Rashman
MB Enthusiast
So,
The day out with Toby, Don, Steve and Ray was great.
We all made our way down to the White Dog for a good chat and a bite to eat.
Steve and Ray left early as they had engagements to attend, leaving Toby, Don and myself to eat. The food was excellent.
After eating, we sat outside and enjoyed the weather for a while and then left to head home.
We all drove in convoy with myself leading, Toby following and Don bringing up the rear.
Our route home was via the A229 which took us through Hawkhurst, Cranbrook and Staplehurst.
The journey back was very relaxed and we enjoyed the pleasant places we passed through.
We passed through Cranbrook and approached Staplehurst....
We were all in convoy with me leading.
We were doing just 30mph, or just under.....
The road was a good size but the footpath to our left was quite a narrow one....
Walking towards us on the footpath to our left, was a girl of around 14/15 years old walking a white dog.....
At the moment I drew level with the girl and the white dog, the dog freed itself from its lead and bolted straight for my car
The girl screamed out, knowing full well what was about to happen
BOOM!.... the white dog made contact with the near side corner of my front bumper
I simply couldn't believe what had happened.
I simply had no time to react as I was within around 1 metre of being level with them before the white dog bolted for my car.
The white dog must have rebounded off my bumper and back onto the footpath, as I could see it in my wing mirror, doing circles on the spot in obvious pain. It appeared to have seriously hurt one of its front legs and was quite distressed.
I pulled over immediately, with Toby and Don doing the same behind me.
I got out of my car and looked down the road to see if the white dog was alright. The girl had managed to retreive the white dog and was doing her best to comfort it.
I braced myself and headed to the front of my car...
Initially, I thought "surely there can't be that much damage as we were only doing around 25-30 mph and the white dog was clear from my car seemingly the second after it had struck my car.
However, I also saw what damage "Baby Bambi" had done to Sean's poor CLS when he was out in the country so I really didn't know what to expect.
Deep breath... now take a look.......
I was shocked to see how much damage the white dog had caused
The left corner of the bumper had broken off and the front section of the wheel arch liner had also broken free
I headed back down the road to talk to the girl who was still on our side of the road, on the footpath with the white dog - She was now accompanied by a man (maybe her dad) who had parked his BMW on the other side of the road.
There was also a youngish guy in a mobility scooter on the footpath, talking to the girl.
As I approached them, I collected the 2 bits that had broken off my car from the road side.
I continued heading towards them.. The girl and the man were now hurrying the white dog into the car and were about to leave.
I called after them, but they either didn't hear or they didn't want to hang around.
I imagine they were looking to get the white dog to some help quickly.
I can understand this, but I thought they should have at least exchanged a few words with me.
By now, I was standing beside the guy in the mobility scooter.
He obviously saw my confused expression and said "it's ok, it's my dog - they're taking it to the vet".
I apologised that his dog had got hurt and he replied "it's ok, he got free from his lead".
He then crossed a grass area and headed of into a housing estate...
So I was left standing there with body-parts from my car
I headed back to Toby and Don.
We assessed the damage to my car.
At this point, and elderly couple walking their dog walked towards us and asked what had happened.
We explained and they said that there was a vet in Cranbrook and that that was probably where they had taken the white dog.
They were also kind enough to give us the name of the vet, as they use it for their dog too!
Toby found the vet's number on his phone and I called them.
They confirmed that they have just taken in the white dog and that they were just seeing to it.
I left them my details and mentioned that I would also need the details of the dog owner. The vet said I should call later, after they had seen to the white dog.
With not much else we could do, I cleaned my car's body-parts and placed them in the boot.
We then continued our journey home.
I got home and called the police to report what had happened.
Apparently, if a dog is hit, it is classed as a traffic incident.
They took my details, details of the incident and asked me to get the details of the dog owner, so that I could use this with the insurance company.
I rang the vet but they said they could not give out these details for security reasons and that I would need to get the police to ask for these.
I rang the police again. They said they can't ring the vet from the call centre and that I would need to go to my local police station in the morning to report it all and they will assign an officer to the case, who would make the enquiries with the vet.
Insurance company was closed for the day, so I couldn't even report it with them.
So tomorrow, I need to got to the police station, then ring the insurance company, the ring mercedes to tell them what has happened and that I will be needing a new front bumper and any associated parts.
Thankfully, the fog light and fog light housing is all intact, so it looks like I'll just need a new bumper and anything else that broke that haven't seen yet.
So.....The White Dog....... who would have thought these 3 words would have played more than one part in our day
If this is a sign, I will only be going to pubs that are called "The tiny Mouse"... or "The Snail" or stuff like that !!!!!
I will steer well clear (pun not intended!) of anywhere called "The Charging Rhino", "The Bloody Great Elephant", "The Crazy Ba$tard Bull" or anything like that! 
Hey Ho..... it was a great day up to that point.
I'm more calm about it than I thought I would be, I have to say.
I think I am calmer than I would be becaus, even though I will need a new bumper, no damage was caused to any metal bodywork, lights, wiring or anything else like that.
I am assuming that this will be a straight forward insurance claim....
I will keep you posted on the service of the insurance company AND Maidstone Mercedes!
The day out with Toby, Don, Steve and Ray was great.
