Accident witness

[country_boy]

Hi
I witnessed an accident this morning where a van pulled out from a parking space straight into the car in front of me. The guy who was hit asked for witnesses and the only other bloke that saw it seems to be in cahoots with the van driver. I gave my details and told them I'd seen it all and no way was the guy in front of me in the wrong. The van driver just didn't see him.
Anyway, hopefully justice will be done but I was just wondering what's the likelihood of me having to go to court as a witness? Cheers

[Buenchico]

You've not mentioned any police involvement, so any legal action is likely to be a civil matter, rather than a criminal one.

Insurance companies sort out large numbers of claims between drivers (who often report completely different versions of the same accident) every day. I'd doubt that more than about one claim in every ten thousand ever reaches court, so the chances of you being asked to give evidence in court are extremely low. You might simply receive a letter, from the car driver's insurers, asking you for a brief statement of the events. It shouldn't require more than a couple of minutes of your time.

Chris

[country_boy]

Thanks Chris, just hope the guy gets a claim sorted. From my experience with trying to claim after being hit by someone, I figured/hoped it'd probably just be a statement/questionnaire/diagram needed from me.

[Breezy23]

Since it may take a while for the man's insurance company to contact you I would recommend that you commit what you remember to paper now. Dates, times, weather, road conditions, etc. It will mean that it is all fresh in your mind, also if it is a road that you regularly use, you have the opportunity of taking a look and including any relevent road markings, turnings, landmarks etc to include on your diagram. If you remember something slightly differently at a later date, it may not fully support the chap whose car was hit and possibly bring doubts as to how accurate your witness statement is.

[mycats]

I saw a car pull right in in front of a huge lorry once, the lorry whacked into the side of the car, poor lorry driver nearly wet himself. I went to him (everone else had gone to the car) to see if he was ok, he was in shock, anyway I stayed and gave my details, told him I saw it and it wasnt his fault.

It was about a month later that an insurance guy came and took a statement from me at home, which I gave, forgot all about it till about a year later and another insurance guy phoned for a statement.

Never had to go to court or anything but can drag on for ages.

On a lighter note, I bumped into the truck driver a few years later in the dancing, I had no clue who he was but he stopped me and said and said thank you :-) so that was nice lol

[duckling98]

the only people u might here from his both their insurances

[country_boy]

Thanks everyone, I will make a note of the finer details - good thinking!