I've had a letter from the police!

[clarabellabunting]

I have received a letter from the police asking me to confirm who was driving my vehicle on a particular date and time because the vehicle 'was involved with a collision with a stationary vehicle' in the car park where I used to work (the date is over a month ago and I have since moved jobs).

I was not aware of any collision at the time but the letter says that I failed to stop, failed to leave details and failed to report. I obviously need to reply saying that I was driving the car that day and in that place but I'm really worried about the likely consequences as I was totally unaware of any collision, if there was one.

The letter gives the time of the incident as between 8:45am and 8:00pm, which is strange and makes me wonder why they have identified my car as being the one involved, since if there was a witness, surely they would know what time it occurred (and the same would apply to CCTV - I'm not sure if there was any in the carpark).

I could not rule out 100% that the incident occurred as the carpark in question is very tight and is a bit of a nightmare to manoeuvre in. I have several times come back to my car to find mysterious scrapes and scratches which I assumed had been done by other drivers during the day. However, I would never not stop and leave details if I thought I had damaged someone's car and I have never knowingly had a ‘collision’ in the car park.

What will the likely outcome of this be? Will I have to go to court? If it turns out that I have damaged someone's car, I am happy to pay for the damage, etc.

(also Nadia - if this is real and someone's car has been damaged, they shouldn't suffer the insurance consequences. It's still an offence of dishonesty if someone fails to stop etc. Happened to DH but the idiot who drove the side off his car did so in full view of a pub full of drinkers so he was taken to court and convicted. Meant his insurance covered the cost of repairing DH's car, & our insurance wasn't affected. Still think this one smells though)

Actually I half agree with Nadia. I know a lot of police officers who will confirm that they do have targets and sadly do try to avoid certain issues nearing the end of a shift for example! One said he will purposely not pull over a car of uninsured young drivers within his last hour as he knows its quite likely he'll find other evidence (drugs etc) which puts on more paperwork. The police also have awards every so many months where teams are awarded for how many of each crime etc tackle!

I have no clue about procedures, and I dont work in the police, or in law.

However, does the cctv show you walking out to assess damage? Or move your car straight afterwards?

Or does the CCTV show you just lock your car and walk away, staying parked in the same spot the time you were in work?

I think if you could explain your behaviour upon parking, it would go a long way to prove that you were unaware you had scraped a car.

Surely if you kept your car in that spot the whole day, you cant be accused of "failing to stop" as you were stationary and unaware!

Jamtoast, I'm horrified that a police officer would admit to that. That's certainly not the norm and I think it speaks volumes about his work ethic.

I have been in the police 12 years and I have never once worked in a department that gives awards. Although I remember we were given 2 hours toil to the first person who caught a disqualified driver that day!

There is key performance indicators but they are not targets as such. And they were never road traffic related in the force I work for. Obv road traffic officers will target vehicles, that's their bread and butter.

Quint, the offence is failing to stop and report an accident. Merely stopping does not absolve the requirements of the act.

I don't remember the day itself as all my mornings arriving at work blend into one - however I can be fairly certain that I just got out of the car, locked it and walked into work. No assessing of damage, etc as I wouldn't have been aware there might be any to assess. This was back in October so it's hard to be sure but I'm assuming I also left before the other person otherwise they would probably have left a note on my windscreen about the damage rather than going through the police and CCTV to find me.

I'm thinking of contacting the police officer and asking him how important attendance of the interview is and what the likely consequences of not attending would be. It will be a real hassle to get there but if it's important obviously I'll try to get there - I want to co operate.

Nick, no I did not meant legally, but for OP to argue her case that she was unaware. Moving the car, or assessing damage could show that she DID know about it. Leaving the car in its place could show that she had no clue that she scraped the car.

I see what you mean and I imagine it will help. However your post read that she couldn't be guilty because she had stopped, I just wanted to point out to people reading it that there was more to it than that.

Nicknacky

OK I do see that the Road Traffic Dept or whatever it is called probably operates completely separately. And I am sure that most police officers are very dedicated and do a wonderful job. However, I don't think the police as a whole should be above criticism. Have you really never come across colleagues who behave as jamtoast relates?

Have a read of this:

www.theguardian.com/uk/2006/apr/23/ukcrime.gender

and found the programme I was referring to:

It was about 6 years ago now, but I remember how shocked I was while watching, as it is my local force.

Then you often have threads on MN where a woman is suffering from threatened domestic violence or harassment and people often recommend calling the police. Sadly the OP often reports back that the police were not especially interested.

I just think their priorities are sometimes skewed, maybe due to government imposed excessive bureaucracy. As with education, the health service, etc.

OP sorry for hijacking your thread.

Honestly? I can't think of an occasion that I am aware of where a police officer has ignored an offence at the risk of being held on. To be honest, sometimes we were happy to be held on because then we could get overtime! But I refuse to believe that "lots" of police officers do this. They don't.

What I would say is that new officers are being introduced to the force and are maybe more worried about kpi's than those of us with some service.

And in my experience, with domestic violence being a force priority most posters seem to get the response they deserve.

I haven't had a chance to view your link but I will.

Hi, are there any updates to this? I've had a similar letter but I was at home on the date and time stated on the letter. I have been on that street, but that was a week or two before that date, and I certainly don't recall bumping a car or I would have left my details. I had it done to me in January and I have no extra damage to my car other than what was caused back then.

@ThisHappyRoseTraybake t

"Any updates?"

On a 10 year old thread?

Oh god, I misread the year as 2024. My 4 yr old has had me up since 4am and I've done a 10 hour work day and this is proof I need to get to bed!!! 🙈🙈🙈