Just had police at door

[Auntieobem]

Saying that a note was left on a car saying that it had been hit my my DPs car. They looked over the car and said there was no evidence of any accident damage. Had no witness details, didn't even have a date of alleged accident. It allegedly happened somewhere where DP sometimes parks. DP denies and knowledge.

Anyone have this happen to them? I assume it won't go any further?

Most likely scenario.
Another one is driver hits a wall, bollard, whatever with their own car then takes the reg of a nearby car and blames it on them to avoid claiming on their own insurance.

I came out of a shop in a retail park to a woman shouting I'd hit her car, her car was covered in dents, I pointed out I had front and rear dash cams and she soon scurried off.
Very common for someone to have damage to their car and choose a nearby car to blame and attempt a claim.

Happened to me.

Police checked car and could see there was no damage or sign of repair, I made a statement and provided evidence that I was elsewhere, police confirmed I (petite blonde woman) did not meet description of the driver (tall black man) and my insurance company still paid out as wasn’t worth the cost of the court case.

it still irritates me 15yrs later!

Years ago a friend bumped their company car and knew they would have to pay the excess.
So a week lated he parked at the airport and when he came home the next evening he reported that he found his car damaged on his return.
He didn't implicate anyone else though.
However perhaps someone is trying a similar thing but backing it up with pretend evidence.

It's never good when police come to your door, is it? :-(
I totally sympathise with people caving under pressure to plead guilty to a caution even if they can't see that they did the crime.

Sounds like a scam. Someone has damage in their car and wants your insurance to pay for it. I can’t believe the police and insurance wasn’t on your side without any evidence!

That’s interesting.
I had a caution last century as a young person for cannabis-
I had no idea I could have “ Refused” it.
I mentioned it to a workplace ( they did enhanced CRB checks) and they wanted to know in advance of any police issues.
The caution didn’t show up, maybe as so long ago?

It will go nowhere on the strength of an anonymous note. Unless someone has seen it happen and makes a statement, or there is some dashcam/CCTV evidence your DH should just continue to deny it had anything to do with him.

Quite!

@Nimbostratus100 I argued it, insisted I had nothing to do with it and suggested someone was trying to scam my insurance but they wouldn’t have it. I had no option and I certainly didn’t ‘plead guilty’ @lljkk

suggest dh gets his car checked out at a garage that is on your insurance companies list.
They will check it over for damage and possible impact.
If there is none the other cars owner can’t claim.

You might also want to see if anyone has a ring system on their door if you don’t. Police should do this anyway but just in case to check for incident.

Like give would I have accepted a caution for something I didn’t do. I’d rather be jailed. Cheeky arseholes.

Could the handwriting on the note left on the damaged car be a clue of sorts?
If it doesn't match DH's handwriting for example?

• like fuck

@Poisonrunningthroughmyveins it’s implicit within agreeing to a caution that you are accepting guilt, it should have been explained to you by the police but in my experience (as a lawyer) they used to be pretty poor both at setting out clearly the acceptance of guilt element and also making it clear that you have a choice to accept or not.

Actually that’s a bloody good scam thinking about it. You damage someone’s car in a car park. Are seen to be writing a note by others and attaching it to the persons windscreen. Jobs a goodun…. Except you write down a different number plate of the same colour car that’s also in the car park.

A caution is you saying you are guilty and them telling you off.

If you say you didn't do it, then they have to try to prosecute you - eg find evidence and witnesses and take you to court.

The police obviously prefer it when people just accept their guilt for minor things like this so they don't have the hassle of investigating.

If someone left a note on my car with no phone number (why would you leave a note with no contact details?) but a reg number, I'd contact my insurance, not the police. Very strange all round.

Unless the person that DID hit the damaged car just wrote down the number of a random nearby vehicle on a note put it under the windscreen so any witness assumed they were owning up to the damage, and then drove themselves off.

A friend of mine who witnessed a car scrape another in Sainsburys, saw the person get out and look at the damage, then look round (by which time my friend was sat in her car out of sight), got paper and a pen from her car and walked round her car to he other side and looked like she was copying down another blue car's registration down from the row opposite, then popped the note under the windscreen of the damaged car. My friend just wrote down the lady's number and model of car and discreetly took a photo of the lady/car half in /out of the space where she had hit the car. When the other lady had driven off she went to check the note and it had this other random blue car opposite's number. So of course she wrote down the correct car make and registration and explained she saw the incident and had a photo, all of which she had to send off to the damaged car owner's insurance.

Never found out the outcome though.

A caution is you saying you are guilty and them telling you off

Well I never. the whole way through the 3 police interactions (first home visit, second home visit then 3 interaction where I had to attend the police station) I repeatedly said that I didn’t do it. At no time did they say I had the right to refuse a caution. I certain didn’t pleads guilt or admit guilt in any way. Now I’m even more annoyed!

OP sounds like a scam.

@Poisonrunningthroughmyveins

"The MoJ Guidance states that “The simple caution scheme is designed to provide a means of dealing with low-level, mainly first-time, offending without a prosecution.”

The following are pre-requisites:

The offender has admitted the offence;
The offender is willing to accept the caution;
There must be sufficient evidence to provide a realistic prospect of a conviction if the offender were to be prosecuted;
The offence is not one where a prosecution is required in the public interest.
Simple cautions form part of the offender’s criminal record. They may be referred to in future legal proceedings and may be revealed as part of a criminal record check"

I believe there is no right to appeal but you might be able to complain?

Otherwise, have a look at your copy of whatever you signed to accept the caution (Simple Caution Form?).

Did you read the form you signed to accept the caution?
Did you have a solicitor?

There's more information here:
unlock.org.uk/advice/implications-accepting-police-caution/

@Nimbostratus100 I agree with you but it would have been better if you'd have said that in the first place to @Seeline rather than "Why would you do that?" which suggests she is an idiot, rather than one of the many people who through no fault of their own think a police caution is unavoidable or a good option.

I've just learned something truly valuable from mumsnet. Thanks!

Ive been a victim of a similar scam.

Its been dragging on for a year and has pushed my insurance premium up and affected my No Claims.

I’m so pissed off and all AXA tell me is they’re still “investigating “ 😩