Any policemen/women online???

[gruntygiggles]

So...Stretchie just heard a crunch and beep when he was upstairs, immediately looked out of our bedroom window to see an audi a6 right next to our neighbours car at a funny angle, then drive off up the lane. He saw the numberplate and recognised it as belonging to the man that lives about 150 yards up the lane. He didn't wait or anything, just drove off.

Dan told Dave, our next door neighbour whose car was hit and went with him up the lane to look at the Audi. Sure enough, it was parked in front of the garage as usual with a scrape up the drivers side and a caved in front end.

Police just came and will be back in a bit to get a statement, but my question is this...

How long do you have by law to report an accident? Should he have done it straight away or at least left his details/reported it to the police OR...
Does he have 24 hours in which to report as the policeman that was just here said he does???

To me, hitting a car like that and driving straight off is leaving the scene of an accident, but it would be good to know how long exactly a person has to report an accident before they get done for leaving the scene/failing to report.


Many thanks in advance oh wise ones xxx

[keith_d]

From memory, if he's unable to provide details to the owners of the damaged property he must report the accident to a police station within 24 hours.

Hopefully, one of the people who does this for a living can confirm this.

Keith.

I have no experiance in the above, as such this post can be considered mindless drivle.

However, I would expect (using the reasonable man test) that you'd expect him to get out, have a look, write down the reg of the car he hit, see if anyone comes out for at least 5 minutes, and then perhaps after that report it the next day.

Just my 2p, but it does sound like he was leaving the accident.

[gruntygiggles]

Thank you. Quite why he'd be unable when all of us that live here know all of the cars and who they belong to is beyond me. He's chatted to Dave down the pub and they've both lived on this road for years......it's disgraceful!

[gruntygiggles]

[QUOTE=EssexDave;2197549]

However, I would expect (using the reasonable man test) that you'd expect him to get out, have a look, write down the reg of the car he hit, see if anyone comes out for at least 5 minutes, and then perhaps after that report it the next day.

QUOTE]

Good point that!

[the_lone_wolf]

As above

24hrs to report it, but I'd say it's poor form to not do so immediately in this case

24hrs would be for instance if you clipped someone oncoming on a busy road and they never stopped

Did they breathalyze the driver? I'd wager it's a good enough reason not to stop if he knew he was over the limit, and it might explain how he managed to hit a parked car in his own street...

Good manners would dictate that you left a note on the damaged car, IMO. Sounds very dodgy to me.

[gruntygiggles]

Mark....he's well known around here for liking the pop and driving after tanking up, but I've never known him do it myself. All I see is him constantly failing to make the turn on the entry to our street correctly as he's always got one hand to his ear, holding his mobile phone. The only suprise about this is that it's happened now, on a night with great visibility and only a damp road surface. He managed to floor it in the snow, weaving all over the road, on his phone and cause no damage. Actually, Dan went over to him in the snow last month and said he might be better taking his foot off the throttle a bit so as not to just spin the wheels...he just said the car had all sorts of electronics to make it work in snow so why wouldn't it move.....

PRIZE IDIOT!!!!

[the_lone_wolf]

Originally Posted by gruntygiggles

PRIZE IDIOT!!!!

Sounds it

Bet you the disco he was ****ed

Sounds like he'd had a skinful.