Minor accidental at petrol station

[ASSE]Hinchy · 9 Jan 2012 at 21:10

Hey chaps. Thought this would be the best place to ask!

I've not been in this situation before and still haven't, as it is my girlfriend who has been hit...

She was stationary at a petrol station waiting for her turn at a pump when somebody on the next bump reversed without looking and hit her front left wing. The panel is dented and paint scratched and may need replacing. That however is not the issue.

The driver of the guilty car noticed that he had hit her car immediately and parked up out of the way. He then came over apologising admitting that it was completely his fault and asking if she wanted to go through insurance or do it privately. All well and good. Unfortunately, my girlfriend wasn't sure what to do in the situation.

The only information my girlfriend has is his first name and mobile number which she called immediately so she could see his phone going off. She also took his registration number. I have entered this into a few websites that sell tyres that will usually list the model of vehicle. Unfortunately none of them are able to find the vehicle.. This has me worried.

I tried calling the person tonight but it rang out. He then called me back and I started to try and get his insurance details, confirm his reg plate, get his address etc. However he asked if he could call back as he was a bit busy at that time. I reluctantly agreed. This was at 7.30pm.

My concern is that he is going to try and get away with it. It may be that he is busy right now, but the fact the reg plate isn't checking out on any websites has me concerned.

What would you recommend we do? I understand the Shell garage is prepared to provide us with the CCTV footage that should show the incident in full. Should we inform the insurance company straight away? I know this is what we should be doing by the book but that a lot of people don't, which appeals in this circumstance because the cost to repair shouldn't end up being 'too high'.

My immediate thoughts are to get a quote for the damage in the morning and if we haven't heard from him by tomorrow night, inform the insurance company explaining that we were waiting to receive the driver's full details.

Look forward to hearing what the experts think!

/EDIT P.S. Sorry for the long winded explanation!

lookitsjonno · 9 Jan 2012 at 21:16

keep trying, if not call him and leave a message saying you are persuing through insurance and they will be in contact. As long as you have CCTV showing plates then you should be OK, not all registration numbers are in the online databases.

Have you checked askmid.com, which is most up to date?

Maccapacca · 9 Jan 2012 at 21:16

Phone your insurance tonight, report accident, move on

At the most see if the garage has CCTV

So many times people go about arranging quotes to find It's too expensive, if he wants to go outside insurance let him arrange a bodyshop to come to you.

lordrobs · 9 Jan 2012 at 21:21

maccapacca said:
Phone your insurance tonight, report accident, move on

But what can she say. "I was hit by Fred and his car was blue." If the reg is correct then all well and good but the fact it isn't coming up when the OP searches for it isn't the best of signs.

#Chri5# · 9 Jan 2012 at 21:21

I understand the Shell garage is prepared to provide us with the CCTV footage that should show the incident in full

I'd get the CCTV ASAP (ie tomorrow) - if you leave it a bit the footage might have gone as the tape is re-used or the DVR deletes the oldest recordings to save space. You might not need the footage in the end but better to have it safe than to find out it's gone.

[ASSE]Hinchy · 9 Jan 2012 at 21:21

lookitsjonno said:
Have you checked askmid.com, which is most up to date?

Just checked it now. Not showing as insured on their database.

lordrobs · 9 Jan 2012 at 21:28

Was it the manager at the garage who said you could have the CCTV footage? I thought normally they don't like giving it out to anyone but the police.

lookitsjonno · 9 Jan 2012 at 21:34

could your gf have written it down wrong?

[ASSE]Hinchy · 9 Jan 2012 at 21:35

He has text her now saying that he has decided to go through the insurance company and that they will process it from here. He hasn't asked for any of her details or provided her with any of his... Does this seem strange to you guys?

We are now ringing her insurance company to make them aware of it and give them whatever information we have.

lordrobs - the manager was not there but she was told to go back tomorrow and speak to him about getting the footage.

[ASSE]Hinchy · 9 Jan 2012 at 21:36

lookitsjonno said:
could your gf have written it down wrong?

I did wonder this but she says she checked what she had written a couple of times.

[ASSE]Hinchy · 9 Jan 2012 at 21:49

He's now given some details and its in the hands of the insurance companies!

Thanks for your help. Will try and get the CCTV footage in case it gets dirty.

derv · 9 Jan 2012 at 22:05

Absolutely get the CCTV footage if you can. At the least make sure it doesn't get deleted while the insurance companies fight it out.

