Hit and Run - Reporting to Police

[DuFFmAn]

Hi everyone. Just needed some help really.

A relative's car was written off in a hit and run incident. The driver of the vehicle made off. Unfortunately, CCTV quality isn't good enough to get the number plate.

Anyway, I want to pursue a claim via the Motor Insurance Bureau (MIB). They stipulate on their website that all incidents must be reported to the Police.

So off I go to the West Midlands police and they are out right refusing to record the incident and provide any sort of crime reference number. They are even refusing to issue a call log of any sort. Apparently it is a civil matter even though there is property damage and laws have been broken.

Can anyone give any advice? I'm going to call the MIB tomorrow to see if it is a necessity but it's frustrating that the Police are taking this stance. We just want to get the funds as quickly as possible to replace the car.

Ps. Not keen on going via own insurers and for now, the car is drivable after bolting the mirror back on. It's an old Mitsubishi and all the panels along the offside are damaged but not enough to render it unroadworthy.

 

[Doodle]

This is not unheard of. Hampshire Police were thoroughly uninterested when a woman in a W202 ignored the road signage and found herself wrapped across our front end.

Despite being independently witnessed and prosecutable for leaving the scene of an accident as well as potentially driving without due care and attention, they couldn't be ars*d to lift a finger. Fortunately it wasn't particularly to my detriment, as the Landcruiser's winch bumper suffered just a few scuffs for having comprehensively mangled the nearside panelwork of the C-class.

I'd forgo any thoughts of getting a payout quickly though, the MIB process often takes months to complete.

 

[kianok]

I thought they only paid out when the other driver had been identified and prosecuted?

 

[Scott_F]

Just one of the ways in which the police are able to produce statistics that say crime is falling.

 

[TheBlimp]

Agree with the comment re police statistics.

However if it were me I would find the contact details for the Chief Constable and report their Forces lack of interest. I think you'll find a much more Pro-active stance to the issue.

Good luck

Sent from my SM-N960F using Tapatalk

 

[219]

Hi everyone. Just needed some help really.

A relative's car was written off in a hit and run incident. The driver of the vehicle made off. Unfortunately, CCTV quality isn't good enough to get the number plate.

Anyway, I want to pursue a claim via the Motor Insurance Bureau (MIB). They stipulate on their website that all incidents must be reported to the Police.

So off I go to the West Midlands police and they are out right refusing to record the incident and provide any sort of crime reference number. They are even refusing to issue a call log of any sort. Apparently it is a civil matter even though there is property damage and laws have been broken.

Can anyone give any advice? I'm going to call the MIB tomorrow to see if it is a necessity but it's frustrating that the Police are taking this stance. We just want to get the funds as quickly as possible to replace the car.

Ps. Not keen on going via own insurers and for now, the car is drivable after bolting the mirror back on. It's an old Mitsubishi and all the panels along the offside are damaged but not enough to render it unroadworthy.

Contact your member of parliament and ask them why the police are refusing to carry out their duty

 

[219]

This is not unheard of. Hampshire Police were thoroughly uninterested when a woman in a W202 ignored the road signage and found herself wrapped across our front end.

Despite being independently witnessed and prosecutable for leaving the scene of an accident as well as potentially driving without due care and attention, they couldn't be ars*d to lift a finger. Fortunately it wasn't particularly to my detriment, as the Landcruiser's winch bumper suffered just a few scuffs for having comprehensively mangled the nearside panelwork of the C-class.

I'd forgo any thoughts of getting a payout quickly though, the MIB process often takes months to complete.

AIUI , an MIB claim takes a year to process , this is so as to exhaust any possibility of the driver being traced .

 

[Rayny]

Something at the back of my mind tells me that you can only claim through the MIB when you cannot claim through your own insurance.
I've been looking without success for the relevant document(s), but you can start here :
Car insurance claims against uninsured drivers

 

[markjay]

Around 20 years ago... someone crashed into my parked car then drove off. There were no witnesses. I walked into my local police station (remember those...?), filled a form, and a few days later got a letter in the post with a crime reference number. The car needed a new rear wing, which I claimed off my own insurance. Things seem to have changed since?

 

[markjay]

Something at the back of my mind tells me that you can only claim through the MIB when you cannot claim through your own insurance.
I've been looking without success for the relevant document(s), but you can start here :
Car insurance claims against uninsured drivers

Interesting read.

Also:

'Claims for property damage (including damage to vehicles) are also subject to a £300 excess, and the MIB is unable to compensate for property damage where the driver was not traced (for example in a hit and run incident).'

I thing they meant to say:

'Claims for property damage (including damage to vehicles) are also subject to a £300 excess, and the MIB is unable to compensate for property damage *(NOT including damage to vehicles)* where the driver was not traced (for example in a hit and run incident).'

 

[John]

Contact your member of parliament and ask them why the police are refusing to carry out their duty

I was going to suggest this also...

 

[rf065]

Around 20 years ago... someone crashed into my parked car then drove off. There were no witnesses. I walked into my local police station (remember those...?), filled a form, and a few days later got a letter in the post with a crime reference number. The car needed a new rear wing, which I claimed off my own insurance. Things seem to have changed since?

Funny, around the same time I was in the snooker club when someone came in and told us someone had driven into the mates car in the car park & drove off. Armed with the reg number & the witnesses details we went to the police station to report it. They could not have cared less and said it was a public car park and had nothing to do with them!

