Foreign HGV crashed into me and drove off

[JamesVRSmk3]

Last night I was hit on the side of the car by a foreign HGV. Just exited the Dartford Tunnel Essex side and he was on my left. He put the indicators on while I was level with his cab then all of a sudden he just moved over hitting the left side of the car and knocking me into the curb on the right. Held the horn while the car behind started flashing and beeping to get his attention and he swerved back.

 

I got infront of him, indicated to pull over on the slip road and he slowed down with me then when I took the slip road he carried on along the motorway but looked back and waved an apology. He may not know he hit me but it was one hell of a bang. We took a photo as he was driving off of his lorry as just had a feeling he wouldn't stop and also took down the reg of the cab and reg of the trailer.

 

It was 7pm so couldn't see any damage in the dark on the slip road except for yellow paint from his lorry cab all over the door. I pulled into a carpark under the lights and the door, handle and mirror were covered in yellow paint BUT using my hand and a cloth it all wiped off. No dents or permenant damage....miracle.

 

Still quite angry that this guy:

 

a) could have killed us

b ) just drove off

c) will probably do the same again and is on our roads in the UK somewhere.

 

...but seeing as there is no permenant damage I'm guessing I put this down to huge luck and nothing can really be done?

Edited 26 November, 2015 by JamesVRSmk3

[StevesTruck]

Happened to a mate of mine destroying his very nice mk2 rocco in the process. The police didn't give a **** and the insurance screwed him over as well.

[Clunkclick]

With all that good news for the Police finances yesterday, taxpayers then might expect attitudes to change.

 

Don't know whether this site is of any use to the OP:-

 

http://www.mib.org.uk/making-a-claim/accidents-in-the-uk-involving-a-foreign-registered-vehicle/submitting-a-claim-under-the-green-card-scheme/

 

Of course, if you can claim personal injury, even shock and distress, wouldn't the cops be obliged to act ?

 

 

Nick

[Coops]

If there is no damage what are you going to claim for?

 

Put it down to luck - I had a very similar incident the other month and the repairs were £1.1k

[XLBaconDoubleCheese]

Jesus, that sounds scary. I spend as little time as possible in a LHD lorry's blind spot for fear of this. Seriously lucky to get away without damage. 

[gadgetman]

Have you reported it to the police?  I would have done it there and then.

 

Chances are he didnt stop as he was over is tacho or had a dodgy vehicle and didnt want the police turning up- especially if Romanian or Bulgarian.

[BrownBarge]

I was hit by a overseas hgv driver in 2009 and luckily he did stop altho it was a massive faff to get sorted and took 10 months to get settled. Assuming you have enough info to chase him via the proper channels contact your insurer and set the ball rolling

[seboni121]

Have you reported it to the police?  I would have done it there and then.

 

Chances are he didnt stop as he was over is tacho or had a dodgy vehicle and didnt want the police turning up- especially if Romanian or Bulgarian.

This

[JamesVRSmk3]

Wasn't suggesting claiming more reporting to the police really but I suppose in hindsight we should have done it there and then as now there is zero evidence of a crash. If it was my own car I probably would have phoned the police straight away and not been so calm about it but I was in a courtesy car and didn't transfer my dashcam across (lessen learned). I was more stressed in the hours afterwards being dragged around IKEA.

Other than a bit of shock we were both fine. Still can't work out how there wasn't damage. The only thing I can think helped is we were both travelling at exactly the same speed so no scraping down the side and was just a shunt sideways.

It was a Patinter lorry - Portuguese cab but different nationality load.

[cheezemonkhai]

Failing to stop...

 

That's a criminal offence and don't let the police tell you otherwise.

[XLBaconDoubleCheese]

Failing to stop...

 

That's a criminal offence and don't let the police tell you otherwise.

 

Sadly though they're not interested in the slightest in my experience. Had a van smash into my bus after trying to overtake me on a blind bend. He made off, clearly I wasnt going to be able to keep with him in a bus so went back to the garage. We phone police, provided CCTV and even found the location of the company. They got back to us, the van driver had lost his job so the police said they thought that was punishment enough. We asked was that fair given the accident happened first thing new years day, he was most likely over the limit going by his driving, they weren't interested. 

