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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think we shouldn’t still be waiting for the police?

278 replies

Shoeshow · 29/12/2019 18:53

4.45am this morning a car crashed through my front fence, hitting both our cars (parked on the road) in the process. The driver got out and ran away. We called the Police who said they would be out to us in an hour.

While waiting for them to arrive, at 6.30am, the driver/friend of the driver came back to try and get their car - we go outside and they run away again, locking their car as they do so. (Relevant as probably means it’s not stolen)

Police arrive around 10, have a look at the scene but are then called out to a more urgent job so leave. They were here a total of around 3 minutes, didn’t take any details and told us to go to the police station to complete a statement form, which we have done.

That’s it. Nothing else since.

The car is still in our front garden, smashed fence and car debris is all over the pavement and our car insurance won’t start the ball rolling until they know details of the other driver / if it is a stolen vehicle etc.

AIBU to think the car should have been recovered by now? We are worried they are going to try and come back to get their car in the night - and the only way they would succeed is by causing more damage to our fence and the cars (as they are blocking it in)

What are we suppose to do?

OP posts:
LakieLady · 29/12/2019 19:22

YANBU. The police are shockingly under-resourced, at least at the level of front-line officers.

A 14 hour wait for something like this is crazy.

Complain to your MP, OP - they're still keen to get stuff done this soon after an election.

BellatrixLestat · 29/12/2019 19:22

YANBU but it's not their fault. They are stretched to breaking point and they have to prioritise Cat 1 crimes (threat to life, violence, domestics), and with the state of crime levels at the moment, violent crime in particular, they are swamped.

The officers that attended will have been response team. It's likely they will have passed it on to a neighbourhood team now as it's not a Cat1 so you'd be best asking at your local station.

happycamper11 · 29/12/2019 19:23

Nobody thinks waiting 14 hours is reasonable but unfortunately it's the reality. Lots of crimes they never turn up at all. This is not the fault of the force. They are doing their best in difficult circumstances.

Original poster
Shoeshow · 29/12/2019 19:27

Do you think there will eventually be an investigation?

We can’t understand what the owner of the vehicle expects to happen to their car in our garden (presuming it’s not reported stolen of course)

OP posts:
needanewnamechange · 29/12/2019 19:27

As long as you have lots of photos including car number plate then if they come and take the car in the night and if it's not stolen then will be able to track them down . I know it's not ideal but let them deal with the matter when they come eventually. Hopefully by tomorrow you will get a crime number and can get the ball rolling .
It's frustrating I know , I too have had something similar happen although I got crime number quicker but they really are stretched .

huggybear · 29/12/2019 19:31

Ah is it? My apologies, I thought that only applied to people. It's so annoying though.

needanewnamechange · 29/12/2019 19:32

Unlikely to investigate.
In my experience car crashed into my drive but they managed to drive away . A neighbour saw where they went the next street so we told police all they did was impound they car because they denied it was their car Hmm. Nothing came of it , no police update just some letter with crime stats Confused. It was sorted by insurance that I had to claim on.

RossPoldarksWife · 29/12/2019 19:33

It’s classed as ‘Leaving the scene of an accident, ‘ not a hit and run.
Took eight days before any police officer came to sort out mine. Hit by drunk driver whilst parked outside my house. Even with CCTV footage they needed to prosecute.
They are massively overstretched.

BonnyConnie · 29/12/2019 19:34

To be fair in east London they’re probably dealing with a lot of violent crime which requires them to act immediately. I’m not surprised that over the holiday period they don’t have the time for this. It’s one of those things where they don’t have enough funding to provide a reasonable service but no one is willing to pay enough taxes (arguably it wouldn’t even be possible to raise enough taxes to fund everything properly without crashing the economy) or to make cuts to services that people could pay for themselves to redirect the funds. You have my sympathy but so do the people running the police.

