Buzz, Wierd Al, Barracad etc thanks for your help on this. Same goes to all on here that helped me get the right result today.

I Won Just got back from court. An experience I don't really want to repeat as I was representing myself. The defence solicitor was trying to rip my evidence apart, suggesting that I hadn't done anything properly and my case was fundementally flawed. However the judge dismissed the evidence of the postie as he couldn't keep to his 'story' and his version of how he 'delivered' the package was unbeleivable (unless he CAN actually levitate). A good result. I'm pleased its all over after 7 months.

Fair point, but in my humble opinion there is MUCH less criminal activity within Police forces that within the general public, and those that have the wish to monitor and find fault within Police activity would better serve the community at large keeping an eye out for criminal activity and reporting that to Police. In my experience, of incidents I have knowledge of and indeed complaints against myself, no complaint from members of the public about Police behaviour has ever been upheld. All they have done is serve to waste more police time, divert resources and remove officers from front line duties (albeit for a short period of time for most complaints). Then you have the criminals that complain to divert focus away from their activities Lets just say that if a complaint is made then the officer is tradted as guilty until proven innocent. Practically this is not normally possible, as restraining them on the floor it can be quite a pyhsical struggle..... I've had drunken abuse from what appear to be middle class, probably normally level headed people who have seen the tail end of an incident & decided to 'help' the person arrested. They get in the way, demanding that the person is released, film it on their mobile phones getting far too close (when you're wrestling with someone on the floor the last thing you want is an angry mob behind you). And they aren't normally as polite as your wording

The result is back: The cars is a Category C Insurance Loss. Vehicle Extensively Damaged But Repairable -Insurer Decided Not To Repair Recorded as a loss on 06/09/2004 Hope this helps. Edit: The reason it had a new engine would be due to the collision. I expect when they say 'new' engine they actually mean a used engine, as the person that 'repaired' the collision damage didn't do that properly so don't expect them to buy a brand new engine at a cost of around £1500!

Not angry (I don't get angry LOL).... just feeling that justice should be done And as the friend only offered free HPI's the other week, well.... why not?

Has the car been HPI'd. If they didn't supply you with a certificate then do it yourself. I think the RAC online one is best value. That will show when the accident happened (if it went through insurance) & what category of damage it was if it was a write off. In fact... PM me & I'll get one done for free through a friend

Exactly the same thing has happened to me. Guess I wasn't looking in my mirrors often enough Even at 140mph the approaching car should register in the mirror at some point :? I got a dirty look as the traffic car sped off...... that's traffic officers for you LOL On empty motorways they often don't use their lights or sirens as at those speeds lights won't be seen as people don't look in their mirrors and sirens are useless above 60mph anyway as nobody can hear them above road & wind noise.

Thanks George. Most people don't understand what police do & deal with on a daily basis. In most jobs the most confrontational thing people face at work is a slightly peeved boss, and the most dangerous thing a paper cut while photocopying Police work involves dealing with the most nasty, disgusting, violent, drugged, drunk, filthy, infectious and angry people on a daily basis. Its nothing like an office job, and to be honest most people would be shocked by what has to be dealt with. The public expect the police to be there when they call them, and can't understand when they don't turn up in 5 minutes Of course everybody is entitled to a fair and prompt service, but soemtimes some emergencies take precedence over others. For example, someone who has been stabbed takes precedence over someopne who has received a nasty phone call...... but some people don't understand this. They also expect the police to be polite with everyone, so seeing someone pinned on the ground by three police officers, apparently brutally assaulting this person, well that's not on. Some people even try to release the detained person! Possibly this is because its outside their 'world map' and appears to be police brutality, they've never experienced voilence; never been assaulted by a drunken idiot out for a fight and never been in fear of their lives like the victim... It isn't an ordinary 9 to 5 job, and it isn't for everyone as the pressures can be overwhelming...... but it can be the most rewarding job in the world, at times

