Wifes car got hit, driver left scene.

[svrich]

Excuse the post lenght. Part rant part information seeking.
My wife was on her was into town this afternoon and was hit by a lorry as it was overtaking a parked car on its side of the road. My wife was stationery in a que of traffic on the other side and infront of the parked one (does that make sense?). The car behind her had left a gap so that on coming cars could pass the parked car. The lorry decided it could fit through the same gap and caught the offside rear wing (Landrover Discovery) at about waist height. She said that he reversed slightly and then proceeded to pull round the parked car. My wife said that she turned round to see what had happened and saw the truch driver gesticulate and assumed he was implying that he was going to pull over and stop. He didn't. He carried on driving and completely left the scene. Fortunately two witnesses got his reg number and they both reported it to the police while my wife was there (the station is only a few yards up the road).
Insurance will obviously be informed but I'd like to know how likely it is that anything will happen to the other driver. Does anyone have any experience of a similar incident, or can a friendly Police Officer give a bit of insight?
I'm thinking that the driver of the truck could well get away with it by saying he was unaware there had been an accident. But we'd obviously like him to get lumbered with DWDC, Leaving the Scene, Not Reporting an Accident, and get a large fine, points, and possibly a short ban just to make the point :smt071
Thanks knowledgeable Organs

[Owenski]

Assuming this is a lorry and the bloke doesn't own it, then he'll lose his job regardless if he knew or not if he gets those charges. In fairness if it was a slight scrape and not a crash also If it was his trailer an not his cab then chances are he would be oblivious.
Glad the misses is ok an tha Joe public did their bit getting reg plate etc :)

[Bluefish]

depends on if he new he had caused an accident, from the gesticulating bit you or your wife think he did know, but i have seen a car hit the back of an artic at 70ish mph and the driver felt a slight bump, basically it will come down to the eye witnesses.

[svrich]

I am a HGV license holder and have driven a fair amount of miles in 18ton trucks. I'm sure that he could well have not known that contact was made. The dent is about 16" by 8" but cou can see by the shape of the dent that he hit and backed out of it, rather than one movement forward, as it gets deeper and then stops rather that deepens then shallows. When my wife realised what had happened she got out and shouted after him to stop but he obviously didn't hear, or chose not to.
I am plesantly surprised that the two witnesses stopped. One spoke to my wife straight away, the other one dropped her mum off and came back to the Station.

[ethariel]

Well as long as he reports it to the police within 24 hours he is covered iirc, no one was injured so iirc its not really a case of leaving the scene given the 24 hours to report window.

[Paul the 6th]

The reason they make a big deal about leaving the scene of an accident is because the driver could be drunk or high? Or that they could well have difficulty identifying exactly who was driving at the time (if it's a private/domestic vehicle) but I would have thought large commercial vehicles like trucks would be subject to driver logs and possibly tracking if it's a high-end business?

Prolly time to give some of the resident org police a shout for a quick bit of advice.

[Bluepete]

The collision will be recorded.
Witness statement packs will be sent to you Mrs and the witnesses to fill in and return.
An NIP will be sent to the registered keeper of the vehicle asking for driver details.
The company transport manager will return it with the details of the driver.
An NIP will then be sent to the driver.
He will return it.
An officer will speak to the driver under caution and only then will a decision be made about how the matter will be resolved.
I can't predict what the outcome will be, it'll depend on what the driver says.

You insurer will await the outcome of the Police investigation.

Pete ;)

[Paul the 6th]

He's good is that there pete :) thanks forgetting back to on pm last week mate, was in a rush when I read your reply & never posted one back with a quick thank you..

Still enjoying the new job?

[svrich]

Thanks Pete.
The Police called my wife back this evening and said that the truck driver has reported that he may have hit someone yesterday and left his details. They said to my wife that she could decide how she wanted any prosecution attempt to go, which sounds odd to me, or if she would be happy to let the insurance companies sort it out. I would have thought that the Police would have wanted to talk to him though.
I hope this one doesn't drag out too long.

[454697819]

Thanks Pete.
The Police called my wife back this evening and said that the truck driver has reported that he may have hit someone yesterday and left his details. They said to my wife that she could decide how she wanted any prosecution attempt to go, which sounds odd to me, or if she would be happy to let the insurance companies sort it out. I would have thought that the Police would have wanted to talk to him though.
I hope this one doesn't drag out too long.

My dad drove for years and years, and had an NIP sent through for driving off, he went to court and said sorry, may well have done its a 50ft lorry weighing 40 tonne and you cant feel anything.... he wasnt prosecuted they understood and his insurance coughed up.

Hope it goes ok..