WeShouldBeFriends · 29/12/2019 19:35

I work for the ambulance service. Most of the jobs we get sent to where the notes say 'aggressive patient' 'weapons on scene' we request police back up and seldom get it. A while back some colleagues were being attacked in the back of their ambulance, pressed their 'man down' button for immediate police assistance but there were no resources available to send Sad
YABVU sorry

Doyouavocado · 29/12/2019 19:35

Fucking tories

sweeneytoddsrazor · 29/12/2019 19:37

Reasonable timescale no , realistic timescale sadly yes. People who rarely need to call the police don't realise exactly how much strain they are under and how many calls they can possibly hope to deal with. We have to log work related incidents with them at least once a day if not more, and its rate we get a visit from them. They do not routinely turn up for shop lifting unles its a very large amount or a very very persistent offender. Neither do they turn up quickly for assualt if the person has left. We may occasionally get lucky and there is a patrol in the vicinity so it is quicker.

YouretheChristmasCarcass · 29/12/2019 19:38

Where I live (US) Hit and Run with bodily injury and/or blocking traffic and/or car into building gets an immediate response. Otherwise it's not classed as a 'true emergency' and people have to wait for a patrol car or a 'community officer' to be free. It's a shame but then again people don't want to pay higher taxes to fund more officers. 🤷🏼‍♀️

Original poster
Shoeshow · 29/12/2019 19:38

@needanewnamechange that’s what I’m worried will happen here if the owner comes back and gets the car before the police do.

OP posts:
Original poster
Shoeshow · 29/12/2019 19:39

@RossPoldarksWife did the drunk driver leave their car?

OP posts:
Tistheseason17 · 29/12/2019 19:41

Did you get photos of the people who tried to reclaim it?

RossPoldarksWife · 29/12/2019 19:41

Shoeshow. No he carried on driving, then crashed it a few streets further on. I only found that out from a neighbour.

Tistheseason17 · 29/12/2019 19:42

Let their tyres down so they can't get away easily if they return.
Could you park a car to block it there?

Christmadtree · 29/12/2019 19:43

Sorry OP, this is awful!

It's worrying that this driver is likely to have been on drink or drugs to do this, but by the time police catch up with them, it'll be out their system.

Could they possibly have come back to get rid of something like drugs from the car rather than collecting the car itself?

Original poster
Shoeshow · 29/12/2019 19:44

@Tistheseason17 no unfortunately not - by the time we realised what was going on they were out the car and running away.

Before that we had assumed it was a stolen car so wasn’t expecting anyone to come back!

OP posts:
Elclr · 29/12/2019 19:45

I'll be honest. If the car had hit yours and then left, they wouldn't even send officers and tell you to report it online. At least in my area. I imagine it's only still on for deployment is that it is still in your garden. Risk is reduced at this time, so emergencies will take a priority. Think life and death situations.

Sad state of affairs, but resourcing is so strapped that they are doing their best with what they have. The Met are especially under pressure, two of their officers were driven at today in Camden. It is what it is, they do what they can.

You are not unreasonable to expect more, but they will be doing their best.

Sheldonoscopy · 29/12/2019 19:46

My dps car was outside my house and some dick belted round the corner and hit my neighbors car which shoved it two feet into my dps car. The first bang and my neighbor was at the window the second she saw him reverse and screech off with parts of his vehicle hanging off and neighbors car parts still attached.

Police never even attended.

I called, explained that we had partial numberplate, the company car that was the offending vehicle, police gave not one fuck.

Dps car was a write off, so was ndns. Had to claim through their own insurance despite other neighbors having cctv of the car that did the damage.

I know our police forces are overstretched, but by all accounts this was a drunk driver who was dangerously driving and a risk to other road users at the time.

Op I feel so sorry for you, please keep us updated and let us know how you get on

cabbageking · 29/12/2019 19:46

Your insurance company is being lazy by not checking the reg number and if it is insured or not on the MIB database.

Original poster
Shoeshow · 29/12/2019 19:47

The car is pretty much blocked in - that’s part of the concern. If they try to get it off, they will have to either bump our cars out the way or go through my fence on the other side of the gate.

OP posts:
fllinn · 29/12/2019 19:48

It's actually refreshing to come on and see so many posts acknowledging this is the results of funding cuts, resources etc and not the fault of the police. I saw a similar thread on Facebook about a stolen bike and the "police are crap" brigade were out in force, it really riled me up.