I can't comment on why this incident happened as I don't know the facts. However it is common practice, when a serious incident has occurred, that all available police units set up 'points' to contain any vehicles that were involved (eg armed robbery). The aim is to contain all routes from the scene that the target vehicle may take. In a serious incident the aim is to get 'on point' before the target vehicle pases, thus achieving containment in the area they are expected to be. While making for the 'point' each unit does not really want to show themselves too much as they may come across the target car. The game would be up if the police unit spotted the target car while on blues & twos and then started to follow them.... even criminals are not that stupid So a fast but low visibility response is required. Its not against the rules, however it should be justifiable. If you want to try pulling over a police car that is breaking the speed limit, then try if you like. The problem will be that you do not have any dispensation to exceed speed limits, and in following the police car at abopve the speed limit you can be prosecuted. You can also be prosecuted for wasting police time if, for example, that unit was responding to an incident and you have hindered that response. Phone up whichever police force it is by all means and complain if you feel like it. This happens all the time. It will be investigated and the officer involved probably interviewed under caution (much the same as a criminal). If they were justified in their manner of driving then there will be no penalty for them. In my case, before I exceed the speed limit or pass through a traffic light at red I always ask myself 'am I justified in doing this' and 'is it safe'. If either is no, then I won't risk my job, pension and a driving conviction just to get to a job a few seconds quicker.

Well, that's up to him & that's why I asked for him to be summonsed. He can purjure himself & risk a prison (althoough unlikely), or tell the truth. Its up to him! I can prove it was, by my evidence, the photos of it in situ as found and by the measurements of the high points of the box being the same as the distance between ther scratches. Absolutely... the practice known as 'doorstepping'. This leaves RM's defence in tatters as in effect the parcel was not actually 'delivered' until I took responsibility for it. So until I actually found it and secured it, taking it into my posession, it remained the responsibility of RM and as such anything that happened to or with that parcel was also their responsibility. This includes it causing damage to my car by unknown means! I believe it is immeterial if the delivery driver denies causing the damage, as RM were responsible for it anyway due to RM still being in constructive posession of the package as it was still in the process of being delivered.

Yes.... Lots of photos before I moved anything. Kept the box too and the scratches are still there. I can even correlate the scratches to the high points on the bottom of the box to prove which way the box was oriented when it was pushed across the bonnet. Evidence is my job

How do you know it was for no reason. Do you know for a fact that they were not responding to an emergency call? Nothing strange there. Police officers work out of police stations..... in fact most spend approxiamtely 50 to 60% of their time there filling out paperwork to do with measuring their lack of performance (due to the levels of paperwork) rather than tackling crime. Why were you annoyed? Was it because you had correctly given way to an emergency vehicle? Or thought it was unfair that they passed you in heavy traffic seemingly in an effort to get home on time? Police often respond to emergency calls. If the first unit to respond is, say, 3 miles from the scene and they are assigned, but then another unit becomes free a few minutes later and is closer, then the initial unit responding may get stood down as the second unit will get there sooner. If a unit is stood down from an emergency call and are no longer attending, then they MUST switch off the emergency warning sirens & lights and resume normal driving, sticking to speed limits and obeying traffic signs. Not doing so can loose the driver their job & face prosecution for dangerous driving etc. Also, police driver training often practice driving on blues through different traffic conditions. On a three week standard car course then the three trainees in the car may be doing this all over the county literally hundreds of times. They also need to take regular breaks, so heading for the station for a tea break is always done after a couple of hours at the wheel. And speaking of blues runs to get a takeaway, all I can say is anyone silly enough to do this deserves to loose their job... as that's what they are risking. Police officers need to eat, like other people. The only difference is that the rest of the population are employed & get a lunch break at a set time, as required by law. Police officers are servants of the Queen and as such are not 'employed'. They are allowed 45 minutes for 'refreshments' but this can only be taken if & when there is a lull in the jobs that need responding to. So, yes, you may see officers in Greggs getting a pastie or at the local Chinese takeaway grabbing some unhealthy food, but spare a thought for those who don't actually get to eat it as they get called away to job after job after job; and if they managed to find time to get food it is long cold & congealed by the time they get back to it.

