AIBU to think this might be classed as a hit & run

[sarahmoth99]

Last week, hubby was driving and was stopped behind an articulated lorry at traffic lights. For some reason hubby saw traffic in next lane start to pull away and he did the same, not realising the lorry in front hadn't moved - doh.

As a result, he has done about 1k of damage to our car, but no obvious damage to the lorry. However, the lorry driver didn't notice and drove off.

Hubby is just about to report this to the insurance company (initially wasn't going to go through insurance, as thought it would be cheaper to repair). Although no obvious damage to Lorry, and the lorry driver drove off, should he have reported this to the police within 24 hours?

Yes you should report any accident to the police.

Yes as soon as practicable and within 24 hours.
These days you can do the forms online. No need to attend the police station.

Minimum legal requirements after a damage only collision is to exchange name and an address where you can be reached (and name of vehicle keeper if driver is not the registered keeper). Technically it is a hit and run but in defense of both parties, the lorry driver did not realise there had been a collision and therefore your husband did not have the chance to exchange details. If the lorry driver got to his destination, found damage and contacted the police, he would be advised to attend a police station with relevant documents within 24 hours and your husband would have been advised to do the same had he contacted police. A lot of stations won't take a report after 24 hours but it might be worth your husband contacting the force area that the collision happened in on the non emergency number and logging it with them - this way he can say that should the collision have been reported by the lorry driver or the driver's employer, he is happy for his details to be passed on for insurance purposes. It's just a way of covering his own back really, on the off chance that it was reported.

Just managed to check the web cam footage and there is definitely no damage to Lorry Been googling and I don't think it needs to be reported if no damage to vehicle or people, so still pondering on this

I would report it if only to protect yourselves.

Huh? You have to report every accident? Someone reversed out of s space right into me. Neither of us reported to police. Seemed like a waste of their time.

In England, if he didn't injure anybody and didn't cause damage to somebody else's property he doesn't need to report to police (see Essex Police's clear explanation of when to report). But you can't tell from a webcam whether he caused damage to the lorry.