Help please - false accident allegation

lia254

Hi all,

I got an email on 25 February 24 from my insurer saying I collided with an ‘unmanned parked car’, unknown time, unknown or unevidenced damage, on 19 January 24. I’ve had no accidents at all this year and followed up with a phone call and email with photographic evidence - my car albeit old is immaculate with no damage. So I thought that would be the end of the matter, insurer suggested it was likely a case of mistaken identity.

Today, two months later, I receive a notice of intended prosecution for a collision ‘between 2 and 6pm’ on the same date in an area which I do sometimes visit but on the date in question, drove a credible witness and we had no crash at all.

I’m a teacher with a young disabled child, clean licence, a couple of previous fault and no fault minor accidents, all reported and claimed without question or recourse. This however has shaken me to the core, the points and prison sentence combined is terrifying. I’m a single mother and can’t deal with this anxiety, or the stress of having to find a motoring solicitor and mammoth cost.

i know my innocence but no dashcam footage, please help!

thank you x 

lia254

I should add there are three charges - driving without due care, failure to stop and provide information after a road traffic accident x

Okell

1.  If you were driving the car at the place and time in question, you must reply naming yourself as the driver.  If you don't you'll commit another offence, get 6 points and a big fine.  And your insurance will go through the roof

2.  You could try 'phoning the police ticket office, tell them that your mystified as to what this is about, and could they tell you what the allegation is.  (They are not obliged to do so at this stage, but they might.)

3.  Ring your insurer and ask them for any details they have about the incident they emailed you about in February.  (Didn't you think to ask them at the time what it was about?)


[Edit:  My understanding is that you don't necessarily need to have collided with another vehicle to be involved in an "accident", so the fact your car is apparently undamaged may not help you.  Your driving might have caused other vehicles to physically collide...]

Hoenir

Do you have Legal cover as part of your home insurance? 

There's no certainty that the matter will be followed through. Allegations if found to be unsubstantiated will result in the prosecution being dropped. 

lia254

Okell said:

1.  If you were driving the car at the place and time in question, you must reply naming yourself as the driver.  If you don't you'll commit another offence, get 6 points and a big fine.  And your insurance will go through the roof

2.  You could try 'phoning the police ticket office, tell them that your mystified as to what this is about, and could they tell you what the allegation is.  (They are not obliged to do so at this stage, but they might.)

3.  Ring your insurer and ask them for any details they have about the incident they emailed you about in February.  (Didn't you think to ask them at the time what it was about?)


[Edit:  My understanding is that you don't necessarily need to have collided with another vehicle to be involved in an "accident", so the fact your car is apparently undamaged may not help you.  Your driving might have caused other vehicles to physically collide...]

Thanks Okell.

Responded immediately and sent first class.

Will ring ticket office in the morning.

Again, as per OP, I did ring the insurer and ask them what it was about. A collision to an unmanned parked car at an unknown time (now stipulated by the police as between 2 and 6pm).  Not reckless driving linked to a separate, indirect car crash.

So at a loss a) why it has been reported to police two months later and b) why reported with an unknown time yet apparently my reg has been captured at some point.

Not to mention I’m driving my very poorly young child and equally poorly sister around that date so far as my SMS messages show. So certainly not colliding into unmanned parked cars and whizzing off - that much I am certain.

lia254

Hoenir said:

Do you have Legal cover as part of your home insurance? 

There's no certainty that the matter will be followed through. Allegations if found to be unsubstantiated will result in the prosecution being dropped. 

Thank you Hoenir.  No sadly no legal cover as I rent, so do not have home insurance.

I hope not, although I am grateful I had a witness in the car that date despite a dubious, vague timeframe now provided. I have run some research on forums and it does suggest it might be an insurance con - ie insurers have refused payout, so next course of action is apply pressure to admit ‘guilt’ to police. Either way, it’s stress and uncertainty which is just horrible, if I was guilty I’d put my hands up but I’d know if I’d had a collision and to now escalate it to a police matter is just unbelievable.

Green_hopeful

The prosecution will disclose the evidence against you in due course. You will then have more information about the allegations. 

DullGreyGuy

What normally happens is that a person sees a car hit a parked and unattended vehicle which then drives off. The witness notes down the registration and leaves a note on the windscreen of the damaged car. The owner of the car comes back later and finds their car damaged and the note on the screen. They know they parked up at 2pm and got back to the car at 6pm but the witness didnt note what time it was hence there is no specific time. 

Problem with witnesses noting registration plates are 1) their memory isn't always great as they look for a piece of paper etc 2) their eyesight isn't necessarily great 3) their handwriting isn't necessarily great 4) bits of paper left on windscreens can get wet, ink runs, hard to make out. For any one of the above reasons ultimate the wrong registration plate may get reported. 


On the insurance front... go back to your insurers and find out where they are in their investigations. Having been told by you that you weren't involved they should have gone back to the other party saying you weren't involved and asking for what evidence they have. 

If you have Legal Expenses, and even if not, on your Motor then mention to them the prosecution, generally its your problem but sometimes insurers will assist if it will help with the civil law aspect of the claim sufficiently to offset costs. 

You need to work out where you/your vehicle were at the date/time range of the incident and look for any evidence to substantiate it (eg receipt from in store from 2 towns over or RingGo parking ticket for the other side of town etc).


When people receive pushback on their claim they may then go to the police as unfortunately people are generally more willing to lie to their insurer than they are the police. You need to follow the process re identifying the driver at the time etc and advise them also that you aren't aware of the incident where you/your vehicle was at the time etc. 

noitsnotme

Speculation, but perhaps the OP clipped someone’s wing mirror, knocking it off.  That could explain why there is no obvious damage to the OPs car.

@lia254 check your wing mirrors for scratches.

Aretnap

lia254 said:

I’m a teacher with a young disabled child, clean licence, a couple of previous fault and no fault minor accidents, all reported and claimed without question or recourse. This however has shaken me to the core, the points and prison sentence combined is terrifying. I’m a single mother and can’t deal with this anxiety, or the stress of having to find a motoring solicitor and mammoth cost.

There is zero chance of you going to prison over this. Careless driving is not an imprisonable offence at all and while failure to stop/report in theory carries up to six months imprisonment, in practice it almost never results in an actual prison sentence. The only circumstances where it might would be over a hit and run that caused serious injury or worse, particularly if there was a suspicion that the driver fled the scene to avoid a breath test.

For bumping a parked car and driving off (even assuming that you did) the worst you would be looking at would be points and a fine. However in general the police have better things to do than prosecute people over minor car accidents so there is a high chance that once they've logged your side of the story and are satisfied that insurance details have all been exchanged they will leave it to the insurance companies to argue over who pays for the (alleged) incident.

m0bov

I doubt the police would do anything, they always say its a civil matter.