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chas2008 | 12:32 Fri 08th Jan 2010 | Insurance
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any thoughts on this one?
a friend of mine who lives in Milton Keynes, was rearended luckily very lightly by a taxi driven by an asian driver (plenty of these dubious taxis in MK) The driver then refused to give any insurance details or identify himself he only gave a mobile number which my friend being sharp rang immediately to find out it was false, even though he was trying to ring it while the driver was in front of him the driver said he must be ringing the wrong number !! This guy was just totally obstructive, the taxi plate and phone numbers had been taken off the vehicle , there were business cards on the dash which the driver refused to give, the only piece of info he got was make of vehicle and reg no. The obvious conclusion is this guy was not the owner of the vehicle (car share, as they do) so was not insured or possibly not even a registered taxi driver.
Guess what , the local plod were not interested......treated my friend as an inconveninece,
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Extract from the Road Traffic Act regarding action needed following an accidenmt:

(2)The driver of the motor vehicle must stop and, if required to do so by any person having reasonable grounds for so requiring, give his name and address and also the name and address of the owner and the identification marks of the vehicle.
(3) If for any reason the driver of the motor vehicle does not give his name and address under subsection (2) above, he must report the accident.
(4) A person who fails to comply with subsection (2) or (3) above is guilty of an offence.
(5) If, in a case where this section applies by virtue of subsection (1)(a) above, the driver of the vehicle does not at the time of the accident produce such a certificate of insurance or security, or other evidence, as is mentioned in section 165(2)(a) of this Act—
(a) to a constable, or
(b) to some person who, having reasonable grounds for so doing, has required him to produce it,
the driver must report the accident and produce such a certificate or other evidence.
It seems two offences have been committed. Firstly name and address details of the driver (and owner if different). Secondly insurance details have not been produced.

Your friend should contact the duty inspector at the local nick, present what information he has and ask the inspector what he proposes to do about these offences. If he gets no satisfactory answer he should contact the Borough Commander.
In addition to the two offences identified by New Judge, it is highly probable that the driver does not have insurance or a valid drivers licence and this is more the reason why the police should investigate the matter.

Please confirm when you say the plod were not interested you mean they have not taken your friends complaint?
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he has since filed a report with MK police but again they really didnt seem interested.
New Judge/dh001 welcome to the real world – plod is not interested in such complaints.

This will be ‘resolved’ by chas2008’s friend’s insurance company, who will contact the owner of the vehicle and hopefully recover any losses from them.

Can you image how much paperwork investigating this complaint would involve? Much better for plod to concentrate on easy cases, in which they know who the culprit is (including their address).
Quite so, hymie.

And that is why chas's mate should escalate the matter beyond "Plod". Whilst people put up with the police picking and choosing what crimes they choose to investigate the public will continue to receive shoddy second rate service from them. It is not the responsibility of insurance companies to enforce motoring law.If the "paperwork" is too onerous for the police to investigate a simple offence they need to revise their processes.
It's an outside shot, but it may just be worth contacting the taxi licencing depart of the local council. I know your friend doesn't have a licence number, but the vehicle's registration number may just be on record with them somewhere and may be traceable.

For the future, I never go anywhere without either a compact camera or my mobile phone (with camera) in my bag. Just helps to record things more clearly for when you have to do the insurance, as well as giving you a sneaky photo of the driver (and it's not illegal to take photographs of anyone in a public place, btw - even children).
The Real World - Part II

If Chas2008’s friend wants to ingratiate themselves with the local police – then I would not recommend he upset them.
Otherwise he is likely to find himself subject to special treatment from the police, ranging from ignoring him to harassing him.

I have complained to the police – they do nothing; I am willing to bet that if I was a magistrate, that that would not be the case.
yep there are plenty in MK. Which taxi firm was he working for do u know?
If he wasn't working for a firm he might be one of a number of rogue drivers we have here.
In which case he can kiss good by to any hope of finding him.
If he got the reg he might consider phoning round the main taxi firms and seeing if they know the number. I am assuming taxi firms have to know the reg's of their drivers cars.
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when my friend did go to report it they were more interested in his details !!! ie current insurance....couldnt believe it
this is where the asians play the "RACIST CARD" and police not wanting to know is just usual. they asked me for my documents when i reported my car being broke into a few years back... I would go into the police station and with a pen and notepad, speak to the chief inspector and tell him to chase it up and make notes, this way if it doesn't get looked at you have notes to give to the main base, (west mids is lloyd house). plus if your friend has legal cover in his policy you can tell your insurance company to involve solicitors at their expense and they will chase the other party. personally if he refused to give me details, id have took a photo of him and pushed him out the way and taken his car keys so he wasn't going no-where
> [id] I'd have [took] taken a photo of him and pushed him out the way and taken his car
> keys so he wasn't going [no-where] anywhere.

All that would have gained you would have been an arrest for common assault - the police most certainly would have been interested in that...
exactly, it would have got them there though wouldn't it. but if you had the right car details anyway your insurance could have given the details or if you went to dvla and told them what happened they would send the details to you.

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