School minibus reversed into the front of my car :(

Lyle44

Lyle44

Lyle44

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18 Sep 2007
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Location
Norwich
Bit of advice needed here, sorry to have to begin with the backstory but here goes.....

Following coming back from work, I parked my car 2 doors up from my house as there was a school minibus/van dropping off a child, thought I'd wait in the car, with the sidelights & handbrake on, for it to move then shift outside my house as I was going out later.

After a while the lady started the engine and began reversing at some speed, within I'd say about 5 seconds, crunch straight into the front bumper of the car, then moved off forward out from I assume under the lip of the bumper. I roughly left a gap of two cars between the front of my car and the rear of the bus, plenty of room for her to get out.

She gets out apologetic, saying sorry and all, says something about how it's just the numberplate thats broken and goes to get her work business card.
Handing it over to me she goes, "I'm sorry I didn't see you there and I can't see anything at night in the mirrors".
If someone like that was driving my children around I'd be seriously worried if I'd heard statements like that. There were children (4-6yrs guess) in the bus at the time, so christ knows what they thought.

After getting her name and card she drove away.
Thought it'd just be the plate broken but after getting my GFs Dad to look at it (he's very good with cars and does repairs/maintenance on loads), he reckons the bumper smashed so needs replacing as it's loose/can pull it away a little.

Pics (sorry for the quality, taken on camerphone):


- front damage to plate


- scrape to the left of the plate not very clearI know.


- minibus/van in question, she hit with the toebar and assume it caught in the grill gaps after pushing the plate in.


So onto my questions.... do I phone my insurance co. inform them what happened and instruct them to get the details of the minibus insurers and get my company to claim from them or should I contact the school myself and request the details?

As it's not a standard personal policy and likely a business/commercial policy the school is running for the bus, are there any differences in how long it'll take to sort out and procedures?
Any other comments/help appreciated.

Thanks for your assistance, L
 
Do everything by the book mate
tell everyone you can
Reversing at speed and hitting another car? as a kids minibus driver?

I wouldn't like to think of my daughter on that bus
 
You have to report any accidents to the police within 24 hours, and especially driving a school minibus i would be reporting it to her education authority or school. She shouldn't be driving about in a minibus with kids in it if she can't see. Let alone driving.
 
icyshore said:
You have to report any accidents to the police within 24 hours, and especially driving a school minibus i would be reporting it to her education authority or school. She shouldn't be driving about in a minibus with kids in it if she can't see. Let alone driving.
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no you dont :rolleyes: you only have to report accidents where someone was injured, anyway is a numberplate really worth all this hassle
 
theres a thing called Karma mate

Have a long think about how the person who was driving this feels. If the person who did this is genuinely remorseful (as they appear to be) i think you need to cut them a bit of slack

Switch situations around here and say you were the one that had an accident. We're human after all, nobody is immune from a mistake.

Me ?

Its a school bus, if anything is going to get you good karma, its letting off the driver of a school minibus.

tell her it doesn't matter and offer to let her pay for your new numberplate in cash and get the bumper fixings looked at by a bodyshop.

Dont use this an excuse to screw her over, and instead just look to get your car back to rights without getting the insurance company involved.

One day, you could be wanting the same from another driver too ......


icyshore said:
You have to report any accidents to the police within 24 hours, and especially driving a school minibus i would be reporting it to her education authority or school. She shouldn't be driving about in a minibus with kids in it if she can't see. Let alone driving.
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dont be daft ! its only if people are injured that it needs reporting to the police. This is a broken numberplate and a bent bumper for christ's sake !
 
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I geuinely believe you should treat others how you want to be treated yourself.

And if i made a mistake, i wouldn't want some condescending **** who looked down on me, scoffed, and generally made no effort to be in any way accomodating.

Fair enough if you're happy with people treating you that way. That means you can treat others how you expect to be treated yourself.

But i wouldnt.
 
MrLOL.

IF I should cause an accident, and IF that accident causes damage, then obviously I expect to have to deal with the situation properly. Why should anyone else be exempt?

Karma... lol.
 
What's wrong with expecting people to also follow a pretty well established protocol in the event that I cause damage to someone else's property?

Your attitude surprises me, a lot. I never realised you were that soft.
 
Do it by the book and do it ASAP. Schools are awful at paying people and that is not an exaggeration, I know people who have done jobs for schools, who actually also work in the school, and it took 6 months to receive payment.
 
Lakeland said:
Do it by the book and do it ASAP. Schools are awful at paying people and that is not an exaggeration, I know people who have done jobs for schools, who actually also work in the school, and it took 6 months to receive payment.
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Well no

Theres two ways of doing this

1) the driver pays you cash to avoid telling her employers and getting the insurance involved

2) you get the insurance company involved and go direct to her insurers. They pay you out, not the school.

If she doesnt want to pay you cash, insurance all the way imo.
 
To be fair the damage looks to be a cracked numberplate and a small mark that would polish out.

So what, £14 worth of damage? Must have been reversing at some speed. Totally worth going through all the hassle of an insurance claim for that, absolutely. Don't forget whippy compo.
 
[TW]Fox;17748302 said:
To be fair the damage looks to be a cracked numberplate and a small mark that would polish out.

So what, £14 worth of damage? Must have been reversing at some speed. Totally worth going through all the hassle of an insurance claim for that, absolutely. Don't forget whippy compo.
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Got a chuckle from me
 
[TW]Fox;17748302 said:
To be fair the damage looks to be a cracked numberplate and a small mark that would polish out.

So what, £14 worth of damage? Must have been reversing at some speed. Totally worth going through all the hassle of an insurance claim for that, absolutely. Don't forget whippy compo.
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Well its a good job you decided to read the post and find out about the damage to the bumper and it requiring a new one instead of just posting a sarcastic comment, oh...
 
ubersonic said:
Well its a good job you decided to read the post and find out about the damage to the bumper and it requiring a new one instead of just posting a sarcastic comment, oh...
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unlikely

He says it feels loose, it could just have come out of its fixings and just need pushing back in properly ! equally one of the clips coould have broken. Could be anything.
 
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