[KenONeill]

Failing to stop...

 

That's a criminal offence and don't let the police tell you otherwise.

 

 

Sadly though they're not interested in the slightest in my experience. Had a van smash into my bus after trying to overtake me on a blind bend. He made off, clearly I wasnt going to be able to keep with him in a bus so went back to the garage. We phone police, provided CCTV and even found the location of the company. They got back to us, the van driver had lost his job so the police said they thought that was punishment enough. We asked was that fair given the accident happened first thing new years day, he was most likely over the limit going by his driving, they weren't interested. 

No help to the OP, but my Mum was recently involved in a "failing to stop" (only damage other than a scared Mum being a broken door mirror and some paint scrapes on the door).

 

Unfortunately she didn't get the       registration, but the desk sergeant at the local cop shop was talking in terms of "driving without due care and attention", failing to stop after an accident, failing to provide insurance details to a person having due cause to require them, failure to report an accident, and probably speeding (accident occurred in permanent 20mph limit).

[Phil-E]

A foreign lorry driver... hitting a car... then failing to stop?! You must be mistaken. They would never do that!

 

I had a very similar experience a few months back. Travelling up the A1 when a Polish lorry hit the side of us. He also just drove off! I put my foot down and got in front of him and waved him to pull off at the next junction... he just carried on... so I floored it back onto the motorway and got in front of him again (by this time my other half has phoned the police) and signalled him to pull off again at the next approaching exit... this time he saw sense and pulled off and we exchanged details on the slip road hard shoulder.

 

Case still remains unresolved. Despite having dashcam footage and given several detailed accounts and drawings etc.

 

Car is repaired but still no word from our insurers. The last we heard was his insurers in Poland wanted more details which is when I pulled the dashcam footage out the bag. We'll see!

[cheezemonkhai]

Sadly though they're not interested in the slightest in my experience. Had a van smash into my bus after trying to overtake me on a blind bend. He made off, clearly I wasnt going to be able to keep with him in a bus so went back to the garage. We phone police, provided CCTV and even found the location of the company. They got back to us, the van driver had lost his job so the police said they thought that was punishment enough. We asked was that fair given the accident happened first thing new years day, he was most likely over the limit going by his driving, they weren't interested. 

 

They tried that with an ex once, telling her it wasn't a crime.

The only problem was she was a lawyer, so asked them to explain that. When they realised she must be in the trade they gave her a crime number.

 

They're only trying to avoid giving you a number for their stats, but if you can force them to give a crime ref number and give them a reg plate, then they'll have something they'll want to close off for their stats.

 

Regardless of how much they don't want to do anything, it is a crime, so get it listed.

These days they only change their attitudes when it looks bad for them.

 

Personally I think reporting ought to be separate from investigation and have different targets, as otherwise you end up with the current situation of things not being taken seriously, because then it looks less bad.

 

Police in the USA would have a very different view.

[cnc]

I had a very similar situation a couple of years ago as I was driving though some 50mph road works on the M25. I was in the centre lane with the cruise set to 50mph minding my own business. Next thing I was pushed over to the outside lane, the car swerving everywhere, I was lucky it was in a speed limited area and the outside lane was empty or it could have been a lot worse. The foreign lorry wasn't in my line of vision, the front of the lorry being just behind the nearside B pillar of my car. 

It was a German registered lorry with a Bulgarian driver who didn't speak any English. I took pictures of the lorry including the registration, the driver, the drivers driving licence and his insurance documents.

Mine is a company car so I left our office to sort out the mess, the car needed a new rear door, rear alloy wheel and a repair to the rear wing and bumper.

I still check to see if I'm beside a foreign lorry now in case it could happen again. I don't blame the driver as it must be a nightmare for them despite all their mirrors and also being on the wrong side of the road and in a foreign country.

[WelshPlod]

WOW........ thought this was a post about a lorry that clipped a car causing no damage and didnt stop and its suddenly turned into a police bashing forum.

 

There are a multitude of reasons why failing to stop/failing to report incidents never go any where - usually its one persons word against another.  Evidentially, that is insufficient to put before a Court.

