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.

Yes, I’d say they are trying to rip you off. Just tell them to contact your insurers.

How do you even know that's their car??

There probably is no 'eyewitness'.

Please, just go to your insurance and report it.

As far as I can tell, the only evidence that this witness exists is the claim of the people saying you hit their car. If they are making up the accident, they are making up the witness.

Leaving the scene of an accident is an offence and they can file a police report if they want. But making a false police report is also an offence.

Seriously, leave your insurers to deal with this. They know all the scams and these people may well have previous. Be polite and explain that as far as you know you didn't hit anybody, but of course if it turns out you did, you will pay for the damage. Make a phone call first (and make sure it's recorded — ask the operator to ensure that it's kept beyond "training and quality purposes"), then ask them for an e-mail address and send them the same information in writing.

A few years go a relative (K) had their car written off after someone drove straight onto a roundabout and t-boned them. Pretty much open and shut, you'd think, you have priority on a roundabout and if you get hit from the side that's even more blatant. The insurance paid out the residual value of the car and that was that. Until about 9 months later, when the driver who had caused the accident submitted a personal injury claim saying that K had been at fault. The insurance company were great; they told K about the claim and asked if K would go to court to help them defend it if necessary. When K said yes they went back to the driver and basically said "fuck off, sue us if you want". No more was ever heard. There are a lot of people with not much better to do than try it on and hope that some soft touch will hand over money to get them to go away.

At my place of work we're not allowed to share CCTV footage with customers because of GDPR rules, we get it requested by police - this is obviously not a police matter but the school have to follow the same procedure surely?

Even more info that it sounds dodgy. I think the options you have are:

Tell your insurers you think you are being scammed and let them deal with it.
Tell the police you think you are being scammed, maybe report online

I wouldn't engage with the people anymore, the info they are providing is very odd which is always a red flag as all is not as they are saying.

100% entitled? What’s that based on? What entitles her to see it at this point @pointedlypointless?

Under GDPR school cannot give out any footage that identifies anyone except to police.
So if they've given it out to random person then they're in hot water.

Also any CCTV they have cannot go further than their boundaries, so are you actually driving onto school property? If you're on the public road then their CCTV is covering too far

I think it's very unlikely they have given out CCTV footage to a random. They should have a CCTV policy, ask to see it. It should say about not giving anything that can be identifying to people other than police. Even to view it themselves they need to record exactly what they were looking at and if they've given any out.

Look at the cctv footage. I've hit a wing mirror before and reversed very slowly into someone else's bumper, and I knew I'd done it. If you'd done it, you should have felt it.

Do you have any damage on your car? If you haven't then the insurers won't be able to match up the bump on the others person's car.

You can hit a car and not know it. I know someone who did it. They weren't running away, they were under intense personal stress and didn't notice.

In this case, I'd be asking for more evidence, or letting the insurance company look for more evidence. I'd want proof it was really me.

I find it hard to understand how you can have hit someone with the front of your car without knowing?

I was backing into a space once and a car came so far up my arse I hit him, I was going so slowing I didn't feel it and I didn't see it because I was using my wing mirrors. But...how could that happen if it's at the front?!

I agree with others; you need to see the CCTV because I reckon it shows you pulling out of a space past their car and it's ambiguous enough to look like you hit it. I would insist on going through insurers regardless.

That’s known scam. The only way to sort this properly and legally is to go through the insurance companies.

Tell them you will only go through your insurance and won’t pay any money if they dont go through the correct channels

Send them your insurance details. Ask for theirs. Otherwise it is not your problem so crack on with your life. We all pay insurance for a reason and insurance firms are very good at dealing with this. Think of it this way- how many years have you paid car insurance in your life? and now, when it's needed you want to take over yourself? Why?

Then you let your insurance company know

If the school supplied them with the CCTV can they not send it to you as well?

How many times do you need to be told to contact your insurer? If any headteacher has really acted as you say they've been a bit of an idiot, but not your problem. You can ask to see the CCTV if you want, but you should stop trying to deal with this and stop speaking to the car owner.

1. call the school and ask them to confirm that this was caught on CCTV and whether or not they showed the CCTV footage to the other driver. Regardless of whether they did or not, ask to view the footage yourself. They may or may not allow this.
2. call your insurers to report a potential accident/claim/scam. Do this because a) it is actually a requirement of your insurance, b) if it comes to light later, you may lose your insurance, c) because it is what insurance is for, and d) it will make your life easier in the long run.
3. call the other driver/potential scammer. Tell them that you have informed your insurance company and all correspondence must go through them. Ask for their insurance details, and driving licence number to pass to your insurers. Do not be surprised if they hang up on you. I’ve never heard of asking driving licence details before unless police attend the scene. I suspect they said it because they either don’t have a valid licence or don’t have insurance.

Actually, consider reversing steps 2 and 3. You could skip step 1 but I’m a nosy cow and would want as much info as possible.

