Hit and Run

[HS30-H]

Today I became a statistic. Just another victim of a Hit and Run lunatic. Plenty of these happen everyday, and it just happened to be my turn.

Pootling along in my 'everyday' car down a relatively traffic-free street here in central London, a Land Rover ( short wheelbase 4WD ) popped into my rear-view mirror and very quickly filled it. He was sitting right on my tail with his headlights on main beam, and at very high revs. Obviously in some kind of hurry, I thought ( not unusual for London......... ). He was not able to overtake because of oncoming traffic, so I gradually increased speed in the hope that I would get a little bit of air between us. No such luck. Land Rover man decided to stick even closer.

A bit further down the road and there's a gap in the oncoming traffic. Land Rover man drops back a metre or so and takes a stab at overtaking. Unfortunately, he misjudged it and whacked my offside rear quarter as he went past. The impact was enough to pitch my car slightly sideways and make the tyres chirp. Land Rover man nearly loses it completely but just about gathers it all up again and speeds off!

I gave chase ( at least to get his full registration number ) and followed him down a few small residential streets at speed. He was trying to get away...........

I caught him up easily ( the Alfa is actually pretty quick, and the Landie was no match ) and he slowed down, then stopped. Great - he wants to talk, I think. Actually no, he wants to ram me. He reversed towards my car at a good speed, so I selected reverse and retreated. After several ridiculous backwards and forwards encounters ( I'm quite SURE he was aiming to hit me, and not just bluffing ) he makes off again. I take down his number and as many details as I can and head to the nearest Police station.

To be met with a wave of indifference! They don't want to try and catch him, they don't want to even attempt to trace him! "He will be long gone by now"................

I'm given a four-page form and told to go away and fill it in. When I bring it back they will decide if they want to pursue it further.

Great.

Now I'm looking for sympathy and mourning the inevitable rise in my insurance premium next year.

Good job I wasn't in a Z.

Alan T.

survey the damage here:

[Ed]

Sorry to hear that. Your local police must be very busy. Sounds like they gave you the "brush-off". That and they are lacking in tactical verbal skills. "Thank-you very much Sir for bringing this to our attention, please fill out these forms and we will issue a citation to the offender for hit & run and reckless driving".

It's no wonder why so many people take the law into their own hands. :tapemouth

[seerex]

Alan , I am sorry to hear of your bad luck but you gotta be somewhat thankful, atleast he didn't clip you and make you lose control and cause more damage to the Alfa or worse you could have gotten hurt, I am surprised that the police acted like that , in fla hit and run with more than $500 damage or with injuries is a felony , not to mention tried to ram you . But above all be thankful it wasn't your Z that was hit. Best of luck

[Alfadog]

Bloody poms!

Yeah, if the cops can't do their job citizens WILL. Must have got the adrenaline pumping with that car chase though, Alan?

My dad had a similar thing happen to him, when we were at my uncle's house. The car (funnily enough, an Alfa, too) was parked and these guys came and smashed into it. Dad and my uncle ran out and got in my uncles car (an XR8, for the aussies) and chased them. Eventually they were trapped in a 1 way street... so that story had a happy ending.

Sorry to hear about your episode. However if you can get his name the Internet is a very powerful tool... you could easily find out where he lives. :tapemouth

[halz]

Alan,

It a real shame that there are people like that out there. Although I've never had an experience like yours (which I think qualifies as 'road-rage') I know that from the point of view of insurance, such events never come out in your favour unless you have a witness. Twice our family car was backed into in shopping centre carparks by 'older' drivers. The first time, my wife was unable to locate a witness and despite both parties being insured by the same company, the type of damage indicating that our car must have been sationary at the time of the bump AND the fact that the other party kept changing his story... the company would not attribute fault to either party. End result: we make a claim, our premuim goes up. Same probably happened to the other guy if he made a claim so the winner out of this is the insurance company. In the second bump I was in the car when a little old lady tapped our car with hers (2 weeks after getting it back from the 1st repair and in exactly the same spot!). I leaped out of the car and grabbed hold of a nearby shopping trolley-pushing 16 Y.o. and asked him if he saw what happened. He became our witness and everything was resolved in our favour.

So... My advice is to think "witness" in these situations. On the other hand, if you have a friend in the force he might be able to query the license details of the Landrover and you could pay his tyres a late night visit with with a long sharp knife...

Hayden.

[2ManyZs]

I think I'd make a copy of the police paperwork, and if you hear nothing in a week as to whether they ever apprehended the person, I'd hire a solicitor and sue him in civil court for damages to your vehicle. If the police don't want to do anything, I'd be willing to bet something would happen if a lawsuit were filed... especially if it was introduced in court that you filed a report with the police and they took a "who cares" attitude to what constituted a case of assault.

