A (potential) car incident

[hahavzv]

Hi mumsnetters,

I'm in a situation and I just don't know what to think about it (not trying to be defensive) and don't know how to handle this situation.

A person has rang up my kids school saying someone has hit their car and if this is not sorted then they will escalate this further.

I was contacted today by the school to say is this your car reg and it was. My car has been caught on cctv (apparently) hitting a car and 'running off'.

Now, I am not aware of hitting a car, well not that I know of. I was given the persons contact details which I was happy to take so I could discuss this further with them. I rang them and they were extremely defensive saying that I am a bad person and who would do such a thing etc. I asked have you personally seen this cctv footage and also if you could send me pictures of the damage done to your car. They also mentioned that there was an eyewitness who left a note with tier number saying that it was a hit and run.

I am not a hit and run type of person so this person has gotten the wrong end of the stick.

I have asked the person to also send me the cctv footage so I can review it too. They have refused to do so. I don't know why. They have said you can contact the school and obtain this your self.
I will be looking to get this done and check out the whole footage.

But what do you think I should do? A part of me is like maybe I did hit a car but unaware. The photos of the damage are scratched as if bumper to bumper scrape kind of thing.

Any advice please.

By the way, I am the only driver of the car and it was at the time that I would've been around at the school.

Thank you. I was just going to respond but you’ve said everything that I was going to.

This! If it's genuine you need to tell your insurers. If it's a scam, the insurer can deal with it.
BTW, you must tell your insurer about an accident even if you don't intend to claim.

www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/insurance/types-of-insurance/vehicle-insurance/vehicle-insurance-making-a-claim-if-you-re-in-an-accident/#:~:text=tell%20your%20insurer%20about%20the,police%20station%20within%20seven%20days

https://www.gov.uk/request-cctv-footage-of-yourself

It is true - they can refuse other people can be identified

Request the CCTV Footage & check your car for any damage too. If it shows you have hit the car ring the car owner & ask if they've had a quote for repairs. If you can pay without getting your insurance company involved, do so as it'll save your no claims.

RTFT?

If you have read my previous post then you should know you are being scammed. Ask yourself, how does a blue car leave white paint on a red car. It is impossible for a blue car to leave white paint. The same thing happened to me. Luckily, my DH has worked with cars all his life and realised it was a scam. Call her out and tell her you will be reporting it to the police as you believe you are being scammed.

Did you get the cctv op?

I did call up the school to ask. Gave my details. I've not heard anything back yet.

Seriously, just let your insurer deal with it. Aren't you supposed to notify them within 24 hours anyway?

If she just tells her insurer someone wants to make a claim against her, they will pay out and she will get stuffed with higher premiums. Insurers won't be investigating such low value claims - they just settle them without any care.

Just go ahead if you don't care about being scammed and having to pay extra for your insurance for years.

And no, you don't have to notify them within 24hrs. I don't know where you're getting that from.

Contacting the insurer and letting them sort it out is the best protection against not being scammed.

I was contacted today by the school to say is this your car reg and it was. @hahavzv

Was the caller ID withheld? Did you recognise the name of the person who called? I bet it wasn’t the school at all.

Update: I contacted the school and asked for footage. No one has got back to me. Contacted the headteacher directly and they've said they've not handed out cctv to the woman in question due to their privacy policy. I believe this 'eyewitness' was the one that left my number plate details to this woman.

I'm going to leave it since there is no evidence. If she has further problems with this I'll just say I'm happy to take this to the insurers. 😊

Eyewitness = lying friend

I suggest you advise the school to put in their newsletter that someone claiming to be from school is phoning up and claiming the school has given out CCTV, and making it clear they cannot do that under GDPR.

As soon as you can, get a dashcam, I wouldn't trust them to have another "near miss" with your car to make the damage on theirs look worse than it does now. Definitely go through your insurance, exh had an accident with a cyclist & weeks later, we had a letter from the cyclist wanting money for damaged clothing he said he had damaged jeans & a top he was wearing when exh knew he was in shorts & a Tshirt, we contacted the insurance & never heard another word from him, he was trying to pull a scam.

24 hours of what though? In this case it doesn't even appear that a collision has even took place 🤷‍♀️

So has it all gone quiet from the 'accuser' OP? Might be another sign that its all BS

So they're basically a scammer. I'd be logging that with the police in case they make a habit of it.

So they are quite happy thinking you have no insurance or driving licence driving near their children. If it was me I'd be getting in touch with the police to report you, not trying to scam you for a few hundred quid. Get in touch with your insurance company and call their bluff. Are they insured? Have a licence? MOT?

It's highly like that the terms of use of the car park require people to accept that they are on CCTV and forego any DPA rights in respect of filming of themselves and their car. Otherwise it would be utterly pointless having any CCTV at all.

DS friend (19) lost his phone on a night out (prob stolen in club).
Next morning they call phone & it’s answered and arranging to collect it. Woman says phone was found inside her car which has been smashed-up and they need to bring ££ For the repairs, says phone owner must have been drunk and smashed & broke into car.
She sends photo of a car badly vandalized with smashed windows.

Smelling a rat …
Happy to return phone but saying DS must have smashed up her car while drunk and accidentally left phone inside.
Friends older brother, went round to hers. There was a smashed window car. He’s very articulate, and tells her, cctv from club, and street & his in car camera show DS exact movements from club to home and the time. And reported list phone at club.
And that it was not possible for him to have been at her house smashing up a vehicle. She does say, no we drove it home w smashed windows but he says no, wasn’t him must be phone thief.
He says thank you, happy to have our phone returned. Thank you.
She returned it no problem.

He was lying about the cctv, but older bro had been the designated driver at the night out. The older bro not been drinking, knew exact movements of group. He was ready to tell her he was recording convo etc.

Wondering if the scam is either pay us for the smashed windows OR reset your phone and let us keep it. They keep a smashed window car just for this …
scammers everywhere

They sound dodgy! It does sound like a scam. If the school don't give you the CCTV it might be worth saying in a polite way that you will get some advice from the police. You have nothing to worry about if you did hit them without knowing. But I am thinking that you didn't! If that is the case, they need to be stopped, they could be doing this regularly for money