Hit and run..., Motorcycle hit and damaged, third party did not stop... Options

[«THÖMÅS®©™»]

This is an enquiry at this stage and maybe for some advice...

I visited ASDA on Drayton High Road in Norwich (Hellesdon) yesterday at around 13:45 and parked my motorcycle in a marked out bay. CCTV shows that around 20 minutes later at 14:04, a white/silver car, possibly an Audi came in to shot on the camera and reversed in to my bike and knocked it over causing around £200 (this is only an estimate from visible damage, getting it looked at on Thursday/Friday properly) of damage. This was broad daylight, cloudy and had been raining but was not at the time. Bent kick stand, left clutch assembly and lever damaged needing to be replaced and petrol leaking from the tank (it was on its side for an hour before it was reported.

I have reported the incident to police as a fail to stop/hit and run offence as the driver took off as shown in the footage and left no details.

I have also spoken at length to ASDA staff and they showed me the stills from CCTV that proves that the car did the damage beyond all doubt. There is no registration number on the camera because it is to far away to be seen and the driver did not report the incident to the security at ASDA but instead just drove off. ASDA will not supply me with the footage using the Data Protection Act 1998 as a reason and I have no way of getting it.

I now have what is essentially a written off bike that I cannot ride and ASDA are not being very helpful and are saying that I have to wait for the Police to deal with it in which case it will end up with me waiting potentially weeks or even up to 6 months for them to do anything! ParkingEye have ANPR cameras at this site, and I have contacted them multiple times today and they are saying the same old thing, basically using it as an excuse to refuse to tell me the number plate of the car that hit my bike so I can claim for the damage on his insurance and of course pass it to the police for them to investigate.

I am extremely frustrated and it just seems that these companies deliberately put barriers in my way to make it as difficult as possible to get the info I need to pursue the driver for causing damage to my bike.

My motorcycle is my only means of transport and I now have none because of the idiot that failed to stop.

Someone please say that I have other avenues to pursue the companies for the information I require to get my bike fixed.

What are my options?

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[samthecat]

Thomas, Did you get a final quote to repair the damage to your bike?

Whilst I fully agree that its unfair you should end up being penalised for someone else damaging your bike it may be the least bad option to just get it repaired yourself.

Brake/ clutch levers and footpegs are cheap to replace and can be bought new or from any one of a number of online breakers. Wemoto are very good for new parts.

[notmeatloaf]

...they should still give you the number plate so you can make an insurance claim.

But the issue is we don't know which number plate it is... PE may have a list of vrm's (in a given time range) but not a list of make/models - they only perform a 'lookup' (@£2.50) for those that appear to have breached parking conditions. So the DVLA would have to be contacted to pair up the list with any models that appear to match. That might be just 1 'hit' or several... (As the exact model/colour isn't 100% clear)

I don't think a V888 would lend itself to this type of application.

More to the point as I said there is no guarantee that Asda's CCTV will be sufficient to show the journey between PE's capture and the OP's motorbike. In fact seeing as PE's cameras tend to be at car park extremities I would say likely not.

It is not going to be enough even for a civil claim to have "Here is a silver Vectra driving in. Here is what looks a bit like a silver Vectra hitting my car. Undoubtedly it must be the same car."

OP much as I feel your frustration I would just save the £75, arrange for my own repairs and learn that (sadly) it is risky to park a motorbike in a car space because there are a lot of dopey drivers who see an apparently empty space and end their obs at that point.

[cp8759]

"Here is a silver Vectra driving in. Here is what looks a bit like a silver Vectra hitting my car. Undoubtedly it must be the same car."

Depends how many Vectras passed the ANPR camera, if only one entered the car park after the bike was parked, and by the time the OP found the damage to his bike the same Vectra (and no other Vectras) has left the car park, it's more likely than not it was that Vectra.

[«THÖMÅS®©™»]

Thomas, Did you get a final quote to repair the damage to your bike?

Considering I have already spent £105, and the rest of the parts will cost upwards of £410 to obtain and fit myself, I will not bother. The parts can be replaced when they are cheaper.

It is back on the road at this point, that is all I was worrying about.

The question arises as to what I saw on CCTV of a silver Audi/Vectra hitting my bike, it is the only similar coloured vehicle that is in shot and moving during the time that my bike is hit by this car. There are distinctive cars both before and after the offending vehicle which should make this much easier to pin down, however, the Police as expected cannot be bothered and have chalked it up to being my fault and I have to take the blame for it, even though CCTV proves this to be wrong and the offending vehicle is 100% to blame.

I have left it with my insurance company as a "notification only" at this stage to reduce the risk of my NCD being damaged further than it already is because of a former friend making a malicious claim in tort on my policy.

I will happily go in to it more if asked.

This post has been edited by «THÖMÅS®©™»: Fri, 26 Jan 2018 - 06:43

[Jlc]

"Here is a silver Vectra driving in. Here is what looks a bit like a silver Vectra hitting my car. Undoubtedly it must be the same car."

Depends how many Vectras passed the ANPR camera, if only one entered the car park after the bike was parked, and by the time the OP found the damage to his bike the same Vectra (and no other Vectras) has left the car park, it's more likely than not it was that Vectra.

