they know and 90% of it is probably of no use to the OP.

OP - ring the police, 101, and your insurance companies. Tell them what's happened and leave it to them. But, you've probably done all that by now anyway.

Par for the course sometimes on these forums.

The thread could have ended after the first few replies.

born_again

Person saying they are injured, then call an ambulance. Even if they say NO. Means police have to attend & take full details. Covers your back as much as anything else.
If they were scammers, then they would be off like a shot. If not you have already got a police report.

ps124

Hi all, I appreciate all the messages and guidance but there is a lot of messages with legal terms, and I agree with one of the posts above, I'm not really sure how any of it helps me right now.

An update:

I called 101 today and the agent believes it could have been a scam. She's taken note and suggested I call the new insurance company first so will do that tomorrow as couldn't get through today. She's also suggested to log a traffic incident on the met website, but when I follow the steps, I get the message that there is no need to log an incident because no one was injured at the time of the incident, the cyclist was fine! (She walked home). So not sure what to do here? 

Futhermore, after going through the events leading up to the incident with my wife, I can confirm her car was stationary, the cyclist hit her car on the side. And secondly, she had hit her car on the pavement. I'm not a cyclist myself, but shouldn't cyclists be on the road, not the pavement?

williamgriffin

ps124 said:

Hi all, I appreciate all the messages and guidance but there is a lot of messages with legal terms, and I agree with one of the posts above, I'm not really sure how any of it helps me right now.

An update:

I called 101 today and the agent believes it could have been a scam. She's taken note and suggested I call the new insurance company first so will do that tomorrow as couldn't get through today. She's also suggested to log a traffic incident on the met website, but when I follow the steps, I get the message that there is no need to log an incident because no one was injured at the time of the incident, the cyclist was fine! (She walked home). So not sure what to do here? 

Futhermore, after going through the events leading up to the incident with my wife, I can confirm her car was stationary, the cyclist hit her car on the side. And secondly, she had hit her car on the pavement. I'm not a cyclist myself, but shouldn't cyclists be on the road, not the pavement?

Isn't the 5cm scratch an injury?

TooManyPoints

I haven't read all of this but with regards to your own insurance:

1. You must report the incident to your insurers.

2. If you didn't produce a certificate of insurance at the scene (and it seems you didn't) you must report the accident to the police and produce your certificate of insurance to them. This is what the law says (Section 170, RTA):

(5)If, in a case where this section applies by virtue of subsection (1)(a) above, [this is where personal injury is involved] the driver of a motor vehicle does not at the time of the accident produce such a certificate of insurance or other evidence, as is mentioned in section 165(2)(a) of this Act—

(a)to a constable, or

(b)to some person who, having reasonable grounds for so doing, has required him to produce it,

the driver must report the accident and produce such a certificate or other evidence.

(6)To comply with a duty under this section to report an accident or to produce such a certificate of insurance  or other evidence, as is mentioned in section 165(2)(a) of this Act, the driver—

(a)must do so at a police station or to a constable, and

(b)must do so as soon as is reasonably practicable and, in any case, within twenty-four hours of the occurrence of the accident.

(7)A person who fails to comply with a duty under subsection (5) above is guilty of an offence, but he shall not be convicted by reason only of a failure to produce a certificate or other evidence if, within seven days after the occurrence of the accident, the certificate or other evidence is produced at a police station that was specified by him at the time when the accident was reported.

So far from being uninterested, the police must take your report to enable you to comply with the law.

kinger101

Jenni_D said:

If your wife pulled out in front of the cyclist then she was the party entirely at fault

Fixed that.