Free Traffic Legal Advice

Hi I'm hoping you can help me. My mother is 70 and last week was reported 'by a neighbour' of the car owner saying shed reversed into a car when doing a turn in the road and drove off. She had two dogs in the car barking but didn't feel any bump and rather than drive off, she was heading to a walk nearby - this all occurred on her own housing estate (round the corner from her own home) - she had gone down the wrong road so reversed to turn back to the correct one.

Apparently she was reported for a hit and run by this car owners 'neighbour' however she parked up about 400 yards from where it supposedly happened to go for her dog walk. When she returned to the car the police were there.

FYI her car has damage on it already on the front and back from over the last 10+ years she's had it and not known where to get it sorted - she let her ex partner drive it and he hit a wall by her house a few times and she scratched it with a trolley just so you are aware she has damage on her panels prior to this. The police questioned her and made her do a breathalyser which came out 0 reading - presumably this is because she slurs since having a minor stroke last year that she was signed off from by the doctor. She explained that she had TIA's last year that they think might have been less transient given the permanence of her slur but doesn't drink and drive. She said she didn't believe she had had an accident however her dogs were very noisy so it would have been hard to hear anything, although she didn't feel a tap of any kind.

The police have issued her with the above titled assessment saying she has a choice between paying £175 and attending a 'fitness to drive assessment', or going to court for 'driving without due care and attention'. It says 'on the evidence available to me i believe that you MAY have committed an offence contrary to section 3 of the Road Traffic Act 1988. i consider it appropriate to offer you the opportunity to'....'or attend magistrates court...' It then goes on to say that the assessor may decide she isn't fit to drive and refer this to the dvla for review. It sounds like court is the better option here for points just in case her nerves flop it or they assume the slur makes her seem less competent than she is??!

IF she did knock the car parked up because she didn't see it in her blind spot i don't believe someone was armed with a camera at the ready first of all for any evidence to be available (i'd like to see it to be convinced she did actually knock the vehicle, although she did say she reversed out the road opposite to where they live and why would they call the police otherwise). The police didn't even see her in her vehicle at any time - they drove off before she climbed back in and she wasn't in it when she arrived as she was still walking, so on what grounds do they have to issue this like she has done something wrong based on assumption? I have a ding on my car, i cant just point at a random car and say 'yeh they did it' and expect anything to happen.

I met with the couple who's son owns the car . I didn't deny she had hit the parked car (directly opposite the road) i just asked what the situation was. i have images of the road from all angles and the damage to the car - there is a scrape on the front bumper (minor which would T cut out plus two chips and a little scratch to the headlight plastic which would be consistent with a reverse bump really) but more damage to the side of the car which she could only have done if she reversed back and forth at speed hitting it from various angles - I recorded the damage and stated that the side could not have been done by her reversing and asked if it was already there - the son admitted that was old damage on camera which i have footage for on my phone. The husband was very aggressive towards me and did not like that the son admitted to the damage already being there. We offered to pay for the front bumper damage but they have gone through the insurance so I have issued all picture evidence along with a statement clearly stating we did not believe mum had damaged the car although it was possible on the front bumper however it was not viable on the rest of the car and the video evidence uploaded shows the son admitting it is old damage. They are claiming for the full damage it seems to all areas so i feel like they are chancers.

I would not let my mum drive for her own safety if she wasn't competent, she has a full license with no points or claims until now. Where do we stand? I don't understand how the police can issue this on a randomers say so without seeing her drive/video evidence. I feel that she's being unfairly scrutinised for admitting she had TIA's and a stoke last year, but she has been seen by specialists and signed off with no issues bar cholesterol meds etc. She has been on diazepam since she was 15 on 1 a day supply but hadn't had any that day). It may be wise to add that she was taken off a medication some weeks ago that stopped vertigo (she had this at the start of the year and didn't drive at all during this time) - the doctor said it can make you a little dizzy coming off them, but she said she felt fine and she was not advised to avoid driving. I also rely on mum to let my dogs out whilst i work long days.

Google says that they normally issue points and a fine on the road side, why would they expect a court appearance - I'm really confused by all of this and my mum won't question authority so if they say she's guilty she nods so i want to make sure she is okay.

Regarding the police action, all you can do for now is wait and see what steps they take and what you receive from them or the courts. What they said at the time isn't worth the paper it wasn't written on, so whether it's an assessment, a fixed penalty, court or even 'no further action' is anyone's guess right now.

Being in the group of "over 70" drivers who still drives buses for a living, I have to have an annual medical.There's some of us who are still "all there" and others who aren't but don't realise it. A word of advice to everyone, these days if you have an accident, no matter how small it is, report it to your insurance and in some police areas they have a web page you can do so straight away . You can do it online. If your neighbour has left it a while before reporting it it lessens their chance of a succesful claim.

Try not to worry about the outcome, let the insurance deal with the matter, they have specialists who can spot a fraudulent claim from afar. Wait to see if your mother has any correspondence from the police. they usually take the easy was out by offering th wrinkly version of the speed awareness course as opposed to gong to court. You may well win at court.