I would presume the offending vehicle didn’t hang around long after hitting the bike and left straight away - so such a vehicle on the exit snap could be the one but may be not. Something else like a partial vrm would really help but doesn’t exist it seems.

[«THÖMÅS®©™»]

I would presume the offending vehicle didn’t hang around long after hitting the bike and left straight away - so such a vehicle on the exit snap could be the one but may be not. Something else like a partial vrm would really help but doesn’t exist it seems.

This is why I have to get my bike repaired myself and not go through my insurance, otherwise I can effectively kiss goodbye to my 10 years NCD.

[Fredd]

You wouldn't lose all of your NCD - the industry norm is to deduct 2 years after a claim. Having said that, insurers vary in the maximum number of years they recognise before deducting the two years; for example with Admiral you could have 9 years NCD, but they only recognise 5 years of that when they deduct the 2 years, so you end up with just 3 years NCD at renewal time! Other insurers have similar but different policies.

You might be surprised how small the price difference is between 3 and 10 years NCD - most of the discount accumulates in those first three years. It might be worth trying some online quotes to help you make your decision.

[«THÖMÅS®©™»]

I would still have a claim I would have to declare in any event which would cause my premium to go up.

I don't want that to happen.

[Fredd]

As has been discussed earlier, your premium's probably going to go up anyway, even if you can track down the offender and claim from their insurance.

Rather than guess or make assumptions, why don't you try a couple of online quotes for the two scenarios - one where you've claimed on your own insurance policy, and one where you've recovered the money directly and have just notified your insurer of the accident? At least then you'd have some actual figures on which to base your decision.

[«THÖMÅS®©™»]

On gocompare.com where I get my quotes, I cannot add that to my quote, all I can do is call my insurers on Monday and see what they come up with.

[notmeatloaf]

Thomas it may be worth speaking to the police regarding the evidence they will accept before spending any money. When I worked in supermarkets we had to have a constant CCTV trail of a thief if the police would accept it as evidence.

Otherwise, however unlikely, they would assume the stolen goods had been dumped in the 0.8 seconds they were out of shot.

I say that only because potentially you need to prove on balance of probabilities that the PE car entering is the same one who hit your car. And currently you don't even have access to 50% of the footage you need.

That's only to counter the fact that CCTV that seem obvious to you may not seem obvious to the police.

[«THÖMÅS®©™»]

Well, it's not worth doing anything more since the police have made up their minds on the subject.

One of the security staff stated to them that the footage "is not good enough to identify the vehicle" which to me reeks of revenge after I was banned for ALLEGEDLY abusing staff. I refer to a previous post in which I emphatically deny this, but admit being frustrated and upset, as anyone would if some idiot rammed your vehicle then took off, not that ASDA actually care one iota about it.

Their attitude seems to be "your vehicle was hit in our car park? were not liable, deal with it yourself!" That is unfair because they are making it very difficult for me to do so.

[notmeatloaf]

More likely they just don't give out video to anyone except the police rather than an elaborate revenge. And they are probably right that the footage wouldn't be sufficient to give an unbroken link the PE plate capture to the incident

I appreciate it must be frustrating though.

[Churchmouse]

One of the security staff stated to them that the footage "is not good enough to identify the vehicle" which to me reeks of revenge after I was banned for ALLEGEDLY abusing staff. I refer to a previous post in which I emphatically deny this, but admit being frustrated and upset, as anyone would if some idiot rammed your vehicle then took off, not that ASDA actually care one iota about it.

I think the claim should be passed to the OP's insurer, but if the OP chooses not to involve his insurer, I would suggest he write to ASDA rather than try to resolve this in person. It is very unlikely that the personnel at the store have any idea what they're doing or even what ASDA's actual policies are in relation to such requests. Keep any correspondence simple, polite and clear. He should feel free to post any drafts here so they can be reviewed before they are sent.

There was a reason I gave you this advice earlier. You might still be able to accomplish your goal...

--Churchmouse

[«THÖMÅS®©™»]

The question is... How?

I would not know where to start on writing a letter... Not for this kind of thing anyway...

[«THÖMÅS®©™»]

Anyone?

[cp8759]

Anyone?

As I've said before, you're better off getting a claim management company or a no win no fee solicitor to help you out. To be perfectly honest the amount of effort required to pursue this further is far more than most people are willing to put in when giving advice for free on an internet forum. I feel your plight, but I'm simply not going to spend several hours of my evening composing letters for you.

On the other hand either a CMC or a firm of solicitors which deals with such matters with have trained staff and a bunch of template letters to deal with exactly this scenario.

[Churchmouse]

I'm not much of a letter writer either; I prefer editing...

Courteous introduction--you are a customer requesting assistance
Basic facts--what happened, precisely when and where
State problem--you're out of pocket, cannot trace driver
What you want them to do--provide vehicle Reg No. (you don't need the CCTV footage itself to put in a claim)
Thank profusely, for further information: contact details
Sincerely yours,
Thomas

Don't mention anything else, don't offer opinions; do use short sentences and do separate by paragraphs.

--Churchmouse