Free Traffic Legal Advice
General discussion => The Flame Pit => Topic started by: AmikoFrizz on November 27, 2025, 06:04:03 pm
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Sometimes I hate being right.
Both vehicles were reversing. Neither managed to avoid a collision. From the limited information eventually provided, you pulled out in front of him when it was not safe to do so, when he failed to see you due to reversing an unnecessarily long distance and there was a collision. You sought to dishonestly paint a different picture by deliberately excluding any mention of your own involvement, and taking up a lot of our time by painting a mostly irrelevant picture of his behaviour prior to the incident
The CCTV footage, which we have not seen, will, if viewed, presumably paint a more accurate and factual picture than this. However, I don't know how much time and resources either insurer would allocate to a minor claim where on the face of it both parties were reversing carelessly.
Anything other than 100% the other driver's fault will see you with a "fault" claim to declare to your insurers for the next 5 years. Hopefully the words of Battery Sergeant-Major Williams - "Oh dear, how sad, never mind" will console you in this regard.
Obviously if you had been as partially forthcoming with the details of the collision in your initial post, our advice would likely have been not to have a fault claim recorded against you for the next 5 years, although failure to declare the collision, when renewing or taking out a new policy would constitute insurance fraud (or just plain fraud in legalese), and potentially invalidate any such policy.
However, it is not all doom and gloom - we finally a meaningful question from the OP. Almost.
Do you have grounds to claim against the driver who - in your opinion - caused the collision? Assuming that he was liable - partially or completely - then clearly, yes.
Do you have grounds to claim against Virgin Media - ostensibly his employer, and on whose business he was ostensibly on at the material time (as opposed to "being on a frolic of his own" whilst merely and coincidentally being employed by VM) - then they are vicariously liable as employers.
As regards the block management company, the landlord of flat 17, and Doris who was walking her dog along the pavement across the road when all this transpired - lets assume not.
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So both vehicles were reversing, and the CCTV footage will presumably confirm this.
It appears that neither driver was exercising due care. Why do you think the insurers will apportion blame to the van driver, rather than 50/50?
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Thank you for all your comments, it's good to test an opinion with other points of view and reflect on it, that's why I posted on this forum.
I think you have perfectly highlighted Andy's point. Despite the length of the opening post, we don't even know whether the OP's car was parked at the time.
My car was moving slightly and carefully, reversing from the car park, and there was a collision with the van that was reversing from the 1st car park to the 2nd, and then quickly forward to the 3rd. Minor damage to our car and minor/no damage to the van. I have the impression that the van was moving erratically and unpredictably and created the conditions for the collision, but this opinion doesn't count anymore as is now an insurance matter, and, of course, the van driver disagreed and had a different view. We have full and clear CCTV coverage.
Was it substantial damage to your car or just a few little scratches? As others have said, the bulk of you post is sadly irrelevant. Send a complaint to Virgin/02, get their drivers details and let your insurers deal with the rest. Bear in mind you may well have to pay the excess if you claim and your insurers can't get it back from the van's insurance.
A few little scratches, but I had to report the fact to the Police as the driver refused to exchange details, and this led to opening an insurance claim. I understand that this might cost me money, but I think this is the right thing for protection and to be on the safe side, considering the whole behaviour and attitude of the counterpart. On a separate track, I'm definitely sending a complaint to Virgin/O2 about their driver.
Why submit (and pay for) a V888 form where you could simply contact the company whose name is plastered all over the van? I'm sure they will be interested if one of their vehicles was in a collision, especially if the driver never reported it. Don't go in all confrontational and hurling accusations about the driver. Just start by reporting that one of their vans has collided with your car, and the driver would not provide details, hence you contacting them. Only once that channel is established should you start any complaint about behaviour.
Thanks, I'm reporting to Virgin Media/O2 the facts and then going into the details, with a complaint about the whole behaviour of their employee.
[...] why give so much detail [...]
Concerning the collision, what exactly are you hoping for advice on, and what is your intended outcome?
All the stuff about visitor permits, reporting to management, etc, etc was preceding a question that I actually forgot to ask to the forum in the initial post. Considering that this is now in the hands of the insurers and I can have some other costs, to recover these, do I have grounds to involve, in some ways, Virgin Media and/or the driver itself, Flat 17 landlord, or the block management Company?
Thank you all.
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The OP also hasn’t come back, so it can’t be that important.
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I think you have perfectly highlighted Andy's point. Despite the length of the opening post, we don't even know whether the OP's car was parked at the time.