 

I take issue with the assertions that plod up and down the country are lazy/uninterested/unsympathetic.  It would be easy to deal with an incident, as per the original poster, if that was the only thing that I/or others had to do that day.  More often than not we are investigating between 10-20 incidents at any one time with new ones being assigned on a daily basis.  

 

The job in essence is easy, as is the process of investigating incidents.  The numerous processes that we have to follow and systems in place so that we account for every minute of every day take over and get in the way of officers doing the job they want to do.

 

Ask yourself...... do people really go to work to be lazy and do nothing and give a crap service.  Lets try and have a balanced discussion on things, not just a plod bashing session.

 

From the other side of the fence...... if everyone got jobs, didnt drink, didnt argue with loved ones, didnt resolve arguments with violence, didnt touch people they werent supposed to, drove according to the laws, didnt take stuff that dont belong to them and didnt sniff things they werent supposed to then a plod's job would be a lot easier and service would be improved

 

#justsaying

[StevesTruck]

And if crimes were all recorded so they had to be followed up on, the job would be harder, so it's far easier and more profitable to sweep anything that's not dealt with by way of a donation to Police funds/FPN under the carpet.

[WelshPlod]

I don't understand what you're trying to say Steves truck

[StevesTruck]

If it doesn't involve giving someone a ticket on the spot, the police don't want to know about it.

 

Personal experience based on.

- Someone backing into my car and speeding off, despite me having four different witnesses (apparently that's not criminal damage, no we don't want their reg number, but bring your paperwork into the station).

- My mate being subject to a pretty effective pit manoeuvre by a foreign HGV on a section of motorway that's got cameras everywhere.

- 2 break ins (lock up and car), lockup was overlooked by a row of houses, police made no attempt to investigate, didn't even bother writing serial number of satnav nicked out of the car down.

- Taking someone to a police station who had been suffering domestic violence (we can't do anything, it's not a crime unless there's direct evidence, it doesn't matter that the bloke's got form for it). To get me out of the station, he agreed to "make a note in his pocket book later"

 

Don't get me wrong, I used to have a lot of respect for the police. When I ran a village shop, all the local officers knew that they could nip in for a brew when they were on lates and there was nowhere to go for a break for miles, but lately, they're just turned into a waste of time.

Edited 28 November, 2015 by StevesTruck

[gadgetman]

Yup, any any respect left Olly Martins single handedly wiped away.

I see more speed Traps than officers on my travels around the UK.

[WelshPlod]

TBH Stevestruck you've pretty much agreed with me.

Its not the officers who are the problems, its the system that they are working within.

 

As i've said before and maintain, no one goes to work to do a bad job. Everyone joined the service, including me, to make a difference and change the world.  Somewhere along the line that gets beaten out of you.  

 

Do i go to work to neglect victims of domestic abuse - certainly not! But by the same token, there has to be an appreciation by the public that the demands that the service had on it 30 years ago are completely different to the demands facing it now.There is an element of consumerism in modern society - I pay my council tax (some people do) and therefore I expect the police to solve all of societal ills because Ive made a monetary contribution.

 

Do i think its reasonable for people to take some initial actions themselves when they are victims of crime? Yes.  Take for example your example of having your break-in broken into.  Very annoying - i can empathise having had my shed and very expensive bike nicked.....oh and my car broken into and stereo nicked, and having every window on my car smashed just for being a plod.  Did I ask my neighbours if they'd seen anything - yes.  Had they? No. Did CSI come out to my shed?  Nope.  Why - because there was nothing for them to examine.  Virtually impossible to get fingerprints/DNA from wood.  Did I have CCTV? Nope.  Did someone in the street have it - maybe.  When did the crime occur - not sure.  Is it reasonable to pay an officer to sit down and view hrs and hrs of footage from multiple cameras along "possible" escape routes.  Probably not.  

 

If you werent happy with the outcomes each time you've had contact with the police above then why didnt you make a complaint? Do something constructive about it instead of publicly badmouthing coppers - the vast majority of whom are hard working and come to work to do their best.  There are 110,000 copppers across the country.  Looking after 61million people.  The poor service you've had doesn't reflect fairly on the rest of the service.

 

As you can tell, it grinds me having my vocation sullied constantly particularly when I feel that I work hard and I know that my immediate colleagues do too.

