Freaking out after the events of yesteday !

[Sophiebrown85]

Hi all,

Single mum here, my last post on mumsnet was about opinion on buying a flat with a friend and life was great until then. But a lot has changed in the past 24 hours!

For background:- A few weeks ago, I got into a no-fault car accident (admitted by the a young lady who was driving and there is no dispute on that from her end) . She rear ended me because she accidentally put her foot on the accelerator instead of the brakes on a road between the Wokingham-Reading area .Admittedly,I was driving 50 mile in a 70 mile area because it was dusk and going west towards Reading so the sunlight was particularly sharp on the eyes but insurance people said as long as I was under the speed limit I was not at fault. It resulted in a minor but insignificant injury in my back due to whiplash which I initially did not even want to claim and my car was written off. Insurance people were insistent on the claiming the whiplash injury too so I did and was asked to do a NHS medical report to support its evidence as well. Did all that and it was all good.

Yesterday around lunch time , a couple of people from Thames Valley Police showed up at my door which was a lady who introduced hereself as "Fraud Prevention Officer" was accompanied by a uniformed police officer. They came in and said they were investigating "Crash for Cash" cases which was apparently rampant in the area. They would question me for over half an hour because they suspected me for it due to the driving speed and I was flagged up by the other lady's insurance company. When they left, all they said was "If you are innocent, you have nothing to be worried about" and that I will be called to the station for futher questioning in due course for a formality. They said I was not under arrest and even advised there was not a need to consult with a solicitor yet.

Ironically, I work in a prison (not a prison officer but I work in prison administration where I track release dates for prisoners and lot of them have been sentenced for insurance fraud ) and I am freaking the F out for this. My brain tells me it is probably nothing and I am innocent so once the investigation ends they will find out what happened. I am also hopeful the lady tells them her version and it should all be ok. But I am also downright terrified of being arrested or losing my job or even going to jail and far far more terrified of losing my DD for something I did not even do.

What's there to freak out about? It sounds like you didn't do anything wrong? Are you worried because you lied?

Bless you get some proper advice on this but (and I know it's easy for me to say!) please try not to worry. The police would need to find evidence to indicate you were likely to be part of such a scheme so ties to others know to be involved, a history of criminal behaviour, circumstances needing to take part, a motive etc

Years ago an elderly driver in front of me came to an abrupt halt and I ran into the back of him and the driver behind ran into me. I was told that the person running into the back is always to blame as they should have left more room between them and the car in front. Not sure if this is still true . Is it the injury claim they are interested in? I think the claim companies caused a spike in false injury claims .

@FfsKaren

Bless you get some proper advice on this but (and I know it's easy for me to say!) please try not to worry. The police would need to find evidence to indicate you were likely to be part of such a scheme so ties to others know to be involved, a history of criminal behaviour, circumstances needing to take part, a motive etc

Thank you! You mention all those things and all them go in my favour so that puts me a little at ease. I have got no criminal history (not even a parking ticket!), no personal association with criminals or gangs, no previous insurance claims and though money is tight, I have a job that pays me enough to sustain me and DD happily. I have no clue why her insurance company flagged me up but I am innocent. That being said, it is still worrying and I am an anxious wreck since.

Get legal advice, regardless of what the police say.

Obviously innocent people do sometimes get convicted. It might be fairly rare, but why dice with danger? If a fraud investigation has been mounted against you, don’t drag your heels.

The officers may have breached the Codes of Practice. If they suspected you of committing an offence and were asking you lots of questions, you should have been cautioned. They also should not be advising you on when/if you need a solicitor.
I don't think you should be at all worried as it this reads as though they were treating it very informally. By behaving in the way they did, they would (should) know that every thing said is inadmissible and they would be risking any case being thrown out if it went that far.

Never trust anyone who says you don't need a solicitor. I would also not speak to them again. You are under no obligation to do so.

@Sophiebrown85 it sounds like it was a nasty incident - she went into the back of you while doing up to 70 and you were doing around 50? You are trying to heal and get over the shock.
Inform your insurance company - why would the police visit you for a suggestion from the other driver and their insurance company? Any compelling evidence? Sounds like an over-reach - and it's upset you a great deal - that's really not acceptable.
Complain to your insurance company and to the police.
It's perfectly lawful and sensible to be taking consideration of adverse conditions when driving, and low bright light can be blinding and essential to drive with caution. She's at fault for going into the back of you, end of story.

I'm sorry this has happened - please push back on the accusation and complain. I think it's a very low move for the police to have come out to you.

I know what you mean about insurance my company was same when someone rear ended me. If a medical professional has diagnosed whiplash then they can't argue. I still suffer with back pain now it's been8 years so I'm glad I claimed.

Update:- Spoke to the father of my DD"s friend who is a solicitor. He told me that there is no case provided the circumstances I described were correct and I can report them to the authorities for breaking protocols and be able to sue them if I wanted to. He also said FPOs are not police officers and do not have the power to make an arrest (unless it is a citizen's arrest which never happens in practice) and thats why she had to have an officer with her to question me. But he also said that he doesnt think they will press charges and probably just drop the investigation this week . Only thing he said is that the police need to investigate if anyone flags up someone for fraud, but arrests are quite rare and jail time is even rarer.. So hopefully this will be behind me soon

You should definitely file a formal complaint. Get ahead of this because their treatment of you is appalling.