Male driver hit me from behind and tried to intimidate me into admitting fault ...wwyd?

[Cain]

Pulling away in stop start traffic, the transit van behind ploughed into me.
I was in shock trying to collect my thoughts when my driver door was pulled open and the driver of the other vehicle stuck his head in my vehicle and shouted " what are you doing?" I answered "you ran into me!" He started yelling, I cannot remember what but I was scared so I pulled the door shut, he fought with me but I managed to get it closed enough to catch and lock it - not completely because the 'door open' siren was going off although it took me a few second to realise what it was.
He went back to his vehicle and I could just about see him in the rear view gesticulating and yelling.

He came back another two times trying to open my door, banging on the window and yelling through the glass trying to get me to admit fault.

I had called the police and as soon as the traffic police arrived he stopped the ott behaviour but still strutted up and down the hard shoulder yelling down his mobile phone.

The traffic police, my insurers and a third party no win no fee type set up have said they can see no fault on my part so my question is this...

After being scared, upset, and now bloody angry I now want to 'do' this sexist bastard as I am quite sure he would not have behaved like that had I been a male driver.

How do I get some justice against him?

I am going to contact the police tomorrow to ask their opinion as well as Enterprise, the owners of the vehicle that hit me.

Can anyone offer any further thoughts. I hate the sexism of it. He should not get away with behaving like that towards a lone female driver he had run into the back of.

Zillion I haven't minimised but neither have I exaggerated the info. I aimed for the facts.

Oh I think I need to read all your responses and address the points. Thank you for inputting. I have already had useful instructiong - drop the sexism pov. thanks for that. off to read the rest now

friend of mine who says I should not play the sexism as it is more difficult to prove

And also would be pointless. People don't get charged with "sexism" but do with plenty of other things that this guy was guilty of.

Seriously sexism is not the issue here. It is that he was intimidating and potentially violent.

If he hit you from behind he doesn't have much of a leg to stand on, unless you were pulling one of those insurance scams that involve tricking so into running into you (not likely in stop-start traffic). Ignore him and get his insurance company to speak to yours, and call the police and tell them what's happened.

Cain just in case you missed my post, do you remember whether the e was capital or not for the first letter of enterprise?

It is this kind of presumption of sexism that does women all over the world a disservice.

Brave online, a coward IRL.

Thanks for all the input, I see that the sexism line is my personal gripe and not one that the police can take up.
At the time the traffic police attended and they stayed around until he left so I felt that they took onboard my fears. But I will speak to my local police about the intimidation and aggression aspect of the incident. The highway police will be able to back me up (i think) as at one point I was on the phone to the traffic control police when he was banding on my window so they were aware of the incident. I was surprised they didn't address it at the time but as traffic police, it wasn't their problem however I have an incident report.

Unfortunately the incident report gives his and my name and address details on the report so he knows where I live. There is nothing I can do about that but if anything happens to my property, I have a suspect.

Yes I will drop the sexism aspect, thank you for that input (although I believe he wouldn't have been so aggresive to a male) it is not going to get to him. I do intend to find out his employers, I can see no reason why Enterprise would not give me the claim details - I would give them everything they needed if the boot were on the other foot.

If I have missed anything please let me know.

Thanks

You poor thing - and what a TOSSER...
Keep an eye on the possible whiplash - I always pooh poohed it until I was smashed into by a white van last year and ended up incapable of moving properly for 5 weeks. I also never thought that I would be the sort to "blame claim" until I had to fold my business because of it all.
I think at the very least you should push for him to admit liability (it will screw up your insurance rates if you don't) and if you feel up to it then get the police involved re his intimidating behaviour. What would have happened if you hadn't locked the door when you did?

Cain thats why i asked my last question there are 2 different enterprises, so if you know about the e, then i can tell you which is which, to try and help you

At the very least you should report him to the police. Banging on your window and opening your car door is not acceptable.

Hope you feel better.

TiredMum ( hope you are less tired now) it was a capital E. definitely the major commercial hire firm and I have his details and their insurance details (via the police - I explained that I was too scared to deal with him directly after the way he had behaved so did not want to get all the info myself).

I have been a bit phased and not sure who to speak to about it but I intend to pursue the matter from now on.

I knew Mumsnet could give me the right direction.

Thank you all. I am going to kick his aggressive, obnoxious (and between the lines sexist) arse.

He sounds like an arsehole. Hope his insurance takes a hammering.

