Neighbour hit and run

[Bernard LPG]

Had to park the 75 in the road in front of my house this morning as I was expecting a delivery of building materials in the drive. The neighbour opposite, an elderly, outwardly charming and well educated gentleman but actually an agressive and nasty old curmudgeon, reversed down his drive and scraped the front bumper of the 75.
My wife just happened to be looking out of the window at the time and saw our car lurch as he nudged it. He then drove off without looking to see what he had done. He must have been aware that he had hit our car.
Now the thing is, I know that his attitude is going to be that I shouldn't be parked there because he has to change his reversing line but what attitude should I take?

[GreyGhost]

He hit your legally parked car, undue care and attention. He also failed to stop, which is another offence in itself. If it's a problem for you do it through insurance, let them take any flak.

[W953 BJX]

agreed, he is at fault on two counts

[StevenWilliams]

Originally Posted by Grey Ghost

He also failed to stop, which is another offence in itself.

And the police will do nothing about it as you don't have any independant witnesses.

Been there done that wasted my time giving a statement to the police to be told that even though I had a passenger in the car with me they could not be used as a witness in court as they are not independent. What a load of tosh..

[Raistlin]

I'd guess that there will be evidence of the contact on both cars Bernard.

That, combined with the fact that the incident was seen will be enough for the Police to consider a charge of failing to stop and report and possibly careless driving. You should insist on a crime number when and if you report it though.

The evidence of an eye-witness, whether related or not, is perfectly acceptable to a Court and should not preclude consideration of prosecution by CPS Direct, upon whose authority the Police would charge. Steven is right. That whiskery old excuse is a load of old tosh

You don't make it clear whether that is the route you want to take. However, if you choose to allow your insurance company to deal with the matter, a successful prosecution will significantly strengthen their case if the third party or his insurers seem reluctant to co-operate.

Or maybe he will simply accept responsibility and agree to make good the damage. It does still happen you know

[Dragrad]

Photographs of any damages would be a good idea, esp. if there's any paint transfer.....

[Bernard LPG]

I really don't know what I want to do about this. I'm not one to fall out with neighbours but he's the type of self-righteous person who gets away with a lot because of his confident and browbeating demeanour. In other words he will take a lot of facing down. You know the type, stalwart of the Church and probably used to beat his wife when she was alive.
I am inclined to give him 24 hours from the incident to see if he owns up before I take it further. Whether I have the nerve to confront him or report to the police, I don't know yet.
There's very little damage, only paint, so I'm reluctant to involve the insurance company as I've lost out several times in the past when I've not been at fault.

[Raistlin]

Confident, browbeating, church-going wife-beater that he is, if he ends up standing in front of a Bench, I'll wager his attitude might be somewhat different, and if it were not so to begin with, then things would change very rapidly

I can see that it is a difficult decision to make but in the meantime, I'd be taking the photos.

Certainly, a reasonable, neighbourly approach would be the first thing to do though.

[Dallas]

Yes! I agree with Grey Ghost and Raistlin,

But you really should just go over to see him first to make contact with him to let him know what he has done, just kindly say that your wife saw him bump you car this morning and that there is a bit of damage.

He has done wrong by not stopping and informing you that he had just hit your vehicle but he most probably just thinks it was just a slight bump and he would of most probably been embarrassed to own up to what he had just done and probably wanted a fast get away as it was just a bump....

I mean all of us have or might have accidentally bumped another car in a carpark of opened our car door onto another car door when parked and put a slight scratch in the other door but not have waited for the owners to return so we could own up to them....

First you must go and see him as you must give him the chance now to act through his insurance company (exclose details to one another) you might be surprised he might be polite about matters.....

I wouldn't leave it tooooo long neither as the police will fine this in his favour and will ask you the question why you did not report the incident immediately (telling them you wanted to think about it first, wont do)

Tooo much time has passed already, go and see him right away.... I hope all is fine for you...

[pab]

you have to confront the man,tell him what your wife saw,and if the damage is not rectified tell him you will take i further...wild horses could not drag me away from a man like him