Hit and Run
Advice
Hit and run incidents are a criminal act as the driver has refused to stop or share details after causing an accident. The majority of drivers will be uninsured and driving illegally.
If possible, the victim or any helpful bystander/witness should: -
- Take details of any witnesses ready for the Police to interview;
- Write down details about the vehicle that hit you;
- Take photos of the scene, your injuries and any damaged property (phone, laptop etc)
The Police have the power to check local CCTV footage to find the assailant, however, there is a good chance that they had cloned (borrowed without the owner’s knowledge) their number plate details. Here the criminal would copy the number plate of a similar vehicle, when the police check it against their records, they simply think it’s the other vehicle, which is highly likely to be insured and perfectly legal. After the hit and run the villain simply replaces the plates and starts again, effectively getting off without any charge whatsoever. The “proper” owner of the vehicle, who is probably perfectly unaware that a clone has been using their identity is the one visited by the police.
There is a compensation scheme for hit and run victims run under the Motor Insurance Bureau (MIB) and our staff can help you put forward a claim and access compensation, we appreciate that this does not bring justice for the crime itself but is better than nothing.
How we can help
As there is no way of tracing the other driver then a claim to the Motor Insurance Bureau will be needed, your injuries will need to be assessed, to assist our legal team with this we will appoint medical consultants to assess your situation, they are privately contracted by us (and therefore their cost would be classed as a disbursement). To quantify the potential claim in regard to mental trauma we would suggest an additional report from our psychological team.
The claim will consider two types of damages:
- General damages- this compensates the victim for the pain and suffering endured, and for the loss of enjoyment of life as a result of the negligent act.
- Special damages- this compensates the victim for any personal costs incurred as a result of the negligent act. It can also cover any additional costs required in the future such as remedial surgery to remedy the mistake, mental suffering and so on.
To gain our assistance you need to open a case, this is done by taking advantage of our free consultation service, activated by the link at the top of the page, should you wish to start a case the caseworker will send you the suitable payment link. Please note your caseworker can only give generic advice, their role is to prepare your details for handling by our legal team and medical consultant and to act as your point of contact, they will also issue you with your Password and PIN, these will be needed to log onto your client dashboard. From your dashboard you will be able to manage and view every aspect of your case, upload documents, images, files etc.