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Chris
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06-12-2015, 11:06 AM

Foreign Drivers

A couple of days ago we were involved in a minor accident.

Two lanes at the lights. We were in the right hand lane to turn right, a lorry came alongside in the left hand lane to go straight on. When the lights changed, the lorry set off and veered over into the right hand lane as he went, taking with him our wing mirror (six month old car and fuming).

We banged the horn, flashed the lights, the lorry carried on. We had to follow him four miles (flashing lights and banging horn all the way) to where he was delivering.

The lorry had Netherlands plates, a Netherlands company on the back and another company name on the side.

The driver was Polish and said he couldn't speak English and refused to give his details. We 'phoned the police, they wouldn't come out or give a crime number despite telling them all the details including the fail to stop and refusal of information.

Neither company named on the vehicle will take responsibility and our insurers have advised that they are unlikely to get them to accept responsibility so, in effect, we are left with the £179 to fix it.

Be aware people, our insurers have said that this is happening on a regular basis and it's highly likely that if you go through insurance, it will hit your own no claims
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Trouble
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06-12-2015, 11:31 AM
Well Long vehicles need both lanes to turn but they can't take you out in the process. I had a similar incident with a Bus Back in May, He just drove straight into the side of me doing over 5 Grands worth of damage. My car is fixed after much arguing with my insurer but the claim is ongoing. The Bus has cctv which they say provides conclusive proof I ventured over the white line. The assessor at my insurer looked at the photo's and agreed. I went mental and demanded to see the photo's, the white line to which they all refer is in fact a Stainless steel running bar attached to the side of my car. I'm shocked at how easily my insurer initially accepted it was my fault, whoever looked at the photo's needs to go to Specsavers. They have now instructed a Solicitor to issue legal proceedings against the Bus Company.
I'm thoroughly disillusioned with my Insurers who I've been with for about a decade, I have protected no claims for this very reason. The stress of trying to deal with this claim has been off the scale, Is it really so unreasonable to expect your insurer to look after your interests?
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gordon mac
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06-12-2015, 11:39 AM
You have my full sympathy Chris, this is neither right nor fair. Have you kicked up a fuss with the police for I feel sure they have a responsibility to attend, as this "leaving the scene of an accident" is as far as I am aware, a serious matter in their eyes.
Nowadays we don't travel as much as we used to on our roads, but in Summer and early Autumn we attend lurcher shows all over the UK and in this small amount of travel I have seen some truly horrendous driving from drivers of vehicles with foreign logos and registration plates. Also sadly some from british drivers as well.
Your warning is timely and appropriate, but it does beggar the question as to what you can do when as you say the vehicle came veering over into your lane and trashed your wing mirror. Sadly many of our roads are so narrow that getting out of the way (which in truth is something one shouldn't have to do) is not possible.
Perhaps if we stepped up controls over who comes rampaging around our roads from over on the continent it might have some effect. Though having little knowledge of these matters I am at a loss as to how this could be acheived.
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Trouble
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06-12-2015, 11:41 AM
Sorry Chris I went off on one there but everyone always denies liability, Whoever owns the cab of the lorry is the one who should be pursued, they are being paid to transport the trailer and have employed the driver, no doubt through an agency. It's not our responsibility to pursue the culprit, it's what we pay insurance for. I'd go back to the insurer and insist they take action.
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galty
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06-12-2015, 11:55 AM
In future just say to the police "I think hes got a gun"
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Chris
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06-12-2015, 12:06 PM
The lorry wasn't turning right, he was going straight on. He came up on us. As soon as the police heard foreign driver, foreign lorry - no go (even though it got quite heated on the 'phone)

From what we have gathered, the place where the goods were delivered contracted the services of a company in the Netherlands who subcontracted to another company in the Netherlands who subcontracted to a company in Poland. The two companies in the Netherlands won't have anything to do with it and the Polish company won't come back to us with insurance details.

It could have been so much worse. His mudguards were black rubber and we had rubber marks all the way along the side of the car.

Be careful on the roads. Give foreign vehicles an extra-wide berth if at all possible.
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Trouble
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06-12-2015, 12:13 PM
Well I would assume the owner of the vehicle is traceable by the vehicles registration, just like we are. Whoever sub-contacted to who is totally irrelevant, it's the vehicle that should be pursued by the insurers.
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chlosmum
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06-12-2015, 12:31 PM
If it's any consolation the UK isn't the only country that suffers from irresponsible foreign drivers.

The main highway to my nearest city, some 50 miles from where I live is also the main route to and from Slovakia and Poland. By and large Hungarian drivers are considerate, keep within the speed limits and obey the road rules which is more than can be said for their Slovakian and Polish counterparts!

Apart from the trucks and trailers that use the road year round, every summer we have an influx of Polish holiday makers, so many that I sometimes think Poland is empty of cars! They seem to prefer to drive at high speed in conveys of 2 or 3 cars at a time, with no regard for the speed limit. I've lost count of the number of times I've seen overtaking on the brow of a hill or a solid white line or on a blind bend.

The last time I drove to the city. if I hadn't slammed my breaks on I would have been hit by a car coming in the opposite direction overtaking half a dozen cars with no room to pull in between them. Similarly, I've nearly been side swiped by speeding trucks who seem determined to push any car in their way off the road!

The police in this country are very hard on Hungarian drivers who break the road rules. You normally get a heavy fine and at least a 3 month driving ban, but how they deal with foreign drivers I've no idea, but can only presume because of the paperwork involved foreign drivers get off lighter!
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Azz
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06-12-2015, 01:37 PM
What a pain Chris - brand new car too!!

Did you see the news story about the lorry slamming into a driver 'on purpose' recently? The police didn't come out for 4 hours or something

Driver recorded it on his dash cam..

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england...shire-34933347
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plantman
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06-12-2015, 03:12 PM
The police are unvariably too busy these days, but busy with what I'm not quite sure. A few years ago my industrial unit was broken into overnight and around £60k's worth of plant, tools and vehicles had been stolen. I reported the theft at 6.45am and a patrol car finally arrived at 1.15pm. The only guy they ever connected to the crime had bought one of the mini excavators from a bloke in a pub for cash and wasn't even charged with receiving.

No point calling them these days really, unless someone calls you an un-pc name of course, or am I becoming cynical.......
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