If it was Enterprise then they are sub contractors for three valleys water or veolia depends which area, are you near london, or just google your nearest water supplier and they should be able to tell you what depot he works from if you call them, hth

Oh that is very useful info TiredMumNo1, the incident was in the Manchester area but the driver is from the Walsall area.

Cain, if you are in the UK, do not be fobbed off by traffic police not being able to deal with the public order side of things. They have the same powers and it sounds like the criminal element of this incident fell into the "too hard to deal with" bracket.

They should be investigating the whole incident and if you were threatened at the time then there is no reason why this could not be dealt with, if there is enough evidence.

Please start by reporting the incident to your insurance company. With a reg no they would have got his insurance details for you. If it's an enterprise van he is probably the hirer and will have little input in the claim. Your Insurer will claim from Enterprise's Insurer.
If your insurance policy includes legal fees to cover uninsured losses, this is the part of the policy you need to use if you need a solicitor to act for you for any potential claim for personal injury.

They will also recover your excess for you.
If you need a courtesy car whilst yours is fixed use the insurance company one provided by their authorised repairer if possible - if you don't have this option the uninsured loss company will be able to help you with a hire car.

Again, be reasonable. Don't expect a BMW if you drive a Corsa. However, if you have a large family you can hire something that will accomodate them.

A lot of the stress of the insurance claim part of this will be taken off you as soon as you report it to your Insurers.

As far as his behaviour is concerned, deal with it separately via the police.

Post if you need any insurance advice.
He ran into you - it's his fault - end of!

Good luck.

If you want to double check then google enterprise, and look in the hire vehicle site which has their logo, then there should be another site listed a few under that, something to do with the infrastructure in the uk, click in that and i am guessing thats the logo you will be looking, and you should be able to find some contact details,

and the reason he was probably going nuts at you is because he is self employed and he would have to pay the excess and would probably lose his job as they dont like their workers having prangs, he was probably rushing around as he gets paid per job, not hourly

very interesting scurryfunge, the policeman (taffic) said that he thought it was a case of Mr Enterprise accelerating without anticipating the traffic ahead. ie accelerating into me which would fit with my feelings on the situation.

I wrote in my diary on the morning of the event (I was waiting for the accident recovery vehicle to arrive)about the event and yet now reading it back I am not sure I remember the things I wrote down. It goes to show how fast your memory fails whe you are in shock or trauma.

Just to add i think its enterprise.plc.uk if that helps

Cain, traffic officers are fantastic at dealing with traffic stuff but are notoriously reluctant in dealing with anything else. They are measured on traffic related process. The difficulty in your case is that without independent witnesses, it will be difficult to show what happened (your word against his).

I am surprised he has not been stuck on for careless driving, though.

iamamug (you are not though are you!) I have given all the detail to my insurance, am waiting for a quote and the go ahead to repair from the insurance but apparently Enterprise insurers, Alliance Cornhill have yet to admint liability. It is a matter of time as far as I am concerned.

They have all the info and have said that as far as personal injury is concernded it is up to me to decide to use my insurance company of the independant no win no fee firm who have contacted me.

What do you thing I should do re PI? its not my biggest concern and I don't want it to affect the repair of my car...

Would try to check whether he was on his mobile.

Have to say I get v.nervous if I am the "last" car in a queue of semi-static traffic, on a fast road (which sounds like what happened to you).

Did the police say anything about charging him with careless/dangerous driving ?

Do you have a legal expenses extension on your policy??
If so - use the that for the PI and excess recovery.
Allianz are a good Insurer - I deal with them all the time. They will not concede liability until they hear from their Insured who are Enterprise. If Mr Shithead hired the van for a few days they might not know about the incident yet.
As the police attended and I assume from where your vehicles were, it was quite clear that he drove into you (rear end damage to you, front end to him) it's usually cut and dried and Allianz will deal with it eventually.

Your complication is the length of the chain.

I wo
uld get your insurer to repair your vehicle (am assuming you're comprehensively Insured)
You will have to pay your excess up front but legals will get it back for you.

The PI will not in anyway affect your car repair. Completely separate and nothing to do with your Insurer.
You may get calls from other companies trying to offer you car hire, solicitors etc.( sounds like you have -no win no fee)
If you already have legal cover, tell them nicely to go away.

Hope this helps

iamamug he didnt hire the van, it isnt the hire company

Thought it was Enterprise??
They're a huge hire firm aren't they?