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

It’s standard IMO that if you go into the back of another vehicle, it’s always your fault.
As pps say, they are trying it on!

Irrelevant.

His witness isn’t worth much as he knows them! I used to work in car insurance and we wouldn’t take much notice of what a passenger said - unless it’s a taxi or bus!

Doesn’t mean people can crash into you.

And BTW youre wrong, she was unable to move forwards. Is she supposed to block the path of people who can move forward?!

Yup, the one who hits the rear is 9/10 blamed for not allowing enough time to brake.

Ring your insurance company and explain what happened. If someone drives into the back of you, they are always at fault. Witness / passenger can say what they want. Give insurance company the details and leave them to deal with it. It is NOT your fault.

Your car was stationary and he went into the back of you. He didn't leave enough stopping distance.

I was rear ended when I was stationary on the motorway due to a queue and the other guy was going full speed. It was quite shocking at the time (the noise it makes is bad enough).

Nonsense. She’d been stopped for 5 seconds. Even if she suddenly stopped, he still should have left enough braking distance especially given they were at a junction. In any event she says it was a ‘box’, clearly one of those areas where you have to stop if your exit from it is not clear, in which case she was doing what she was mandated by the HC to do.

It is clear-cut.

Don’t worry, he is at fault. Hope you’re ok, it is a very shocking experience even if considered minor.

If you drive into the back of someone it’s always your fault (I should know I’ve both done it snd gad it done to me). You should always be far enough away from the car in front to stop, regardless of how hard they slam their brakes on.

Barrister here. On either account this guy didn’t leave a sufficient distance between himself and you and is therefore at fault. His witness is not independent so although his evidence is admissible a court may place less weight on it. Give your account to your insurance company and insist that they deny liability on your behalf.

I know that doesn't mean people can crash into you, I'm not stupid. But she WAS supposed to move forward, if there was room for her to let out "one or two cars", means she should have been making progress, which she wasn't. Not sure of the question you've asked, makes no sense in this situation. If you're saying the cars she let out could move forward, then she could've moved forward herself. They were at a Give Way, she wasn't.

Anyway, the driver shouldn't have rear-ended her, but it does matter why she was just stopped in the road.

Not true. If someone changes lanes, leaving you without a safe braking distance, then they brake hard and you rear end them, you will NOT be at fault. Yes, most cases of rear ending are the fault of the car behind, but there are some exceptions to this, so it's not "always your fault" at all.

That’s the nub of it, isn’t it? Insurance companies can be scammers just as much as some bastard who brakes in order to get you to ram up the back of them.

My neighbour fraudulently claimed damage to his car that didn’t exist when I very lightly rubbed against his bumper thanks to his stupid and selfish parking practices. My insurance company DIDN’T EVEN BOTHER TELLING ME THEY’D SETTLED THE CLAIM FOR £2,500. LV if anyone’s interested - absolute arseholes.

So, I was merrily renewing my insurance the following year and telling prospective new insurers that I didn’t have any claims history when, lo and behold, one of the prospective insurers informed me that wasn’t actually the case.

I made a complaint to LV who made some pathetic excuses and denied all responsibility for settling a blatantly fraudulent claim. I should really have complained to the insurance ombudsman. This was about three years ago so it’s probably too late now.

Wow! That woman is seriously delusional!!!

Yes you’re right. There are a few exceptions which are not relevant to this situation. Better?

No, she couldn’t move forward and you aren’t supposed to block junctions when traffic is at a standstill.

Honestly the lack of knowledge of drivers is scary and probably explains why there’s so many shit driver

It doesn't matter whether you slammed your brakes on or not. He should have been at a safe distance which would give him time to stop if you did stop suddenly. He is at fault.

If your insurance company do not support you fight it. The assumption with a rear end collision is that the other driver should have left enough distance to stop so they are automatically at fault. Some insurers may try to persuade you to go 50/50 - fight it, you'll win.

Even if slamming your brakes on made you liable (which it almost always doesn't, drivers behind you need to leave a safe stopping distance), his mate in the passenger seat is not something you need to worry about. Witnesses need to be independent.

It is almost always the car that rear ended you's fault.

Get on to your insurance company straight away. He wasn't paying attention.

Nothing matters apart from the fact that he drove into the back of you. That's it. Your way ahead was a box junction and you couldn't move forwards until it was clear to do so. He wasn't paying enough attention and drove into the back of you.

The fact he had a witness only means that someone else saw him drive into the back of you, and even if you 'slammed the brakes on out of nowhere', he is still at fault. It was a busy junction and you deduced that you couldn't go forwards so you braked. His fault for not noticing.

Someone drove into the back of me once and wrote off my car exactly because I slammed my brakes on out of nowhere. But because a child ran out into the road. Entirely his fault for not keeping a safe stopping distance.

Not your fault - if he drove into the back of you he’s liable. I’ve been rear ended 6x. His passenger is not an independent witness. Just tell your insurance company.

To be fair, having someone crash into the back of you is pretty alarming. In a situation like this I suspect the person behind expected her to go and she didn’t move off (often how people get rear ended at junctions) so he may have accelerated into the back of her with a fair bit of force. It’s shocking.