Scottish Civil Procedure - Requirement to give accident witness statement

[unicorntears]

My first post here, I think this is probably the best place for it.

 

I witnessed a collision between a pedestrian and a bus around 18 months ago.

I have now been contacted by investigators working for the solicitors for the pedestrian asking me to provide a witness statement in person.

 

 

I gave a statement to the police at the time and subsequently in writing to the bus company,

plus a brief response to the pedestrian's solicitors about a year later.

 

I have no wish to be involved any further, and in particular I have no desire to help the pedestrian and his ambulance chasing solicitors given that the incident was entirely his fault.

 

 

Am I under any obligation to agree to the request to give a statement,

and if I refuse can I be compelled at a later date by a court to give evidence

(the incident happened in Scotland but I live in England).

 

 

The request was hand delivered,

can I tell them not to visit my house again,

and if they do is that considered harassment?

[SuperVillain]

I'm not familiar enough with scottish civil procedure to tell you how it works.

 

In England and Wales you could be served with a witness summons asking for attendance at trial. There could well be something similar in Scotland.

 

Hopefully someone with experience of Scottish Civil Procedure will come along...

[dx100uk]

not unless the sheriffs court demands it

 

and then you can simply state in writing to the clerk that you don't wish too so because xyz reasons.

 

solicitors can do stuff all in demanding you do anything

 

if you wish to write

do so to them and refer them to the statements already given

and that you do not wish to hear from them again.

 

and you could also simply ignore them too.!!

[Surfer01]

In a similar situation as witnessed an accident in Wales between a motorbike and a car.

 

Unfortunately the motorcyclist, a learner was at fault as she lost control due to tramlining and taking the left hand bend wide although within the speed limit and it was the bike that hit the car and not the rider who came off the bike.

 

We did statements at the scene as it happened right in front of us as the cyclist was directly in front of us.

 

Now the police want us to do another statement when we have already given a statement.

 

One of the questions was "who do we think is to blame" which i think is an unfair question taking into account that the motorcyclist was seriously injured.

 

Are we obliged to do another statement as the accident occurred over 150 miles from where we actually live?

[dx100uk]

Why not ring or write a letter and ask