Well its time for an update. RM put in their defence in time, and so further forms to arrange the hearing and give information to the judge have been sent. A date of 11th March has been set at 1100 hours. Interestingly in their defence RM have stated that their employees are encouraged to report damage to customer's property without fear of repercussions.......and as such the delivery driver/postie could not have caused the damage as he would have, of course, followed procedure and reported it! So, I've requested that this postie attends the hearing to give evidence under oath, and that all his disciplinary records with RM and complaints against him are disclosed. I know he did it, he knows he did it; I just wonder how far he's prepared to go on saying he didn't?? As far as perjury?

I contacted Postwatch and they replied: "If there has been damage to your motor vehicle, then this would be out of our remit and would be dealt with through normal insurance channels." So, no help whatsoever! And Wierd Al, there does not need to be the malice element in criminal damage as it can also be covered by recklessness where they ought to have known that carrying out the action would have resulted in damage... i.e A throws a cricket ball at B, but misses B who is standing in front of a window. The ball hits the window & breaks it. Does A have the capacity to understand that in throwing a cricket ball towards a window there will be a risk that the window will be broken?? In most cases yes, and if not then they will need to prove this. So, I can always go down the criminal damage route if it doesn't get to civil court, however the burden of proof in criminal court is beyond reasonable doubt; whereas in civil matters it is on the balance of probabilities I'm currently happier to find a civil remedy to this problem.

You can certainly help if you work in the complaints department

Its against RM as it was posted first class (but delivered 3 days later!).

Find who he has been selling to on fleabay and contact them. Ask if they have had any problem with him & his goods & if so collect all the info. Then if you have a few people who have been deceived by him contact his local police force and get each aggrieved to register each one as a deception crime. They will then look into it

My partner ordered a toy for our daughter from Amazon, who posted it first class. We went out for a couple of hours on 17/08/07 and returned home to find a note through the door from Royal Mail saying there was a package by the car next to the garage. My partner went to have a look and saw a box dropped between my car and the house wall. I park very tight in there so she came back to tell me she couldn't get it out. I wandered over and to my absolute amazement saw a box thrown in between the car & wall. Then I saw the damage. The idiot of a delivery driver had put the box on the bonnet of my car and slid it across to the other side, scratching the paint all the way across the bonnet in the process Needless to say I was absolutely livid and on the phone straight away giving them a piece of my mind. The guy on the phone couldn't have sounded more disinterested, made some half hearted apology and said fill in a form & get some quotes. So I filled in the claim form & put in 2 quotes from bodywork repair shops, the cost ranging from £250 to £350 for a bonnet respray. I also put in a copy of the order from Amazon, a photocopy of the box itself showing the address & postage label and copies of photos taken at the time before the box was moved. The claims centre wrote back saying that there was nothing they could do as the depot manager had spoken to the driver and the driver said he didn't do it. They also had the gall to suggest that other companies deliver packages too, implying that they didn't deliver it!! I again wrote to them giving them 28 days to reconsider or I would sue them for the £350 plus costs. Again I received a letter saying that they were sorry and that they could do nothing & that their manager had taken a look at the complaint and was in agreement. So, I filed online through moneyclaim. The papers have been served & they have replied that they are going to defend it. So, I have to go to court. I have the car off the road at the moment as I was selling it, but now it is unsaleable until the repairs are completed. I have the box that caused the damage & I have the photos of the box in situ & the damaged caused. I live in a very small cul-de-sac in a far corner where my drive leads to nothing. Nobody comes down the drive other than myself & my neighbour. I was out only 3 hours and the car was undamaged when I left as I had been out in it that morning. While I was in 'negotiations' with the claims people I collected a parcel from the local depot. As I was there I had a word with the manager who had interviewed the driver. He stated that the driver remembered delivering the parcel, but denied scratching the car...... a completely different story than the claim centre had given me. I am from an engineering and now law enforcement background, so taking measurements of the damage and correlating this to the box is no problem. Also giving evidence is no problem. So, where do I stand? Any advice? Regards, RM