Then contact the person you spoke to at the school (the headmistress) to say thank you for you time and that this was likely a scam and it has been dropped/dealt with by your insurance company.

So far, the 'evidence' seems to be: hearsay that an unknown someone says they saw something happen, a photo of a car that may or may not be the one allegedly damaged, some scuff marks of uncertain age and origin on your car, and some CCTV footage that may or may not exist. Add into that the use of phrases intended to generate fear reactions and urgency ('hit and run'), accusations against your character (which can then prompt people to be overly agreeable to 'disprove' the accusations), and not wanting to go through insurance...

There's grounds to suspect a scam.

Don't give them anymore information - they already have too much about you. Check with the school (in person, preferably, and followed up by email) about the CCTV footage, get your insurer on the case, and consider a report to the police yourself if you have grounds to believe you're being scammed.

This sounds like a huge scam and you are about to get ripped off. Do you have their name and address, and the persons car make, model and car number plate.
You would be very foolish to just pay up.
Go through your insurance as they will do a full investigation. Pass the information to them.
I had an incident that wasn’t my fault, little damage to my car and told my insurance company about it but I didn’t wish to make a claim.
They did a full investigation and wrote a report in case at a later date the other party decided to try and claim. Insurance company were amazing and it gave me peace of mind to know it had been investigated.

First up, take a deep breath and stop panicking. The school hasn’t told you they have anything on CCTV, the person who claims you hit them has said it, all the school did was try and trace you through the car description they were given. The person also hasn’t confirmed or denied that they have seen the footage either, actually all they’ve really said is someone apparently left a note on their car with your reg number on it. For all you know, that could’ve been the person that actually hit the car and they’re trying to blame you!

Let the insurance company deal with it, they deal with this sort of stuff all the time, that’s what you pay them for and it stops you getting ripped off by potential scam artists. Yes, your insurance premiums might go up a bit if it turns out it was you, but if you just take their word for it you could end up costing you a lot more, because I’ll lay money on their garage coming back with a four figure sum.

Absolute scam. Never engage with these people. Let their insurance company contact yours

That all sounds very suspect. Tell them you weren’t aware of hitting them but they are welcome to contact your insurers.

Do not engage with them, tell them to go through the insurance company and block their number so they can’t text again. I had a very similar incident (minus the cctv) where someone placed a note on my windscreen stating I had damaged their car and to text them so they could sort it amicably otherwise they’d take it further. I know for a fact I didn’t touch their car (1, because they claimed it was my passenger door and I didn’t have a passenger that day, and 2 I also had dashcam footage proving this), but I just threw the note in the bin, and absolutely nothing came of it. Because most people are aware of damage on their car, and then hope that someone will fall for the fact they’ve supposedly scraped/hit their car and pay for the damages. The damage on your car on the photo, you would 100% have known you’d of done. You can’t accidentally scrape a car and not know about it. Even if you didn’t feel it (and you would), you’d hear it.

The first red flag is them saying they won’t go through an insurance company, because you might not have a driving licence or insurance?! Every insurance company has a pot for people that are hit by un-insured drivers to get their car fixed, so that shouldn’t be a worry for them. Unless, they haven’t got insurance/correct driving licence/valid tax etc etc…

The second one is them dictating it won’t go to an insurance recommended garage, but a professional one. So do insurance companies use amateur garages? Pretty sure every garage has working professionals in it. So basically, they want to send it to a mates garage who will over price and either give them some money back, or, charge you, not fix it, they’ll split the money and then they’ll do it again to some poor sod.

Final red flag, it’s a hit and run with a witness? Okay, where’s the crime reference number? How come they needed cctv to find the reg? Surely this witness could have told them it? And most importantly, who is this witness that miraculously remembers the event details but doesn’t remember the reg plate as they needed cctv?

I know it’s up to you, but honestly if I was you, I’d ask to see the cctv. If there’s 100% proof that you hit the car (not that you were near it, you physically see the hit), then I’d request it goes through insurance, and you aren’t engaging in private payment. If you see the cctv and there is no 100% proof you hit the car, I’d tell them to jog on (or whatever words you choose) and ignore the whole thing - though not going to lie, with everything you’ve said, I’d tell them to jog on anyway as it’s all far too fishy.

Totally this. They sound dodgy AF.

I've just had a thought that maybe this person is a member of staff hence why they could see the cctv.

But then having a copy of it might be a bit of a weird one.

Spoke to someone and they just said that they're not wiling to show you the cctv so they may not want to show it to the insurers and therefore, no evidence! It's a win win lol

It is possible to clip a car and not know, it happened to someone I know. If I remember correctly, she got contacted by the police who had seen the cctv. It wasn’t a big deal and it wasn’t treated as a hit and run. It was settled through the insurers.

I would let her go through her insurance. Give her your details and let them deal with it. If it is a scam then she won’t proceed.