 

[219]

Around 20 years ago... someone crashed into my parked car then drove off. There were no witnesses. I walked into my local police station (remember those...?), filled a form, and a few days later got a letter in the post with a crime reference number. The car needed a new rear wing, which I claimed off my own insurance. Things seem to have changed since?

A similar length of time ago I had parked my then W123 outside Bathgate town hall whilst attending an event there .
When I came out , the star had been snapped off from the radiator grille .
I wasn’t that hugely bothered as they were only something like £11 to replace back then , but the police station was directly across the road , and the lights were on .
I went to the counter saying , I don’t expect anything to come of this , but if you happen to lift any young lads tonight and find them in possession of a Mercedes Star , you’ll have a good idea where they got it .
A couple of nights later , I was surprised to receive a phone call to say they had indeed lifted a few young lads and found them in possession of a couple of Mercedes Stars and other car badges , and if I was able to identify mine it would tie things up nicely . Well , I had already replaced my broken one , but I still had the base from the old one with the snapped off stub , so I went up with it and the profile of the broken part was a perfect match for one of the stars .
I left the broken part as evidence but I never heard the outcome.
It was good that one bit of petty mischief was addressed, and hopefully the kid got a shock .

 

[219]

Funny, around the same time I was in the snooker club when someone came in and told us someone had driven into the mates car in the car park & drove off. Armed with the reg number & the witnesses details we went to the police station to report it. They could not have cared less and said it was a public car park and had nothing to do with them!

Wouldn’t have been that if it had been a cop car or one of their own cars .

My sister twice had the opposite response when she reported similar events; once an elderly driver clipped the corner of her car going into a parking space ; then tried to deny it ; Lesley had the presence of mind to block him in as he refused to give his details, and called the cops who told him he was obliged to provide them , and if he didn’t he’d be arrested .
The other time was in Tesco’s car park in Linlithgow where she saw an old woman scrape right along the side of a neighbouring car before driving off , she got the number , description of the car and driver , and after leaving a note on the windscreen of the damaged car , went round to the police station . The first thing the cop said was that without a second witness there was nothing he could do ; at that , Lesley said our mum was in the car with her and saw everything too . The policeman smiled , and duly took statements from the two of them , then a car was despatched to the address where the car was registered , and it was found on the drive with damage consistent with what my sister had described. The old biddy denied it until she was told there were two witnesses, at which point she confessed.
The woman whose car was damaged sent round a nice bunch of flowers as the other drivers insurance paid for the damage .

 

[ash59fifty-uk]

Agree with the comment re police statistics.

However if it were me I would find the contact details for the Chief Constable and report their Forces lack of interest. I think you'll find a much more Pro-active stance to the issue.

Good luck

Sent from my SM-N960F using Tapatalk

Contact your member of parliament and ask them why the police are refusing to carry out their duty

I would suggest one email with both of these persons as recipients, and anyone else relevant cc’d

 

[John]

A similar length of time ago I had parked my then W123 outside Bathgate town hall whilst attending an event there .
When I came out , the star had been snapped off from the radiator grille .
I wasn’t that hugely bothered as they were only something like £11 to replace back then , but the police station was directly across the road , and the lights were on .
I went to the counter saying , I don’t expect anything to come of this , but if you happen to lift any young lads tonight and find them in possession of a Mercedes Star , you’ll have a good idea where they got it .
A couple of nights later , I was surprised to receive a phone call to say they had indeed lifted a few young lads and found them in possession of a couple of Mercedes Stars and other car badges , and if I was able to identify mine it would tie things up nicely . Well , I had already replaced my broken one , but I still had the base from the old one with the snapped off stub , so I went up with it and the profile of the broken part was a perfect match for one of the stars .
I left the broken part as evidence but I never heard the outcome.
It was good that one bit of petty mischief was addressed, and hopefully the kid got a shock .

Sadly, I doubt this level of enforcement will ever return.

I've no doubt some genuine officers are hamstrung by the decision-makers but still try their best - but there must also be a percentage of lazy fockers who use it as an excuse and I think this culture appears to be winning out.

 

[Kamisuma]

It will be interesting to see what difference, if any and if ever the 20,000 "additional" police get recruited!

 

[219]

Sadly, I doubt this level of enforcement will ever return.

I've no doubt some genuine officers are hamstrung by the decision-makers but still try their best - but there must also be a percentage of lazy fockers who use it as an excuse and I think this culture appears to be winning out.

I can’t help but wonder if it’s a regional thing as I’ve never known the police to decline to help with anything ; last thing was a few weeks back when I called 111 to report a stray dog on the A737 which was causing traffic to stop and at risk of being knocked down as well as potentially causing a crash . I got a call back 5 mins later asking for further details from another operator and confirming a car was on its way .

 

[DuFFmAn]

Thanks everyone for your input.

So.. spoke to the MIB and they said that they've never heard of the police refusing to record it as a crime. She then went on to say that the MIB will not pay out unless we have a vehicle registration and that their policy covers untraced drivers and not untraced cars!!!

Long story short, I'm probably going to refer it to Insurers and invest in a dashcam!

 

[Jukie]

Regardless of which police force it is/was, the incident should have been recorded as an incident and the OP should have been provided with an incident number. It always is with us in Cumbria. I cannot understand why it wasn't recorded as an incident. I would suggest anyone in a similar situation (God forbid!) should complain to their PCC and take it further if not satisfied thereafter. Any force that wouldn't record such an incident is not doing their job and I would love to know their justification for not recording it.

Failing to stop is NOT a recordable crime so the OP's relative would not get a crime reference.