To contact every caravan park in this area?

[OrchidBlue]

Me, DP and our 2 young children were travelling back home from a UK holiday recently when our car was hit in the car park of a service station by another car.

We didn't see it however there was a couple waiting at our car when we left the services. They told us a car had came out the car parking space and hit ours and drove away. They told us the car reg number, make and a description of what happened as well as his name (the witness) and mobile number. They also said where they were going. They said to call them anytime and were vocal about how awful they thought the driver was for leaving the scene etc. We chatted with them for a good 20 minutes, all very friendly.

My DP logged the incident with 101. We've since spoken to the police and they've said the witness' phone is always switched off and they've sent a text but they can't get hold of them. We've also tried the number but always straight to answerphone.

DP had to confirm with the woman at least 3 times the tel number of her partner (the witness). I'm now concerned it's the wrong number (accidently).

We've been told by the police that the result hinges on the witness. They told us they were headed to a caravan park in a specfic town where he goes regularly. I googled it and there's 11 caravan parks there... I checked Facebook for his name and number but no joy for either.

Should I call the caravan parks to see if they can help me and if so what will I say to stop them putting the phone down on me due to data protection??

When was this?
If they're still on holiday maybe they don't have signal or not unpacked their chargers!

Do you think it might be them that done it?

Did you ask the service station if they had cctv? Have the Police asked them to view it?
Seems strange to rely solely on this witness who is now uncontactable.
(I also thought that it might have been the witness that done it mucky)

Re: data protection - no caravan site ought to give you contact details for a customer or even confirm or deny that they are there - BUT it would not be a contravention if you say to each caravan site that IF Mr Bloggs is their customer (and add any other identifying details you can for clarity) then please give them the following message - please call Ms OrchidBlue asap on (yournumber).

But it may be that they are deliberately avoiding your calls as they were actually exaggerating what they saw and don't wish to repeat themselves to police

How much damage OP? If there was significant damage to yours, theres probably significant damage to theirs, one option would be to get firm with the police persuing the offending drivers. If youve got a reg that actually matches the car make and model, then pursue this. If the police refuse, (some waffle about resources/witnesses etc) then tell them you require the offending vehicle owners details for a private action. Your insurance company may help with this if you give them the offending details too. No one was injured, and unless there was excessive damage, Im not sure how relevant the witnesses are. You have vehicle details, and the police may follow up if they think civil action may be taken because theyve not bothered doing anything.

You may need to take a balanced view. How much damage was done, is it really worth it, and dont forget, even if you do manage to get it claimed for against their insurance, its still classed as an 'incident' and will affect your premium, fault or no fault.

Other posters may be able to give you an idea how 'damaged in a car park' has affected premiums, but a few years ago, when I had one, it was only at renewal time I got a shock. So I did shop around, and got cheaper quotes, but had to declare it as a claim/incident even though I was no blame and also had NCB protection!

I did consider today that it was them who did it.

There isn't significant damage although won't know properly until it's looked at by a garage. It's actually not our car, we borrowed it for our hol and took out temp short term insurance so it won't affect our own personal car insurance I wouldn't have thought?

The police said if they can't get hold of the witness then they will go down other routes i.e. cctv.

I had 2 calls today about me being in an accident and getting comp Where do they get the phone numbers from?!

It will affect your insurance as any claim made by you will be logged, and you are bound by law to declare it, sorry.

How old were the witneses? My mum had, until very recently, a thing about only turning her phone on when she used it to save the battery . It was only when she realised that charging once every couple of months wasnt actually particularly outrageous especially when compared to my once-a-day smart phone charging!

Also, another possibility is that they did the right thing by telling you and acting as a witness but on reflection they dont actually want to be involved. I did this, although I did respond when contacted, but I have to admit that afterwards I was kind of hoping they didnt need me to give a statement etc....

YY Pyongyang

I was a witness to a car accident about a year ago. Turns out that one of the parties, as well as lying about the circumstances of the accident and driving extremely recklessly, he had also told a number of untruths to his insurance company about his occupation and address, presumably to reduce his premium, so what appeared to be an open and shut case about one driver going into the back of another because he was doing at least twice the speed limit dragged on for months, and may not have yet been resolved.

I had to give a written statement to both insurance companies and a claims management company, field several phone calls from said insurance companies, and be interviewed at home by an investigator working for one of the insurance companies, who was an ex police officer and treat the event as taking official witness statements that could be used in a court, so was quite intimidating and questioned me at length about what I saw etc and approached the questions in different ways to try and introduce inconsistencies, presumably to discredit me as a witness.

Really wish I hadn't got involved!

Same here!

I ended up being summoned to court to give evidence and had to go through a right old rigmarole to sort out childcare etc to go. Then the insurance company of the arsehole who caused the accident finally agreed to pay up the day before. I got no bloody compensation for childcare I had had to pay for that I didnt need or the time wasted! That was supposedly an open and shut case too..... I saw it and to this day I dont know how the "bad" guy's ins co managed to string it out for so long!

Fabulous

The car that hit us is with the same insurance company as us, will that make a difference?

Alternatively where they are staying is a signal black spot and they simply don't know someone's tried to call

I had 2 calls today about me being in an accident and getting comp hmm Where do they get the phone numbers from?

I think they're just speculative. I had one this week and there is no accident.

You are Poirot, just call your insurance company and they do the running around. That's what insurance is paid for.

The thing is the driver of the other car could deny hitting us or say he didn't realise as he did leave the scene which is an offence.