Was rear ended - other driver blamed me and he has a witness

[Charcharm]

was Stationary for around five seconds at a t junction with a give way box, traffic ahead of me meant I couldn’t advance so I was letting one or two cars through. All of a sudden there is a crash from the impact of the car behind me driving into me.

we move over to a side road and exchange details. I’m shaking from the shock at this point. The guy had a friend in the car so has a witness to back up his story, which is that I slammed the breaks out of nowhere which caused this to happen.

This is completely untrue but that’s his story. I don’t have a witness as I didn’t have the presence of mind to get the details of the people around who saw the incident. I’ve made a police report, my husband spoke to the other driver who repeated his story. Will call insurance next.

what’s my situation? There is around £400-£1000 damage to my car and I have a light concussion (despite the low velocity). I feel sick and shouldn’t be on my phone but I’m feeling so stressed, and wanted to see if anyone else has been in a similar situation?

Thanks in advance

This - if the car is stationary it’s never your fault, even if you had slammed the brakes on.

he wasn’t driving safely if he couldn’t stop in time.

It us the responsibility of the driver behind to leave enough space to brake safely. He is liable, no matter what stories he invents..

Sounds like a crash for cash accident

Even if you did slam on the breaks, it it still his fault. He should have been driving with enough distance to stop if you needed to make an emergency stop. Give all details, and anyone police reference to your insurance company and let them deal with it.

Hope you are ok.

Should of been far enough away from you to beable to stop .. his fault not yours op.

Insurance will find him at fault. They always find against the person shunting. If you are joining traffic and someone hits you, it's your fault.

You were actually stationary when he hit you!
He hasn't got a leg to stand on. Twat was clearly not paying attention.

Why is everybody 'shaking' from a mild experience these days? You were OK - thankfully. Just get a grip.

A “brake-slam” defence is weak and routine. Insurers will be used to this defence.
There is absolutely no way you will be blamed.
You have nothing to worry about apart from that concussion.
Relax. And look forward to some injury comp from the git’s insurers.

Oh, do be quiet 🙄

There are exceptions yes, but it’s been so obvious from the very start of this thread that none of them would apply that it’s rather muddying the waters to bother mentioning them imo. It could only really be pulling out of a minor road so a crash was unavoidable, or another type of sudden manoeuvre such as you’ve mentioned which also clearly doesn’t apply.

No, don't speak to them anymore. Don't get involved in the lie. Do everything through your insurance company. If they send you any messages just pass them onto your insurance company.

Either way, as other have said if you emergency break people should be able to react in time. Rear end collisions are almost all treated as non fault for the car in front.

Sounds like driving without due care and attention

Not a chance, his mate being a witness won't hold weight. Xx

Their fault. It is their responsibility to leave sufficient distance between them and you to allow for such things. You can't control their braking distance.

Rear collision his fault.

Don't sweat it. Your insurers will sort it out.

Hope you're OK.

I used to be an RTA solicitor. The car who hits you from behind is at fault.

When driving you should leave enough braking distance to avoid hitting the car in front even if it suddenly stops. There are very rare exceptions which don’t apply here.

Your insurance company will know this

But OP was stopped in the road, to let other drivers pull out of a Give Way, that is not a valid reason to stop on a highway. She should not have been doing that. So it isn't a clear cut case here either.

Yes it is

maybe she means a yellow box she couldnt enter so stopped

It doesn’t matter even if you did slam the breaks on (which I appreciate that you didn’t). he’s at fault no safe breaking distance.

I had a stationary learner driver at the end of a motorway exit who started to move who then slammed the breaks on for absolutely no fucking reason at all other than he was feeling nervous.

Because I could see no cars coming and him starting to take off … I started to take off and slammed into him. My fault as no safe breaking distance (like who is parked miles behind next car at a motor way exit!). Cost thousands my insurance paid them.

Driving instructor was angry at me as apparently the student was a nervous driver and she’d taken him on the motorway to improve his confidence. I assumed because he was driving on the motorway he was confident and not about to randomly slam his breaks on.

so just ignore them

His passenger will not be counted as an independent unbiased witness. He rear ended you, he is very clearly at fault.

DH had an accident where a motor bike drove into the back of his car, he claimed DH did an emergency stop which was untrue.

DH had DS in the car, who was 16, so old enough to be aware. The motor bike rider subsequently produced a “witness” but we disputed this as the roundabout was raised and we explained that the roundabout blocked the view of the accident site from where the witness claimed to have been. Our insurer accepted our explanation, we explained our son was in the car and it was rubbish.

He doesn’t have a leg to stand on OP but I think it’s a good reminder for everyone to buy a dash cam. You can get them for £25.

It never ceases to amaze me the cheeky fuckery of people at fault in crashes and how far they’ll go to push the blame elsewhere. Reminds of this idiot that went viral a few years ago - I bet the driver was glad he had a dashcam!

If a child ran out in front of you you would slam on the brakes
His fault