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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to have thought the police might be vaguely interested in this?

39 replies

EagleRay · 15/03/2015 22:32

A few weeks ago, I was in a lane of stationary traffic and my car was clipped by a passing van, knocking part of the wing mirror off which then was run over by another car.

Van man stops and pulls over but was stroppy and accusing towards me (I was stationary and in the lane I wanted to be in but he claimed I was pulling out into his lane etc etc). I asked him about insurance and he got stroppier but supplied his name and address and I gave him mine.

Turns out he wasn't insured, and refuses to answer the calls/correspondence from my ins co. He's very likely to be driving all day every day as he's a builder (company name was all over the van).

Anyway, I popped into my local police station with his details and was totally given the brush off. Provided his name but they didn't take note of it and said the insurance company would deal with it. Felt a bit like I was being accused of telling tales!

I expect he's still driving around uninsured and I've got a fairly hefty bill to repair my car now. If I wasn't insured, I would expect to get into trouble - so how come it's not seen as a big deal?

OP posts:
Fxckedmywayuptothetop · 15/03/2015 22:34

YANBU what the hell do the police think they're for ffs?Angry

mousmous · 15/03/2015 22:35

let your insurance deal with it.
we are in a similar situation, the other party is now being taken to court by the insurance co.

Original poster
EagleRay · 15/03/2015 22:37

I think the insurance co have given up now, and even if I was to go via MIB it would still cost me due to the excess.

I'm interested as to why the criminal aspect of it isn't a concern for the police - the insurance companies can only deal with civil claims. Even if I end up having to pay for the repairs myself, it would be nice to know that there were consequences for him not being insured.

OP posts:
mousmous · 15/03/2015 22:42

give it time. our acident happened over a year ago, court is in april...

OddBodkins · 15/03/2015 23:20

Several years ago something similar happened to my then dp. Her car had been written off by someone without insurance. The response of the police "that's what happens when you drive around in a recession"!!!! No interest whatsoeve.

zipzap · 15/03/2015 23:25

Agree - you'd have thought it was an easy catch for them...

And even if you pay for it yourself - the fact you've involved your insurance company means that you're likely to have increased premiums next year SadAngry too...

DH was driving out of a car park when somebody reversed out of their space and directly into him (hit the side of the car, dh had no chance of seeing them start to reverse). Other bloke admitted it was all his fault - apparently he couldn't turn his head to check when he was reversing, so he checked before he got into the car and then sped out quickly in the hope nothing came along in the mean time Hmm.

Despite claiming through the other chap's insurance and it not being our fault, and having no claims insurance, our amount still went up as having been in an accident he was deemed to be a higher risk of having another one. and that the reason our amount went up was because although our percentage discount stayed the same, because of the higher risk now attached to dh the quote was more expensive to start with. THey even have weasly words so that even if you don't report it to them, you still have to note it when renewing your insurance so they can still hike your money up. gah.

On a separate note, is it worth speaking to the local paper about why the police aren't following this up?

AliceMcGee · 15/03/2015 23:27

how do you know he wasn't insured?

Original poster
EagleRay · 15/03/2015 23:29

Alice - there is no insurance recorded for his vehicle. The insurance companies have access to all insurance information. On top of this, he's refusing to answer his phone or reply to letters.

OP posts:
LaurieFairyCake · 15/03/2015 23:31

Follow the complaints procedure with the police

And consider civil small claims court for the damage

BigPawsBrown · 15/03/2015 23:33

It's a civil thing really. A crime probably has been committed but really it's a civil matter, so the police were right to direct you to your insurance co.

Original poster
EagleRay · 15/03/2015 23:36

Zipzap to be honest, it was hard enough going into the police station - I have since heard from someone I know that the driver has a rather shady reputation and I did feel really intimidated at the scene, despite having done nothing wrong. The last thing I want to do now is draw any attention to myself.

I went into the local police station as I didn't want to explain the story to someone in the central call centre, but the experience was weird and disconcerting - came away almost feeling told off!

