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Police letter about driving incident - what to expect?

2 replies

Feellikeimthemaid · 10/10/2018 09:18

Hi – just looking to see if anyone else has been in this position, and to find out what to expect next.

As background, my 19yo DD was driving late one evening in June and clipped wing mirrors with another driver on a narrow road. DDs wing mirror came off, the other driver had no apparent damage. DD stopped and her bf got out to pick up the wing mirror. Other driver called out to DDs bf to ask if he was the driver and he replied something like “do I look like the driver, I got out the passenger side”. At that point, the other driver sped off. Other driver made no attempt to request details and gave my DD no opportunity to ask for same. As DD was able to affix the wing mirror back and there was no real cosmetic damage, she thought no more of the incident…..until we received a letter through the post from the police 2 months later!

The letter asked for the name and address of the driver at the time of the above incident. They also wanted insurance details. A further sheet claimed alleged offences of Driving Without Due Care and Attention, and Failing to Stop After an Accident and Exchange Particulars.

The forms were returned to the police, along with a covering letter explaining how minor the incident was. We also included a printout from her telematics device (black box) data that showed she did stop her car at the time of the incident. So, I’m confident we’ve got the ‘failure to stop’ allegation covered, but I’m on tenterhooks wondering what will happen about the ‘driving without due care’ allegation. My DD is 19 and at the time of the incident had been driving for 18 months. If she were to get 6 points put on her licence she’d lose it as she’s been driving less than 2 years.

Has anyone else been in this position? I’m wondering what happens next. We’ve not heard from the police since but a friend that had a speeding letter said it was six months before she heard more. Will the police call DD in for an interview to discuss the other allegation? We just don’t know what to expect. In the meantime I’m having to bear this myself and not let my DH find out because he’s got quite a temper and is very controlling, so will go nuts at DD if he finds out. I’m sure he’ll find out eventually, but I’m trying to put that day off as long as possible.

Any info on other people’s experiences would be appreciated.

OP posts:
PJBanana · 10/10/2018 09:30

This is a very, very minor incident, so try not to worry!

At the end of the day, it would be the other driver’s word against your DD’s (and her boyfriend’s). Plus, you have the added benefit of black box data.

I doubt anything could possibly come of this. It doesn’t sound like your DD did anything particularly wrong.

Feellikeimthemaid · 10/10/2018 09:40

Thanks PJB. I thought it was minor too, but was concerned the other driver went after insurance details. A colleague said maybe the other driver has damaged their car more since the incident and is trying to sting DD for the cost by claiming the incident was much more than it actually was.

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