 

As for your point Gadgetman - point well made.  I spend more time looking at my speedo these days than concentrating on driving and enjoying driving.  Sadly, people seem to attribute speed traps to the police and that its a money making machine.  If this were true, then given the financial state of teh service, the roads would be littered with them.  I speak merely from a welsh point of view as I dont know with any degree of certainty what the picture is like 'cross the border, but here in dragon land, the local authorities are the driving force behind speed traps and a Quango/NGO known as "Go Safe" administer them.  There are no police officers actively involved in the enforcement of speed through speed vans.  The police's involvement is the administration of the dreaded NIPs and summonses and thats because of our position within the Criminal Justice System.  For that purpose, we receive something like £8 from each fine to cover the cost of the admin work.  The rest goes to the speed awareness companies, local authorities and the government coffers.

[gadgetman]

Cambridgeshire police are very active lately. Seeing more and more patrol cars and biker police armed with handheld guns at the side of the road.

Their new vans which had no reflective markings, are dark blue with dark red police have suddenly got reflective markings and easy to see police lettering after the fall out from Mr Martins comments and revelations of police forces admitting they no longer investigate crime (eg Leicestershire)

Sadly all the public see is no police around, they don't come when you're a victim of crime, and want you to do their job collecting evidence and witnesses either through personal experience or across the media (local and national).

Yes budgets are being cut, but in the publics mind it's justified given the cuts to real policing we expect.

We've no doubt you do a good job, but unless the public see it they won't believe it.

[WelshPlod]

Interesting post Gadgetman........ but can only speak from Welsh perspective as its what I know for certain.  Have I booked people for speeding.....yes.  However, Id like to think that I've used my discretion in the vast majority of the cases - a well timed/well rehearsed *******ing can often be more effective than a hasty ticket.  However, this side of the bridge - speed camera vans are located at sites promoted via local authorities through the GoSafe organisation and no police officers staff these vans.  Anecdotally........ they're not well liked by the police either! 

 

As for attending every report of crime and investigating everything - which is what you appear to be saying above. I disagree.  And there are two very distinct issues.  Visibility and Investigation.

 

Case screening goes on now...... its where the call taker (not a police officer) will listen to the initial report, assess it and determine that the chances of solving that crime are quite low.  I maintain that I think it is reasonable for you as a victim of crime (such as a shed break in) to ask your neighbours if they've seen or heard anything or whether there is CCTV or the method of entry into the shed.  This allows the call taker to determine if police attendance is worthwhile - finite resources etc.

 

What is the point in sending a police officer to something that we are very very unlikely to resolve positively (i.e. offender caught, charged and found guilty in court).  I believe it gives unsupported hope to victims that by the police attending that there will be a positive result.  Surely its best to manage expectations from the outset i.e. during teh call tell the victim that a police officer wont be deployed, that CSI wont be deployed and explain why.  There is merit in crime prevention officers attending and also PCSOs attending to post leaflets through doors in the street and adjoining street to remind us to be vigilant in terms of property security.  That is visibility and prevention as opposed to investigation.

[gadgetman]

This side of the border PCSO teams are being cut.

Sorry but I do have issues with doing the police investigate work for them. May as well police our own streets and dispense our own justice if that's the way it's going. Just means zero sympathy with the police chiefs when in the news mentioning their budget woes.

Anyway hijacked this enough. We'll agree to disagree.

[cheezemonkhai]

When a police officer tells a barrister (before they know it's one) that somebody hitting the car and driving off without leaving details isn't a crime that says it all.

When a police officer tells a solicitor that they don't have to give a crime reference number for burglary with no signs of forced entry it's not helpful.

 

Not all officers may be like that, but if they'll try it on with lawyers, they'll try it on with anyone.

 

Not recorded = not looking bad on the statistics.

It may be a bad system (hence my suggestion of separate targets for recording and for scoring), but people don't have to play it.

 

I had a bbq stolen from a back garden, fairly certain we had some prints as did a neighbor. The police were not interested, didn't come around and didn't bother calling back or updating via post etc.

At least in the US, they take an interest in the victim.

 

Here it seems to be about minimising work a lot of the time and playing the statistics.