My mate's car + police car = insurance query

[Dominion]

I know there are some members on here with knowledge of legal aspects of motoring and some members who work/have worked in motor insurance, so maybe you could help.

My mate has had a bit of a run-in with a police car. Seriously slow speed bump, but apparently the police officer was being a real arse and throwing threats around. This is the message my mate sent me:

sat in car on my phone about 10 yards from a junction between brunswick st and glossop road (leaving robyns) .. handbrake on not moving but the rest was going.... literally last 5 seconds of conversation police car goes past.. clocks me on my phone.. pulls up 10 yards after junction on glossop road (on my left)... i set off pull up to the junction.. turning left so concentrating on traffic to the right... gap in traffic comes.. set to go off .. bang... police car has reversed back to across the junction to be about 3 inchs infront of me.. got him in the back wheel arch...

3 points for being on my phone (as the offence is whilst moving.. whilst the keys in the car.. thats it) and £60 fine.. plus whatever they decide the damage i caused whilst travelling at 1mph is to the police

He realises the points and fine for being on the phone are a done deal and he's OK with that, but he's worried about the slight bump issue.

My thinking is, should the police car really be reversing across a junction...?

 

[custard]

to you have a map of the junction in question?
turning left but looking right?

 

[Dominion]

to you have a map of the junction in question?
turning left but looking right?

I don't I'm afraid. I don't really know where he's referring to.

And, yeah, I was wondering about the looking the wrong way aspect too. Hopefully, the police will see it as a waste of time pursuing it, because both the driver of the police car and my mate were being a bit crap to be honest.

 

[jenks69]

It shoulnd't matter if it's a police car or not in terms of the bump. Insurance will probably favour the police though

 

[sludgeguts]

"turning left so concentrating on traffic to the right" I assume he's already checked the road ahead to the left to make sure nothing's parked immediately in his way & so concentrating on looking for a break in the flow that he can pull into?

 

[Dominion]

"turning left so concentrating on traffic to the right" I assume he's already checked the road ahead to the left to make sure nothing's parked immediately in his way & so concentrating on looking for a break in the flow that he can pull into?

Yep, he's checked left, seen the police car pull up and seen that there are no other obstructions, and so is looking to the right for a break in the flow.

 

[arc]

I don't I'm afraid. I don't really know where he's referring to.

I know exactly where that is. Was he on Brunswick St or on Glossop Road? Pulling out of Brunswick St is awkward to say the least at times.

http://g.co/maps/7zkg8

If the police car has reversed back and blocked the junction then that's a pricky thing to do - but then if the police car was on Glossop Rd and he was on Brunswick St then your mate has little come back.. you have to way to traffic on the road.. and he didn't.. he hit it?

 

[Dominion]

I know exactly where that is. Was he on Brunswick St or on Glossop Road? Pulling out of Brunswick St is awkward to say the least at times.

http://g.co/maps/7zkg8

If the police car has reversed back and blocked the junction then that's a pricky thing to do - but then if the police car was on Glossop Rd and he was on Brunswick St then your mate has little come back.. you have to way to traffic on the road.. and he didn't.. he hit it?

He was on Brunswick Street apparently.

 

[arc]

He was on Brunswick Street apparently.

It's a nasty road to pull out from, and I can fully understand why he was concentrating on traffic from the right - but still don't think he's got much come back - regardless of what the police car was doing, it was on the road he was pulling onto.. so had right of way.

 

[Dominion]

It's a nasty road to pull out from, and I can fully understand why he was concentrating on traffic from the right - but still don't think he's got much come back - regardless of what the police car was doing, it was on the road he was pulling onto.. so had right of way.

I suspect you're right. It looks like it's a simple observational error

Also, he's just told me that there may be "fronting" issues with his insurance. Pillock :bang:

 

[Kier]

I've not got my driving ticket, so don't know much about driving policies within the Police. However, I know that if its for a Policing purpose, they are allowed to ignore the road traffic act (to a degree, doing 100mph though a red light and crash, you'll get whatever punishment anyone else would I would think).