We all made our way down to the White Dog for a good chat and a bite to eat.
Steve and Ray left early as they had engagements to attend, leaving Toby, Don and myself to eat. The food was excellent.
After eating, we sat outside and enjoyed the weather for a while and then left to head home.
We all drove in convoy with myself leading, Toby following and Don bringing up the rear.
Our route home was via the A229 which took us through Hawkhurst, Cranbrook and Staplehurst.
The journey back was very relaxed and we enjoyed the pleasant places we passed through.
We passed through Cranbrook and approached Staplehurst....
We were all in convoy with me leading.
We were doing just 30mph, or just under.....
The road was a good size but the footpath to our left was quite a narrow one....
Walking towards us on the footpath to our left, was a girl of around 14/15 years old walking a white dog.....
At the moment I drew level with the girl and the white dog, the dog freed itself from its lead and bolted straight for my car
The girl screamed out, knowing full well what was about to happen
BOOM!.... the white dog made contact with the near side corner of my front bumper
I simply couldn't believe what had happened.
I simply had no time to react as I was within around 1 metre of being level with them before the white dog bolted for my car.
The white dog must have rebounded off my bumper and back onto the footpath, as I could see it in my wing mirror, doing circles on the spot in obvious pain. It appeared to have seriously hurt one of its front legs and was quite distressed.
I pulled over immediately, with Toby and Don doing the same behind me.
I got out of my car and looked down the road to see if the white dog was alright. The girl had managed to retreive the white dog and was doing her best to comfort it.
I braced myself and headed to the front of my car...
Initially, I thought "surely there can't be that much damage as we were only doing around 25-30 mph and the white dog was clear from my car seemingly the second after it had struck my car.
However, I also saw what damage "Baby Bambi" had done to Sean's poor CLS when he was out in the country so I really didn't know what to expect.
Deep breath... now take a look.......
I was shocked to see how much damage the white dog had caused
The left corner of the bumper had broken off and the front section of the wheel arch liner had also broken free
I headed back down the road to talk to the girl who was still on our side of the road, on the footpath with the white dog - She was now accompanied by a man (maybe her dad) who had parked his BMW on the other side of the road.
There was also a youngish guy in a mobility scooter on the footpath, talking to the girl.
As I approached them, I collected the 2 bits that had broken off my car from the road side.
I continued heading towards them.. The girl and the man were now hurrying the white dog into the car and were about to leave.
I called after them, but they either didn't hear or they didn't want to hang around.
I imagine they were looking to get the white dog to some help quickly.
I can understand this, but I thought they should have at least exchanged a few words with me.
By now, I was standing beside the guy in the mobility scooter.
He obviously saw my confused expression and said "it's ok, it's my dog - they're taking it to the vet".
I apologised that his dog had got hurt and he replied "it's ok, he got free from his lead".
He then crossed a grass area and headed of into a housing estate...
So I was left standing there with body-parts from my car
I headed back to Toby and Don.
We assessed the damage to my car.
At this point, and elderly couple walking their dog walked towards us and asked what had happened.
We explained and they said that there was a vet in Cranbrook and that that was probably where they had taken the white dog.
They were also kind enough to give us the name of the vet, as they use it for their dog too!
Toby found the vet's number on his phone and I called them.
They confirmed that they have just taken in the white dog and that they were just seeing to it.
I left them my details and mentioned that I would also need the details of the dog owner. The vet said I should call later, after they had seen to the white dog.
With not much else we could do, I cleaned my car's body-parts and placed them in the boot.
We then continued our journey home.
I got home and called the police to report what had happened.
Apparently, if a dog is hit, it is classed as a traffic incident.
They took my details, details of the incident and asked me to get the details of the dog owner, so that I could use this with the insurance company.
I rang the vet but they said they could not give out these details for security reasons and that I would need to get the police to ask for these.
I rang the police again. They said they can't ring the vet from the call centre
and that I would need to go to my local police station in the morning to report it all and they will assign an officer to the case, who would make the enquiries with the vet.Insurance company was closed for the day, so I couldn't even report it with them.
So tomorrow, I need to got to the police station, then ring the insurance company, the ring mercedes to tell them what has happened and that I will be needing a new front bumper and any associated parts.
Thankfully, the fog light and fog light housing is all intact, so it looks like I'll just need a new bumper and anything else that broke that haven't seen yet.
So.....The White Dog....... who would have thought these 3 words would have played more than one part in our day
If this is a sign, I will only be going to pubs that are called "The tiny Mouse"... or "The Snail" or stuff like that !!!!!
I will steer well clear (pun not intended!
) of anywhere called "The Charging Rhino", "The Bloody Great Elephant", "The Crazy Ba$tard Bull" or anything like that! Hey Ho..... it was a great day up to that point.
I'm more calm about it than I thought I would be, I have to say.
I think I am calmer than I would be becaus, even though I will need a new bumper, no damage was caused to any metal bodywork, lights, wiring or anything else like that.
I am assuming that this will be a straight forward insurance claim....
I will keep you posted on the service of the insurance company AND Maidstone Mercedes!
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..... it's just going to take a while sorting things out with the insurance company, getting Maidstone to get a new CLK63 bumper in (which I assume will need to come from Germany) and then getting them to fit the new bumper after I get it sprayed. 
