Twatty who clobbered my Beemer on the M25: Part The Third

Just had his father on the line, blaming the whole thing on me.

"You're not allowed to ride between the traffic!"

"Actually, yes, I am."

"No, you're not."

"It was utterly stationary as the police had closed the motorway. Yes,
I am."

"No you're not."

"Yes, I am. Your son is not allowed to get out of his car on the M25."

"He can get out of his car if he wants to."

"No..." (etc etc etc).

Anyway, turns out that yes, the address Twatty gave is indeed vacant
because he'd moved out a while back. I have no idea what his current
address is, and his Dad isn't about to give it. Dad just says car was
insured to that address, and son is covered. We shall see.

"And I don't want you writing to him and hassling him..."

"I wrote to him because the phone number he gave was false."

(Pause)

"Well, I'm sure that was an accident."

It'll be interesting to see what the inscos make of it all. Dad says
Twatty has reported it to his insurers - good news, if so, because it
means he may be covered. I'm adamant that I am allowed to ride between
completely stationary traffic, and that you aren't allowed to get out
of your car and go walkabout on the M25 just because you feel like it.

Isn't there also an offence covering careless opening of car doors?
Any TrafPol bods here?

BMW mirror and pannier bracket replaced now, and bike back in service.

 

He probably won't have informed the DVLA of his change of address then,
which I believe is an offence. His insurance may also be invalidated as
he hasn't informed them.

There must be.

 

Highway Code rule 88 includes...

"Additionally, when filtering in slow-moving traffic, take care and keep
your speed low."

Highway Code rule 271 says...

"You MUST NOT pick up or set down anyone, or walk on a motorway, except
in an emergency. [Laws RTRA sect 17 & MT(E&W)R reg 15]"

 

So advise, and TOG appears to have been heeding it

The OP would appear to be stuffed.

 

Personally I'd go straight to the police at this point. He's
deliberately given false information at the scene of an accident, the
phone could be a mistake/an error in transcription. Giving the wrong
address, there's no defence.

 

This is the correct course of action, in theory.

In practice (and IME in a similar situation) the police will
singularly fail to give even an iota of a shit about it.

 

That seems pretty un-equivocal.

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Sounds like a job for the anti terrorist hotline.

 

DVLA website only states that you must inform them of changes of
address but I'm also pretty positive that it is an offence and the
rules were supposedly being tighened up recently.

 

Even 30 odd years ago a friend was fined for not updating his licence
details. It was tacked on to a whole load of other motoring offences
that he was being prosecuted for and was the least serious.

 

That's shit, but I guess not unexpected, hard to claim the OP was
speeding.

 

Highway Code...

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/TravelAndTransport/Highwaycode/DG_069862

271
You MUST NOT pick up or set down anyone, or walk on a motorway, except
in an emergency.

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/TravelAndTransport/Highwaycode/DG_070304

123
The Driver and the Environment. You MUST NOT leave a parked vehicle
unattended with the engine running or leave a vehicle engine running
unnecessarily while that vehicle is stationary on a public road.



I'm sure there's one about letting passengers open their doors into
the flow of traffic but I can't find it.

 

when I was knocked off my (subsequently written-off) Bandit 1200, the
driver of the car gave a false address, and also turned out to be
uninsured - the police couldn't have cared less.

 

A quote from the introduction of the HC. It's advice, not law. Some
advice is based on law but usually the code itself is not enforcable.



"Many of the rules in the Code are legal requirements, and if you
disobey these rules you are committing a criminal offence. You may be
fined, given penalty points on your licence or be disqualified from
driving. In the most serious cases you may be sent to prison. Such
rules are identified by the use of the words ‘MUST/MUST NOT’. In
addition, the rule includes an abbreviated reference to the
legislation which creates the offence. An explanation of the
abbreviations can be found in 'The road user and the law'.

Although failure to comply with the other rules of the Code will not,
in itself, cause a person to be prosecuted, The Highway Code may be
used in evidence in any court proceedings under the Traffic Acts (see
'The road user and the law') to establish liability. This includes
rules which use advisory wording such as ‘should/should not’ or ‘do/do
not’."


--
His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI
Bishop of Rome
Vicar of Jesus Christ
Successor of the Prince of the Apostles
Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church
Primate of Italy
Archbishop and Metropolitan of the Roman province
Sovereign of the State of the Vatican City
Servant of the Servants of God

 

What's your point? As you quoted in the bit I've snipped, anything
with "MUST NOT" is a paraphrase of Road Traffic Law. And the two
quotes I gave above include "MUST NOT" in them. Otherwise I wouldn't
have bothered.

 

Went to the police the day it happened.

 

I am? Shorely you mean him?

<Thinks>

Ah. OP means 'other party' in this context, right? Sorted.

 

TOG will just point to the very minor damage on the bike and say:
"Does that look like anything other than a very low-speed impact?"

 

Unless they claim an accident that completely stops the motorway counts as
an emergency. I'd have thought that was enough to introduce sufficient
doubt.

 

I was thinking that. When the traffic has been stationary a long time
people would need to leave the vehicle to (for instance) pee. I expect
there is some provision somewhere. I think opening the door without due
care is the key aspect. Fingers crossed plod prosecutes.