Hi
Received request for name and address of driver regarding driving without due care and failing to stop after and accident.

I dispute that I was even involved in an accident.

On the bottom of the page it says……’if you were the driver please explain what happened and why you failed to stop’

Part of my wants to answer this completely refuting I was involved and part of me wonders if I should say anything at all and wait and see what evidence they have of my involvement. My concern with this option is I won’t get an opportunity until court?

Any advice please.

Thank you

Tim

Presumably you have been provided with the date and time of the alleged incident and where it is said to have taken place. If you were "the person keeping the vehicle" at that time you must respond as requested. Failure to do so will see you face an allegation of "Failing to provide driver's details." This carries a hefty fine and six points.

This may be simply somebody alleging that you caused damage to their vehicle. Very often the police simply provide your details to insurers and leave it at that.

Hi ,
Yes I was the driver at the time and I’m happy to provide that detail and I will within the time.

I was just concerned about the specific asking me to explain what happened bit.

The incident involved a cyclist who says I knocked him off his bike. He’s lying because I definitely didn’t! He approached me at the time. Said I had knocked him off his f****** bike and was going to smash my f******* car up and road off.

I did not report to police as they won’t even turn up if you car was actually smashed up!!

To fulfil your obligations under s172 you only have to provide the driver's details.

Appreciate that thank you. Obligations aside is it wise to provide an explanation? As I said I’m just a bit unsure. Best case scenario they see it and decide not to prosecute. Worst case scenario they use it against me in proceedings in the future.

If the police have not told you what the incident is about I’d not be inclined to provide a response to an unparticularised allegation.

+1 to respond only to the S172. Leave all other questions blank.

Also check your insurance policy terms to see if you need to inform them, as it seems quite possible they will receive a claim. Depends on the wording of the policy but potentially if another road user alleges a collision, they may need to be informed.

The reason why it is best to say as little as possible is that the RTRA requires you give your name and address, the owners name and address and the registration number to anyone having reasonable grounds for so requiring, OR that you report the incident to a police station. I suspect that unless the cyclist was provably vexatious rather than mistaken, you may have issues there.

For clarity the cyclist coming off COULD be your fault even if you didn't touch him. That would also constitute an accident within the meaning of the statute, again you don't have to be in contact to be part of the accident or even the cause. I'm not saying you are, but think carefully before you say anything.

Often these end up with the Police exchanging details between the parties for claims purposes and then taking no further action, it depends on a number of factors on how they decide to proceed.

As an example I had a very near miss on bike after a car chose to overtake me when there wasn't room and with a road divider ahead chose to drive into me rather than brake, I went into a side turn at speed (35mph as it was downhill) and hopped onto the opposite kern to stop, clearly the drivers fault even though the only contact was a light touch on my shoulder he wouldn't have been aware of. Had I come off it would still have been his fault. Not saying this is what happened but just laying out for you that what you say happened (the words you used above) doesn't mean you didn't cause an accident for which you could be liable.

similarly I was forced off the road and crashed into the side of a bridge by the actions of a car driver, resulting in a DVT; car driver put his hand up and admitted fault but his car hadn't touched me.