To add insult to injury, while I was still at the roadside a couple of police cars were passing and I tried to flag one of them down as felt so shaken by the whole thing and they refused to stop - total humiliation Sad

OP posts:
LuluJakey1 · 15/03/2015 23:37

Happened to me the other way round. I hit a stationary car that had no one in it. I left all my details under the windscreen wiper. Reported it to my insurance etc who told me I had to report it to the police. I did and they took all of the details. The next week I visited my mum and the car was there, scratched and dinted along one wing, bumper bashed, by me, parked in a different spot. I put my details again under the windscreen wiper asking them to call me, apologising. Nothing. Tried again the next week, nothing. I rang the insurance company and told them. They said the car would not be insured- they see a lot of this. Told me to inform the police. I did. Police agreed with insurance company but were not interested and said they would not follow it up. My car was not damaged but the other one was and they could have had it mended on my insurance.

georgepigsdinosaur · 15/03/2015 23:43

Just out of interest, where are all these police officers that mumsnet demand to come from?
According to recent threads they're supposed to be responsible for
A) All public order offences (especially if its against a woman)
B) White goods falling down stairs. Must of been the neighbour!
C) Knocks at the door past 8pm
And now they're supposed to pro actively chase non insured drivers even though the civil courts will deal with it first before passing it on to them to determine if criminal charges are to be brought.

Excellent. When they've done all that they can get on with all the tea crimes eh?

georgepigsdinosaur · 15/03/2015 23:45

Tea crimes should be real crimes! Although tea crimes would be interesting.....

LaurieFairyCake · 15/03/2015 23:50

The police are definitely responsible for catching uninsured drivers, they run campaigns on it all the time.

Lonelyimpulseofdelight · 15/03/2015 23:54

I think the problem is a general lack of resources in front line policing. It is likely that there are tens of thousands of uninsured drivers on the road. And it seems that the ones who are caught face fines that are lower than their insurance premiums would be.

Original poster
EagleRay · 15/03/2015 23:55

I don't think responding to a complaint by someone visiting the station with all the information they need is particularly proactive. They can't be that busy anyway as apparently they're about the close the station down (and it's not a rural one but in the centre of a city).

I fear for the next person this dumbfuck hits to be honest - I was 'lucky' in that it was minor damage but what about next time?

OP posts:
Lonelyimpulseofdelight · 15/03/2015 23:56

Police stations are being closed to save money.

Original poster
EagleRay · 15/03/2015 23:57

I should point out that I have in the past worked for this police force myself, and have also worked in the road accident/insurance industry, but still I am surprised!

OP posts:
PiperIsTerrysChoclateOrange · 15/03/2015 23:58

www.gov.uk/vehicle-insurance/driving-without-insurance

What's the point of having laws if the police don't act upon them. Why bother paying insurance it will save me £600 a month and I guess there will be no repression for not having insurance.

Lonelyimpulseofdelight · 16/03/2015 00:00

I can't do links but a quick google search suggests around one million drivers are uninsured and the average fine is £300.

PiperIsTerrysChoclateOrange · 16/03/2015 00:00

Year not month

artyanklet · 16/03/2015 00:03

I feel your pain! I am going through something similar at the moment. I was hit as I was making a right turn (indicating) driver from behind me decided to overtake, hit my car and damaged it and drove off. After 10 minutes or so returned to the scene. Police are not interested as he retuned to the scene of the accident - I tried to argue my case (in a very polite way) how do I know that it was the driver of the vehicle that returned - he could have easily switched over etc.... Police simply said - not interested leave it to the insurance company, that's what you pay them for. Driver technically didn't break any laws as he returned back to the scene!

Lonelyimpulseofdelight · 16/03/2015 00:05

Looks like the odds are in your favour Piper!

UncleT · 16/03/2015 00:28

LOL at the logic of the Police station closing because it 'can't be very busy'. I guess that's why the government is slashing numbers of officers too - because there's nothing for them to do, eh? Seriously, cuts are probably in no small part responsible for the lack of interest you encountered - priorities.