Did anyone come down to the scene? As far as I know, any Police crash and sgt has to come down and do paperwork...I maybe completely wrong though, so don't quote me on that.

 

[Most Easterly Pandas]

If the police car has reversed back and blocked the junction then that's a pricky thing to do - but then if the police car was on Glossop Rd and he was on Brunswick St then your mate has little come back.. you have to way to traffic on the road.. and he didn't.. he hit it?

Exactly what I was going to say.

Might we worth your friend reporting it and making sure its correctly lodged as a collission with an emergency vehicle in motion. When investigated I assume the officer will then be questioned as to their actions and why they were reversing back towards the junction.

 

[middo85]

Police officers are exempt from certain parts of the road traffic act but cannot just do what they want and have to justify their actions.

Police vehicles also have incident data recorders that function like an aircrafts 'black box' so the incident will be logged, which may or may not help your friend.

 

[BlueDan]

Police officers are exempt from certain parts of the road traffic act but cannot just do what they want and have to justify their actions.

Surely only with lights and sirens to alert others drivers to their presence in advance?

 

[Kier]

Surely only with lights and sirens to alert others drivers to their presence in advance?

Nope, up to the officer driving to make that decision.

Worth a read

 

[middo85]

Surely only with lights and sirens to alert others drivers to their presence in advance?

You would think so, but there's no legal requirement to use lights and sirens when using the exemptions, different forces may have their own policies on it but the law does not require them

 

[Doofer]

Well I'll be controversial then.

The general principle is that you should be looking into the road you are turning into. You shouldn't set off forwards while looking to the right. Look right, check it's clear, then eyes forward and set off.

By the sounds of it the police car was almost stationary at the time. At most it was moving at the same speed as a pedestrian, cyclist or pushchair.

My advice would be to be very apologetic and accept the consequences.

 

[arc]

Well I'll be controversial then.

The general principle is that you should be looking into the road you are turning into. You shouldn't set off forwards while looking to the right. Look right, check it's clear, then eyes forward and set off.

By the sounds of it the police car was almost stationary at the time. At most it was moving at the same speed as a pedestrian, cyclist or pushchair.

My advice would be to be very apologetic and accept the consequences.

That's not in anyway controversial; it echoes what I've said earlier in the thread?!

 

[Most Easterly Pandas]

Well I'll be controversial then.

The general principle is that you should be looking into the road you are turning into. You shouldn't set off forwards while looking to the right. Look right, check it's clear, then eyes forward and set off.

By the sounds of it the police car was almost stationary at the time. At most it was moving at the same speed as a pedestrian, cyclist or pushchair.

My advice would be to be very apologetic and accept the consequences.

Look right, check its clear, look when your going and then BANG someones gone into the side of you as its now not clear

 

[The Beard]

From the map, it would appear that the mate was parked on the minor road 10 metres/yards from the junction using his phone. The Highway Code tells you not to park less than 10 metres/yards from a junction so he should be alright on that score.

The offence is using a mobile phone while IN CHARGE OF a motor vehicle, which is why the engine should be off and the key out of the ignition. Although to be on the really safe side it's best to get out of the car, but I think the Cops should be realistic about the matter and as long as the engine is off and the handbrake set that would be sensible.

As to the collision, something like 70% of RTCs in built up areas are at junctions and corners. With that in mind, I would personally wonder at the wisdom of reversing up to one if, as seems to be the case, it is a difficult junction to negotiate, which implies a higher level of risk than most others. Although reversing into a limited opening on the left (or right) is part of the driving test, that is almost exclusively done in pretty quiet areas and it's very unwise to do it at a crossroads. If the Cop wanted to talk to the driver he could have parked up and walked back a few yards. If he couldn't get back to him in time he could have visited later or if need be just NIP'd him. I really don't see the need to effectively block the road, after all, he wasn't going to aprehend the leader of Al Quaeda.

Most Forces will automatically send a member of supervision, usually a Sergeant to the scene and both drivers would be breathalysed.