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Yesterday my beloved Escort was hit by another car whilst in a car park. The damage has been estimated at approx. £200 to the rear of the car. I was not around at the time of the accident but was kindly left a note which had an apology and a telephone number on it. After ringing the number, a guy answered and told me he knew nothing about it and promptly put the phone down. Now, either the number given was fake, or the car-owner had come to the decision it would be better not to have been so honest. Either way, I telephoned the local police station who sent round 2 officers and was told they could do nothing with just a scrap of paper with a telephone number on it. Now, surely, this is wrong? Surely they could have followed it up, traced the number and looked at the other vehicle for damage etc? I realise the police have `proper crime` to fight but I am utterely annoyed by this. Does anyone know if I can take this any further? I felt kinda bumped off by the police`s attitude to this.
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I would guess there were witnesses to the bump, and to save anyone taking the guy's reg no and reporting a drive off he made up a number and stuck it on your screen.
Bad luck, but there are some real lowlife out there.
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I've been there. I know how frustrating it is, but the reality is that as a crime to be investigated it comes pretty low down the list of priorities. These days the telecom companies levy market rate charges on the police for enquiries into subscriber details of phones, and legislation requires that a not insubstantial amount of paperwork is needed to justify the inquiry. So 'proper'crimes get priority. Given that the assumption is that the number was duff anyway, that's the reason for the seemingly unhelpful approach.
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I agree with the low life bit .I recently came back to my volvo only to find that either a supper market trolly or person carrying something heavy had smashed a rear light assembly (£75 worth).they had even picked up all the broken lens pieces to try to hide the fact ( no witneses)and they had dissapeared.I only discovered damage when warning light on dash indicated lamp failure and I investigated before driving off.I know it was not another vehicle because I was parked back to a footway.
chris
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Does the supermarket have cctv? If you can get a clear picture of their numberplate then you can write to the dvla and get their details. Otherwise at least you might have a vague description and you could hang around the car park at the same time each week to see if they turn up again. If the supermarket has car park attendants then one of them might have seen something. Chances are the person is a regular visitor so they may spot them again and could get some more details.
teabelly
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Meant car park, just jumping to conclusions! Oh for an edit button...
teabelly
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Anton
Have you tried BT on the number you have to try and get an address. Seems funny to me if they will not disclose this as, unless XD, details will be published in a Phone book and at BT Com on the Net from a name.
If successful then a visit past the address to see if there is a damaged car. If so now comes the problem. How do you prove, without witnesses, who did it (apart from Forensics).
Sorry Plod has let you down as a couple of spadefuls of easy digging may have helped.
Nothing to do with plod ? What about criminal damage which is not negated by accident until both parties seen.
DVD
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?Now, either the number given was fake, or the car-owner had come to the decision it would be better not to have been so honest.?
There?s another possibility, that the damage was done by the guy?s wife/girlfriend/son/daughter. They tell their old man what?s happened and he?s not happy that they?ve left their details. Is there a name or anything like a signature on the note?
The police usually useless, I?m only surprised that they sent anyone around to tell you that they won?t do anything. Without any witnesses, there would probably have been no likelihood of a prosecution, even if they had investigated it further.
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