RTA - driver refused to leave details?

[Cakedoesntjudge]

My friend called me this morning to ask if I could come and take her DS to school as someone had crashed into her and written off her car.

When I got back afterwards she was in a bit of a state - the woman left after refusing to give her name or insurance details so all my friend has is the registration. Her insurer is saying they can see the other cars' insurance details from the registration but unless she has a name they can't help her with a courtesy car to use during the claim because of data protection. The police came to the accident when it happened but left after helping move the car off of the road as it was deemed a low impact collision with no serious injuries.

Legally does anyone know where she stands on this? Is there anything she can do? It seems particularly shitty, especially since the woman admitted fault

[Wishiwasmoiradingle2017]

You can apply to the dvla to get her name and address. Costs about £15 but worth it!!

[Floggingmolly]

Surely the police can trace her through the registration?

[Purplefrogshoes]

The police should be tracing the other driver surely

[MrsPacMan]

Just do a search on the reg, though the police should have already done this so she should contact them with her accident number. I work in litigation and a Reg is all I need to get the details 👍

[SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius]

I'm surprised that the police weren't more interested in this - leaving the scene of an accident is a criminal offence.

If I were your friend, I would contact the police and report it as a crime.

[Bambinho]

Did the police speak to the other driver at the scene? It's a criminal offence to not give details, they have 24 hours from the accident to inform the police.

I once scraped the side of a car, didn't realise just thought I'd caught the tyre and someone took my reg no and I ended up with the police contacting me asking if they could pass on my details to the other party. If I'd said no I think I'd have been in trouble and that was for very minor damage.

[Cakedoesntjudge]

Sorry to drip feed - friend had called an ambulance for DS because he was complaining of pain, after he was checked out despite being fine previously and not saying anything to the contrary the woman said she wanted to see the paramedics and left with them. Friend believes she told them she was pregnant. So I don't think they'd count it as a criminal offence as she left for medical purposes. I do feel for her because I've had an accident that was my fault before and it is horrible, it's not like people go out to crash on purpose, especially not when pregnant but I just feel for my friend too. She doesn't have the money to get a hire car if she can't claim it back. I wouldn't either in her position so I can imagine how she's feeling. Shitty situation all round!

I did try a quick Google of it but it just kept telling me which DVLA it was registered at and not the owners details. I didn't know you can contact the DVLA for the details though! She's going to try the police one more time and if they still won't help then she's going to do that - thank you so much all of you for your help

[CheeseCakeSunflowers]

Take a look on the DVLA website here www.gov.uk/request-information-from-dvla it includes the form she needs

[susiegrapevine]

Ok the reason she can't get the car is because its not a courtesy car she is gettting it will be a credit hire vehicle hired to her on the basis the costs can be claimed back from the third party insurers. Without a name the third party insurers will not speak to her insurance company over the phone due to dpa. Therefore they cannot gain an admission of liability, meaning they can get her the vehicle knowing they can claim the cost of the vehicle back. She will not get a courtesy car if her vehicle is a total loss as most insurers only offer this if a vehicle goes in for repairs, the courtesy car is provided by the repairer in this case. The police will not give her the drivers details either due to dpa. Her insurers can apply for a police report but this takes 6 to 8 weeks by which time they would have paid her out for her vehicle. She could try contact the third party insurers herself and see if they will offer a hire car but the same might apply with them not speaking to her due to dpa.

[Bambinho]

If it seems certain the other driver is at fault (and someone crashing into you would seem to fit in this case) then she could consider using a claims management company to handle the claim, they would also arrange car hire and add the cost to the claim against the other driver.

[Whileweareonthesubject]

Something similar happened to dc1. Except the other car did not stop. Luckily, do has a dash cam which showed the incident clearly. The police were very helpful and DC was able to provide details of the car to the insurance company. Dcs insurers tried to close the case as the other driver didn't respond to any correspondence. DC then contacted the other driver's insurers direct and explained the situation. DC sent the dash cam footage to them and within a few days the repair of dcs car, as well as a courtesy car, was arranged. I'm not sure how DC found out the other driver's insurance company - can only have been via dvla, the police or dcs own insurers. Definitely worth pursuing.