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The obvious (to me) question, assuming that the other driver was indeed at fault in (or for) the collision, is why give so much detail to paint the other driver in a bad light, but omit any detail of the collision itself. What is the OP trying to hide?
Just annoyed that someone cannot reverse a van?
From the OPs account I presumed that their car was parked, and they've, after the fact, obtained the CCTV footage of it being damaged.
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The OP's voluminous and detailed complaints about matters ancillary to the matter in hand, might potentially help put the other party's involvement in the collision in a less favourable light, were the post to include any details whatsoever about the collision - beyond the borderline evasive "He caused a collision with our car".
The obvious (to me) question, assuming that the other driver was indeed at fault in (or for) the collision, is why give so much detail to paint the other driver in a bad light, but omit any detail of the collision itself. What is the OP trying to hide?
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All the stuff about visitor permits and reporting to management is a load of petty guff and entirely irrelevant as far as a collision is concerned.
Why submit (and pay for) a V888 form where you could simply contact the company whose name is plastered all over the van? I'm sure they will be interested if one of their vehicles was in a collision, especially if the driver never reported it. Don't go in all confrontational and hurling accusations about the driver. Just start by reporting that one of their vans has collided with your car, and the driver would not provide details, hence you contacting them. Only once that channel is established should you start any complaint about behaviour.
And, as mentioned, just let your insurer deal with it.
If your car was parked at the time, then liability is pretty obvious, especially if you have video. It should come back as a no fault claim, and you can claim any excess you incur from the other party.
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Was it substantial damage to your car or just a few little scratches? As others have said, the bulk of you post is sadly irrelevant. Send a complaint to Virgin/02, get their drivers details and let your insurers deal with the rest. Bear in mind you may well have to pay the excess if you claim and your insurers can't get it back from the van's insurance.
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Most of that post was wholly irrelevant. The simple answer is to report it to your insurer and leave it to them to deal with. Job jobbed.
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Point 1 seems largely irrelevant to the main matter.
Concerning the collision, what exactly are you hoping for advice on, and what is your intended outcome?
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Hi, we request your advice on a collision that happened with a Virgin Media/O2 van in the private car park of our block of apartments. Your point of view would be highly appreciated, as me and my wife are shaken after all what happened. This is the story.
1) This Virgin Media/O2 van driver entered the private car park at a speed, without the necessary green visitor badge. Signage is on site and at the entrance of the block. Not sure if he checked what the rules are with the flat owner/tenant he was visiting.
2) He parked initially in the private car park of flat no. 18 and then quickly reversed, still at speed, moving into no. 10 private car park, but all of a sudden he moved up again for the 3rd time to go into no. 4 private car park. None of these car parks had anything to do with him, as he went instead to work in flat no. 17 (we have evidence of this and spoke with the no. 17 tenant). In first instance, he shouldn't have been at all in that area, as he didn't have a green visitor badge and indeed nothing to do with flats 18, 10 and 4.
3) He caused a collision with our car, while carelessly reversing and moving the van from one space to the other for 3 times, without any apparent logic. We have video of the collision, taken from the CCTV system of the apartments block.
4) He argued a lot with my wife, was not cooperative, and at the end of the conversation, he refused exchanging insurance details, including driver's name, the registered keeper's name and their address. We managed to see and therefore obtain only the vehicle registration number. This individual was driving a Virgin Media/O2 Van and wearing the full Company uniform. We asked for these details several times, including his badge number, but he refused. The tenant of flat 17 is a witness of this.
5) He also started recording and even threatened to call the Police on us (not sure for which reason).
6) After over an hour of this incident, the van was still wrongly parked in flat no. 4 private car park (while he was working in flat 17, which doesn't have a private car park) and still without any green visitor badge displayed.
- After all this, I had to report it to our block management company, which should issue the charge of £100 for misuse of the car park, as per signage and block regulations.
- I also had to report the incident to the Police, as this individual refused to exchange insurance details. Police gave me a case number.
- I'm sending a V888 form to DVLA to get the vehicle details of registered keeper, address, etc. For this, I need to obtain first a repair quote from a car body repairer.
- Obviously, I'm preparing the insurance claim, even if the damage is nothing to the van (photos were taken) and just cosmetic damages such as paint transference, scuffs, minor scratches on the rear left corner of our car.
- I'm going to open a very strong case/complaint with Virgin Media/O2. What is concerning is that this unstable individual while I write is still allowed to drive this way and even worse, enter people's homes.
Thanks for your opinions and advice on what to do. We are not "litigators", but this wobbling guy pulled us into all this.
Look forward to hearing from you.