My mate has been told by his insurance company that they have received details of a claim against him for a hit and run incident that happened in November. My mate was no where near the area where the incident supposedly took place and his insurance company have told him that as the claimant has provided an independent witness, they will payout unless my mate can produce an independent witness to say where the car was at the time of the accident. They won?t provide details of the claimant because of the Data Protection Act and neither did the claimant report it to the police. Several questions spring to mind:
1. Is this a well known scam - have a crash, choose a reg number at random, produce a so called independent witness and hey presto you have your car repaired.
2. Can they get details of your insurance company just by the reg number. I thought you had to report it to the Police to get that kind of information.
3. The Insurance Company didn?t seem interested, particularly if my mate can prove that the car has no damage, has not been repaired and still has the original paintwork.
4. I thought that your Insurance Company will not process a claim until you had notified them of the accident.
5. Would the Police be interested in this?
My mate is seething, he seems completely powerless to stop this claim progressing. He?s now going to see some of his neighbours to see if they recall his car being in the drive and whether they would be prepared to produce a witness statement. Any comments gratefully received.
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I remember the "Cash for Crash" scam shown on BBC few months back!
File a complaint with police for harassment and false allegation.
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There are CCTV cameras everywhere. Can your mate show that his vehicle was where it was meant to be away from the incident. Under access to info laws perhaps he could try. Try the CCTV part of the local Council 1st
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How far away from the scene of the alleged accident was your friend at the time? Hundreds of miles? just down the road? a few miles away? Does he know the location of the alleged accident?
Can he show where he was prior to or after....or even at the time to make it impossible for him to have been there?
Credit/debit card receipt?
Phone records?
Cell site analysis of mobile (if he can get provider to help....unlikely but worth a try)
How about asking local police to see if his car was made subject of an auto PNC check via ANPR anywhere
CCTV is held for a short while, depending on whose it is. If CCTV on all the time on busy route, probably 30 day turn around.....then wiped.
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He's pretty sure he can prove he wasn't there, what annoys him is that they can trace his insurance compnay through his reg plate and then hide behind the DPA so that he doesn't know who it is. It sounds bonkers to me
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I would ask under what clause of the dpa they are refusing to provide the info. Then speak to the commissioner. Far too many companies use DPA as an excuse without any basis. This sounds like such a case to me.
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"They" may not have found his details. The other party may well have claimed through their insurance.
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