Where there any witnesses?

[ASSE]Hinchy · 9 Jan 2012 at 22:14

She's going to the garage tomorrow to meet the manager about the cctv.

There were witnesses but they had gone by the time she came out of the garage to ask about the cctv

Now that she's not sat next to me, I can confirm that she wrote the reg plate incorrectly in her panic. Might have been the predictive text as she took everything down on her phone.

derv · 9 Jan 2012 at 22:17

It's easily done. The main thing is nobody was hurt, cars are easily repaired.

At least you have details from the guy, now it's just a waiting game for the insurance. It sounds like the car still runs so she won't have too much of an inconvenience.

Meatball · 10 Jan 2012 at 19:12

Personally Id get the garages CCTV footage immediately! My local Shell records all VRMs on the forecourt and even displays the car and vrm recorded in the que. should the other party deny the accident you have irrefutable proof.

Mattius · 10 Jan 2012 at 20:23

Most modern garages have ANPR which stores both a text representation and photo, however be aware its not always perfect.

I'd be surprised if they allowed you to take a copy of the footage, usually you need authorisation from their head office or a request from a lawyer/court as there are lots of legal ramifications of it.

However, they should definitely be able to give you the registration/make/model/colour of the car, they should also be able to store a copy of the footage incase of any formal request.

As a former petrol station manager, you'd be surprised at how bad the cameras in some of them are, but with the amount of drive offs you get these days the staff/manager will be very good at getting the reg number off the footage which should be all you need, the insurance company can deal with all the legal crap should the footage be required. Most modern camera systems will only store footage for around a month so be prompt, older tape based systems stored the footage for years as tapes were cheap, hard disks arent.

Stringy · 10 Jan 2012 at 20:31

Mattius said:
I'd be surprised if they allowed you to take a copy of the footage, usually you need authorisation from their head office or a request from a lawyer/court as there are lots of legal ramifications of it.

I'd hope companies wouldn't refuse the footage, especially in a case such as this, due to guidance on this website:

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/HomeAndCommunity/WhereYouLive/SaferStreets/DG_10034524
and subsequently:
http://www.ico.gov.uk/upload/documents/cctv_code_of_practice_html/9_responsibilities.html
(of note see 9.2)

It's the company's problem if it's got superfluous personal information on it, not yours, and they need to obscure it.

mattyfez · 10 Jan 2012 at 20:54

I cant see a good reason why the garage wouldn't Supply the insurers with the footage. It's hardly private information.

Randell Floyd · 10 Jan 2012 at 21:59

A few things I've learnt in life.

First is, whatever one finds important or a priority in life, for others it might be a bottom of their cares for the day, hence what I expect to be dealt with quickly, is usually another persons "will do tomorrow".

When I was a Tesco petrol station manager, it was Tescos policy never to allow CCTV footage for anything that wasn't requested by the very least a Police officer, so you'll be very lucky if they do let you have it.

My Mother was involved in a accident that wrote off her car, without any fault of her own> Te guy ended up being a total headcase which ended up in court, even then her work wouldn't release the footage without a legal requirement.

Mattius · 10 Jan 2012 at 22:10

Whoahh read what i said, they won't refuse the insurers they will however need a letter from a lawyer will get it. I would doubt they would hand someone off the street a copy of their footage. I certainly never handed out a copy of footage in 12 years of doing it to any member of the public. I did however hand hundreds of copies to the police and appeared in court some 15 times to say so.
I would however bend over backwards to help customers in your situation, i could usually give make/model/colour/registration occupants description, any distinguishing features of the car. If the police got involved there are other types of info you can hand out to identify them.
You will probably need it in formal writing of legal nature to the operator of the forecourt to get an actual copy. But the staff should give you the details of the car and owner, if not get the police involved a clever petrol manager will bend over backwards to help the police, the old you scratch my back situation.

Your insurance company should deal with all that crap anyway, all you need is the reg and brief description.

The main reason companies had such anal policies about footage is not for any personal privacy or secret information (you can isolate individual cameras so not to show sensitive info) its simpler than that, if dodgy people know where the cameras are pointing and the quality of each of the cameras it becomes a security issue. People intent of driving off will avoid cameras at all costs so protecting where it really looks is quite important. And the housing doesnt always show where the camera is pointing! or which housing has the high def cameras.

Minor accidental at petrol station

Tea Drinker