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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think this was a waste of police time?

212 replies

FlowersBlown · 14/06/2013 12:29

At 10pm last night I answered the door to a police officer. He asked about my car, and whether I and it had been at a particular gym earlier in the week. We had. While there I committed an offence.

I made a mistake parking and scraped the plastic bumper of the car next to me. I did not report this. The policeman was off duty in the carpark and witnessed the offence. He took our number plates and went to visit the owner of the other car. She was unaware of the damage, but upon inspection there is indeed scuffing to the bumper.

This in now in the hands of our insurance companies. Was it really worth the police persuing this? No charges are being brought. I did something wrong, but we live in a congested city. My own car is covered in scuffs that have not (all) been caused by me. Should a scuffed bumper be seen more as part of the give and take of city living rather than a potentially criminal matter?

OP posts:
StayAwayFromTheEdge · 14/06/2013 14:20

You just don't get it, do you?

You leave a note because it is the right thing to do, not because you don't want a criminal record.

If you damage something, you pay - it doesn't matter what has happened to you in the past.

IWipeArses · 14/06/2013 14:21

Well no, you don't have to let it go, you can report it to the police can't you.

Kendodd · 14/06/2013 14:22

I don't think I would have been bothered about a little bit of plastic scraping. I would have been mighty pissed off by the fact they didn't have the decency to leave a note though.

I suspect if you had left a note (and it were my car) I wouldn't have bothered to call you or if I had it would just be to thank you for leaving the note. If you hadn't left a note I would be glad that the police had tracked you down and that insurance companies were now involved.

So leave a note- get a phone call to thank you and tell you not to worry.

Don't leave a note- have the police on your door and lose your NCD.

Seems fair enough to me.

Please leave a note next time, not because you don't want a criminal record, but because it's the right thing to do and how we would all (except you apparently) would like to be treated.

Kendodd · 14/06/2013 14:25

Can I ask OP, do you still think you were the wronged party here?

Kendodd · 14/06/2013 14:27

Is it an urban myth that someone came back to their damaged car to find a note that said 'all the onlookers think that I am writing my details on this piece of paper. I am not'?

You'll have to remember that for next time OP Grin

BackforGood · 14/06/2013 14:27

Can't believe that you still can't seem to see that YABU and you were wrong to cause some damage to someone else's car, and then drive off Shock
You are the one who has caused the police to have to spend time on this. Surely you can see that?

Original poster
FlowersBlown · 14/06/2013 14:45

The police constantly make judgment calls as to what is and isn't worth using resources on. They do not have the capacity to persue every possible breach of the law. I am surprised you all feel this was a worthwhile use of 2 hours + of police time. The police never seem to have a spare 2 hours when you would like them to get rid of drug dealers from outside your house, a persistent problem at our old place, for example.

OP posts:
Shutupanddrive · 14/06/2013 14:46

If you hadn't driven off without leaving your details in the first place, there would be no need for the police at all!

StayAwayFromTheEdge · 14/06/2013 14:49

I am getting to the point where I don't believe this is real.

You wasted police time by leaving the scene of an accident - you. It could have all been avoided if you had done the right thing in the first place.

Yes I agree that police time wasted, but this was not the policeman's fault it was yours.

I give up!

Original poster
FlowersBlown · 14/06/2013 15:00

Of course it's real! You call scraped plastic an accident? Is there any level of offending whereby the police should just let it go, or should absolutely everything be dealt with through the law?

You know they don't arrest men having sex with each other in the woods at night? Why not, it's not very nice is it? And they leave such a mess. Maybe they should all be charged with littering.

OP posts:
IWipeArses · 14/06/2013 15:01

Wtf

Kendodd · 14/06/2013 15:03

You're just starting to sound a bit nuts tbh.

Original poster
FlowersBlown · 14/06/2013 15:07

I think you're right ken.

OP posts:
Sparklingbrook · 14/06/2013 15:08

Eh? Confused Where does this happen? And what mess is left?

ComposHat · 14/06/2013 15:08

Yes just waiting for the insurance to deal with it. I think we do have no claims protection. I'm not sure what our excess is though

Since you seem unconvinced that note leaving is the morally right thing to do, this is more evidence that you should have left a note.

If it was a minor bumper scuff like you say and you'd left a number on the windscreen (or gone into the gym and asked them to put a call out for the driver), they would have probably said 'I'll get a quote from the bodyshop to fix it and you pay the bodyshop bill, to save it going through the insurance.' It might have only cost 20 odd quid to fix.

By driving off you've made yourself look untrustworthy, so now they'll want to take it through the insurance company and insist it is done through a main dealer.

Well fucking done, you've cost yourself £250 when it could have well been sorted for a tenth of that.

Sparklingbrook · 14/06/2013 15:09

Why were you parked in the gym car park but not at the gym? Confused

StayAwayFromTheEdge · 14/06/2013 15:11

It was either an accident or deliberate - either way you damaged someones property and you should pay for it to be repaired.

The police are only involved because you drove away having done nothing.

In any case you are not going admit you are wrong so I will leave you to your parallel universe where damaging property is ok.

TSSDNCOP · 14/06/2013 15:16

So you knew you'd done it, yet you decided to drive off.

Just out of curiosity what offences would you admit to?

I bet the driver who's car you've damaged thinks that policeman is totally NBU don't you?

Original poster
FlowersBlown · 14/06/2013 15:18

I'd totally confess to having sex in the woods. No one's offered yet though.

OP posts:
IWipeArses · 14/06/2013 15:19

If the insurance company is dealing with it, then some real damage was done.

TSSDNCOP · 14/06/2013 15:21

Flowers not surprising, but hey go on your own anyway as you're clearly used to being a bit of a wanker Grin

Plomino · 14/06/2013 15:24

To use your own logic , re the drug dealers outside your house .....

Well , it's only a little bit of cannabis isn't it ? Haven't the police got anything better to do than waste their time on something minor like this ? Everybody lives near a dealer , so why bother ? I don't complain about the two lads on my street corner every night , so why should anyone else ?

See what I did there ?

(Just to make clear , this is not my actual thoughts on the drug dealers , merely applying OPs logic to her own complaint ) !

Quangle · 14/06/2013 15:26

I kind of know where you are coming from. This is a daily occurrence and it's why bumpers are plastic and why wing mirrors are sprung loaded. I wouldn't have left a note or really expect anyone to leave a note for me if they had brushed my plastic bumper (sounds rude!)

But I live in urban, urban London and really do take this on the chin every single day. It's annoying if someone actually scratches and damages the car in that way but if it's just a scuff on a bit of plastic I really don't care.

But perhaps you are playing down how much damage was done?

SauvignonBlanche · 14/06/2013 15:26

It was you that wasted police time OP.

Original poster
FlowersBlown · 14/06/2013 15:27

Sparkling, it happens in woods all over the place. Human rights innit? As for the mess, well quite often they like to have a cigarette after.

Oh and I was at the gym despite not being a bloody member because I was transporting a person who is a member to said gym.

OP posts: