Frequently Asked Questions

This advice only refers to crashes where no one is hurt or someone has suffered only minor injuries. If a crash involves serious injuries, you should dial 999 immediately.

If you are involved in a crash which results in damage to another vehicle or to any property, you must stop and give your details to anyone who has reasonable grounds for requesting them.

If you have been involved in a crash where no injuries have occurred, you need to exchange the following details with the other people involved:

• The registration numbers of your vehicles
• The details of the drivers involved and
• Details of the registered keeper if they are different from the driver.

If no one has been injured, and all the drivers involved are willing to exchange details, you don't have to report the matter to the police.

If the crash involves injury, you need to exchange the above details with the other drivers involved, and also provide details of your insurance. If you don't have these details available, you must report the accident to the police as soon as possible, but in any case within 24 hours.

Finally, if you have been involved in a crash and did not think you were injured at the time but have subsequently developed some symptoms, you should again report the matter to your local police station as soon as possible.

At the police station a police officer will note a statement from you. The police will normally ask you:

• your name and address
• a contact phone number (mobile or home)
• the nature of the incident
• the number and type of vehicles involved
• the number and extent of any injuries
• the exact location of the incident
• whether the road is blocked
• whether you are involved in the incident
• whether there is any debris on the roadway
• weather conditions at the time

The accident will then be further investigated.

In the interests of road safety, damaged vehicles should be removed from the scene as quickly as possible. If necessary, the police may call a garage to recover your vehicle from the roadside. If this is done, any charges are payable by the owner of the vehicle. You can elect your own garage or the police will call the nearest garage.

Yes. If details have been recorded these can be obtained free of charge from the police officer involved but only in circumstances where your identity can be confirmed (this can prove difficult over the telephone in some cases). Details of witnesses will not be disclosed. After the case has been fully investigated a copy of the abstract report can be obtained for a fee, but this is usually arranged by insurance companies or solicitors. In circumstances where details cannot be obtained from the police officer, you can write to the Data Protection Officer at Police Headquarters. You should allow a few days to elapse before making contact, as it may take some time for the details to be finalised.

If you suffer injury, loss or damage to your property as a result of a road accident, compensation will normally be payable under insurance arrangements. Where the offender is untraced or uninsured, compensation may be available from the Motor Insurers' Bureau, 152 Silbury Boulevard, Central Milton Keynes, MK9 1NG, tel 01908 830001, which can consider claims for:

• Personal injury, loss or damage to your property caused by an identified driver who is uninsured. This can include injury, loss or damage caused by an identified driver of a stolen vehicle where the rightful owner is uninsured.
• Personal injury (but not loss or damage to property) caused by an untraced driver.

If you should succeed in getting compensation in two or more ways from a criminal court and through the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme or the Motor Insurers' Bureau, the award may be reduced to avoid a double payment. You cannot receive compensation twice for the same thing from public funds. You need to be aware of this when claiming, whether you are claiming for yourself or for your insurance company. You cannot claim on insurance and also against an offender.

Where a stolen vehicle is insured by the rightful owner, claims for personal injury and property damage must be dealt with by the rightful owner's insurers. In these cases, details of a vehicle's ownership may be obtained from the police.

Most, if not all, insurance policies state that the insured person must notify them of any accident in which they are involved, irrespective of whether or not a claim is to be made or whose fault it was. They will usually send you a motor accident report form to fill in and return.