Cases of "road rage" or whatever the idiots want to call it this week, have been such a problem in some areas here in the US, the prosecutors are really handing down some stiff sentences, and the police around the metropolitan areas have officers stationed in certain places looking for only "road rage" incidents and behavior that causes it.

[Ben]

Alan, you have my sympathy. Several years ago I was assaulted while driving in my 2nd Z. It turns out that the driver of the other car was looking for a fight & I got in the wrong place at the wrong time. I got the rego & reported it to the police, but nothing ever came of it....

A quiet word with some of the lads at your local pub might be able to sort things out....

The rear-quarter damage isn't bad, but you'll probably need a new bumper.

[Z Kid]

ROFL ROFL Sorry, I just cant help myself, you used landrover and speed in the same sentence . Its bloody terrible over here, and people dont seem to care when they have an accident, keep the rego number handy and a tyre lever, and if you ever see it parked, systematically gouge every nice aluminuim panel. I hope the alfa will be ok, but I'm glad it wasnt your Z. Bloody Landrover Drivers .

Good Luck getting him.

Chris

[Gav240z]

Alan like the rest have all said you have my sympathy. When I first read through the atricle I was hoping it wasn't the Z. The alfa is not good but your Z is your baby.

I have been in a similar situation in my old 2+2 when I had a VK commodore(For the Aussies) doing wheel spins and when I had to wait for him to do a U-Turn I couldn't get past and we looked at each other and from that point on he started to chase me. I ran through several streets and round abouts but he was not so lucky and lost control of his car. He went up on the kerb and hit with enough force for all his hubcaps to fall off.

Being with my friend at the time we both agreed to leave ASAP. He caught up with me at a red light got out and I unwound the window ever so slightly he was asking what my problem was and I was telling him i had no problem, which enraged him further and he put his fist through my window.

I had his rego aswell and my friend as a witness we both gave statements and it turns out the car was stolen no wonder he was so parranoid.

The police did nothing and my friend has seen him driving around the area.

On the topic of police doing nothing a friend of mine was almost stabbed while on a break at work at the local supermarket he works at, mainly becaue he didn't give some stranger a cigarette so this guy pulls a knife out and my friend goes back into the supermarket the video shows this guy with a knife in the store. The police still haven't done anything despite knowing where he lives etc...

Sad really.

[Caen Fred]

Sorry to here that Alan, I thought that England was one of the last place on earth to find this kind of “Latin” behaviour. My best to your V6 butt!

Fred

Honest, it wasn’t my land !

[Bambikiller240]

Geez, Alan. I almost missed this thread. Sorry to hear about your misfortune. I agree about considering a civil case against the barbarian. The fool needs to be punished in some way.

You emerged from the incident safely.

Hope tomorrow is a better day for you,

Carl

[HS30-H]

Thanks to everybody for the kind comments. Its much appreciated.

Seems that if I had been hurt I would have got a better reaction from the Police. However, the Police are ignoring the other guy's obvious INTENT to reverse into me and therefore his INTENT to hit my car and do injury to me.

Frankly I would have thought that attempting to hurt me was almost as serious as actually causing injury. It was only my avoiding action that stopped him from hitting me when he was aiming at me in reverse gear. That and the fact that he was having trouble keeping the thing going in a straight line whilst reversing..............

New developments this morning. I went to hand in my crime report paperwork to my local Police station, and was told that they have actually tried to trace the owner of the Land Rover by using the registration number that was on the vehicle. Surprise surprise ( not ) - the number is a false one and relates to a vehicle that is recorded as no longer existing, and is still under the name of a former owner a long way outside London. Great. This almost certainly means the guy will change the plates once again and be able to swan around as though nothing has happened, safe in the knowledge that he cannot be traced. There's a lot of this about at the moment; the proliferation of speed cameras, bus lane and traffic signal enforcement cameras and zone charging cameras means that some of the less law-abiding citizens will hide their true identity and the identity of their vehicle by using false plates. Meanwhile, the more legitimate and law-abiding citizens are EASY to catch and fine.

I should have guessed that his plates were false. They were, after all, held on by yellow electrical tape!

My suspicion is that not only was his vehicle on false plates, but that it was also probably stolen, uninsured and untaxed. He may even have been banned from driving previously and judging by his misjudgment in overtaking me he may also have been drunk or otherwise under the influence ( drugs? ). Unless the Police get lucky or he does something even more stupid I doubt he will be picked up. In the meantime he can cruise around as he likes, and nobody will be able to touch him.

However, I feel that he probably lives around the area where our little encounter happened. He seemed to know the backstreets quite well, and he originally pulled out behind me from a very residential area of side streets. I think I might have to take a slow evening drive around and see if I can find his Land Rover.

Once again, cheers for the shoulders to cry on.

All the best,

Alan T.