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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Do I report this to the police?

44 replies

notwavingjustironing · 13/09/2010 14:32

Despite being on here for donkeys' years, I have never started an AIBU - although I have read a fair few in my time!

Basically, I was driving to work this morning and waiting to cross a junction. There was a loud crack and the car jolted as someone had driven into the back of me.

I got out of the car to find a taxi driver getting out of his car. I looked at my car to see if there was any damage, and he was just saying, "oh your car is fine, I have a dent on my bonnet, but it hit your spare tyre so there's no damage to your car.

I said, "well I'll just get a pen and you can give me your details", which he refused to do. I took down the registration number of his car, and his licence plate number, by now he was shouting at me, as was the fare in the back of the car. I said "if you don't give me your details, I'll report you to the police", and he said "go on then"

Am I being unreasonable to follow up my threat, or because I am not making a claim on my insurance am I wasting everyone's time?

He didn't at any point apologise for driving into the back of me and was just rude and aggressive, as was the person in the back of the taxi.

I can't decide whether this is my motivating factor

OP posts:

scurryfunge · 13/09/2010 15:23

People who don't comply with the road traffic act usually have good reason not to. It can still be dealt with outside the insurance companies Msaford but he has not given the OP any opportunity because he hasn't exchanged details.

BigBadMummy · 13/09/2010 15:23

I thought it was a criminal offence to not report an accident?

I would certainly advise your insurance company and they will want to know if you told the police.

If he wakes up tomorrow with whiplash, or his passenger comes back to him to report the same you couuld get into trouble for not reporting it.

I would certainly go and report it

scurryfunge · 13/09/2010 15:23

He doesn't have to report to the police but he has to comply with the law after an accident.

itsatiggerday · 13/09/2010 15:24

Report it. I was hit behind by a cyclist who was knocked off when someone opened their car door into him from a parking space. We 'exchanged details' but I stupidly didn't check the ones I got from the other driver and he didn't incl his registration no. I did a bit of digging online at home to discover that the address he'd given me was fake. Was so angry I went to the police station and was told that if I hadn't reported incident within 24 hrs I could have been accused of hit and run if the cyclist / other driver had complained as I hadn't passed on the ins details (complicated, was not my car, I was insured but didn't know the co. details).

Not sure if that was only because there was a cyclist involved but I was that I could have been prosecuted anyway. Anyway, they couldn't do much to trace the other driver, but at least I was covered. Esp as the cyclist subsequently had some neck pain etc and he had my (correct) contact details so got in touch. Had I not reported already, he could have tried to sue me since we couldn't find the other guy and if he'd been willing to lie I could have had some problems.

NordicPrincess · 13/09/2010 15:26

i wouldnt report it, if there is no damage why bother.

by the way i dont drive so may not know what im talking about!

itsatiggerday · 13/09/2010 15:26

BTW, apparently it's a legal requirement to exchange: name, address, reg no. and insurance co. details. wish I'd known that.

stayathomegardener · 13/09/2010 15:34

def report it, a similar thing happened to me could'nt see the damage, it only showed up 3 months later,plastic bumper is all crazed now.

Bastard!

IsabellaSwan · 13/09/2010 15:34

Def report it. His behaviour was illegal and aggressive to boot. Absolutely unacceptable and he should face the consequences. Otherwise, he'll just do the same thing to some other person the next time...

stayathomegardener · 13/09/2010 15:37

O.M.G. an AIBU that we almost all agree on.

Congratulations!

mrsfred · 13/09/2010 15:44

If he hit you hard enough to cause the car to jolt then I would ring your insurance company for advice.I believe it is a legal requirement to exchange drivers details in the event of any accident, but I may be wrong.

I would also be inclined to report him to your local police if you are passing, purely because he was so agressive.

xstitch · 13/09/2010 15:49

Absoutely report it.

clam · 13/09/2010 15:56

My friend had something similar happen to her. During the snowy weather, the driver behind skidded into the back of her at a pedestrian crossing. Only a small amount of visible damage, but he wanted to settle "out of court" as it were, without needing to involve insurance companies.
She notified them anyway, and this other driver is now attempting to blame her for sliding (backwards up a hill!) into him.
It's now turned into a right bunfight but fortunately the insurance companies are slugging it out between them.

sanfair · 13/09/2010 16:09

Oh you definitely need to report this. I had something similar happen to me - the man was very nice and because there appeared to be no damage we agreed not to worry about it.
Once I got home I found that the boot of my car no longer closed properly although there appeared to be no obvious damage. It was quite expensive to get fixed.

Even if there is no damage, if the accident is someone else's fault they at least need to apologise. Agree with AnneTwacky, it sounds like he has something to hide by being so confrontational.

Original poster

notwavingjustironing · 13/09/2010 16:39

Thanks to all that responded. I have now reported it to the police who took it seriously, (particularly the intimidation), and my insurance company who were equally helpful.

They are arranging for a garage to look at my car, and have set everything up ready for me if I do have to make a claim.

So, if everything is ok and I don't wake up with a sore neck tomorrow, then he doesn't get into any trouble. But if not, then he will.

He shouldn't have been vile to me either. As Julia Roberts said in Pretty Woman "Big Mistake!"

OP posts:

clam · 13/09/2010 18:30

Well done you.

Bring it on!

JaxTellersOldLady · 14/09/2010 11:17

notwaving do let us know how you are - and how you get on re the horrid taxi driver.

CheekyLittleSox · 14/09/2010 11:34

let us know what happens

DancingHippoOnAcid · 14/09/2010 11:44

I bet the other driver was not the licensed cabby - ie had borrowed the cab from the real owner to make a bit of money while the real owner is not working. That is why he was so twitchy.

StayingDavidTennantsGirl · 14/09/2010 11:45

NordicPrincess - you can't always see damage from an accident like this, and it's not always immediately apparent either.

I was hit from behind by another car - a fairly low impact incident, as this one sounds to have been, and though I drove away from the accident with no problems at all, in the days that followed, we had increasing problems, because the impact had dislodged some electrical connections. This showed first with problems with the indicators, and dh said it was showing a problem with the connections in the steering column, and even though this sounds fairly minor, it did need sorting out - you have to have reliable indicators - and it had to go into the garage to be fixed.

Luckily the other driver had stopped and we had exchanged details, and her insurance company paid up for the work, otherwise we would have been well out of pocket.

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