To ask what you'd think in this situation?

[Alfieisnoisy]

Ive been accused of damaging a car in a car park with my door.

To my knowledge I have not done this BUT I had two Y7 children with me (DS and a classmate) who were getting in the car and it was windy. It's possible one of those could have done this without realising it had caused damage or were scared to say.

As far as I am aware the accusation is based upon speculation as I was parked next to the car which was damaged. It was a school car park and I have permission to park there as my child is disabled.

Don't know what to do. I will ask the children if either of them were aware of their door hitting another car.

Feel sick at the thought of a teachers car being damaged by my car and not realising. Would willingly pay for any damage as i am almost over honest. I epuld always leave a note if i was aware i was a fault. On the other hand don't want just to accept the accusation without proof.

Have spoken to my insurance company who want details to put on file. I've contacted the school to ask that they provide those....date and time etc but no reply yet.

A bit of friction going on between me and the school over their management of my son's disability at the moment. The Head is very off with me even though I am not criticising the school....just the mainstream system. I don't for one moment think he would make any think like this up but it's not his car which had been damaged. Would have thought the staff member concerned would have approached me as I am in the school every day to collect DS.

Do I just accept that maybe one of the kids did this without my realisation and offer insurance details? Or not?

Don't know what to do?

Have spoken to both DS and his friend who are adamant that their car door did not hit any other car....I stressed that they would not be in trouble but I needed to know if this had happened as a teacher's car was damaged.

No reply from the school as yet. I've asked for details so that my insurance company can log it. This was their advice when I phoned them.

I am thinking you only park there for collection and drop off - is that right?

I am guessing teacher came out to car at end of day. Saw damage to car. Saw your car parked next to it put 2 and 2 together and came up with 5.

Unless you were parked there all day and no one else parked next to her then it may not have been you.

How can she prove it was you?

If I were the teacher involved, I would have approached the Head. The car was parked on school property and I'd want to know if their insurance covered damage. This is what happened when a delivery lorry scraped a colleague's car at my school. The school took care of the initial negotiations.

So the Head isn't necessarily being malicious or out of line, tho' he seems to have jumped to conclusions. As the teacher, I wouldn't want ill-feeling between me and a parent. I'd prefer to handle it officially through the school, even if it later turned out that the school's insurance wouldn't cover it.

So sorry you're in this position. It's going to v difficult to prove anything, either way.

My son once damaged another car by opening his door into the car parked next to mine. It was immediately obvious what had happened - there was no question about it. I would think it would be difficult to damage the car in the next space without being immediately aware of it - it makes a distinct noise. In my case it was a straightforward insurance claim, but in your case there's no evidence that you (or anyone in your car) were responsible for the damage. If I were in your shoes I'd deny any liability.

It's a car that has possibly had another r door opened on to it. How bad can this 'damage' be ffs. Head sounds like he is being a utter arse about this. And days later.

I wouldn't contact my insurance company about something so bloody trivial.

Wait and see if you hear back from the teacher. Ultimately, you didn't do it and your DS and friend said they didn't so what can you do.

Would Home Educating DS be possible for you, OP?

I definitely wouldn't admit liability and there is a good chance it wasn't you. Head sounds like a bully. Handing it to the insurance companies sounds like the best bet.

One car will have left some paint on the other. You need to examine both cars.

It's for the teacher to prove that your car was responsible. If there is paint on the teachers car that matches the colour of your car, that is not proof that someone in your car was responsible. someone else with a car the same colour might have caused it.

If CCTV covers the parking space, that might help.

It is interesting how quickly you offer up your details without any actual proof. Photos of the damage, CCTV? time it was parked there? Witnesses? Anything???

I haven't offered my insurance details. I did contact my insurance company to tell them of the accusation and ask what I should do. They want the details but only to log them and not to proceed.

I have left two messages now for the staff member concerned but had no response.

And now I am angry.

The Head basically accused me in a public area in front of two other members of staff. Unprofessional doesn't begin to describe what I am thinking of him.

My whole instinct (and probably knee jerk reaction ) is to pull DS out of there and home educate him. Difficulty is that I've been advised not to do this as while he is in school I have the clout with the LA of saying "the school cannot meet his needs".

Whatever I do will feel wrong. Leave him there....wrong vs pulling him out =wrong.

The Head feels I am criticising his school and is taking it personally. He shouldn't be.

You shouldn't have called your insurance- they will record this as an incident now whether you claim or not. I certainly wouldn't have them deal with it- why should they if you didn't do it?

We had a head like this. In the end I did pull ds out. Lucidly he didn't have a statement (although has sen) but be aware that as your ds does it can be a fight to pull them out as it is a slightly different procedure.