Caterham mother's anger after police blunder means crash driver she tracked down will not be punished
A MUM of four says she is disgusted after a crime she helped investigate went unpunished thanks to a police blunder.
Police initially told Lisa Pacey, 38, a catering assistant at St Bede's School in Redhill, that it would be too difficult to track down the driver who hit her car, causing £700 worth of damage.
Undeterred, she set about finding the evidence for them.
She was later told the alleged driver would be prosecuted after all – for failing to stop, failing to report an accident, and driving without due care and attention. But the police failed to send out a summons, and now the six-month deadline to start proceedings has passed.
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"I think the whole thing is disgusting, from start to finish," said Mrs Pacey, from Caterham.
"I am a law-abiding citizen that has done everything by the law and the person who hasn't is walking around scot-free. It just doesn't seem right."
The bumper of Mrs Pacey's Volkswagen Passat was left hanging off and the bodywork scratched following the incident outside the school in Carlton Road on January 30.
Mrs Pacey said she asked the police to pick up CCTV from St Bede's to identify the driver, which they did.
"They said it appeared the driver had touched my car, but that it wasn't clear," she added.
"But it was clear as anything – my whole car shook, you could see her hit the back of it.
"They also said that she was a delivery driver but that it was a huge company with too many dockets to check."
So Mrs Pacey tracked down the delivery docket from the school, herself, and found a tracking order reference number which she forwarded to police.
"If I hadn't pushed it, and argued that this information could be found, nothing would have happened," she said. "Why should I have had to do all this work, for it to be thrown away?"
After enquiring about the status of the case last week, Mrs Pacey was sent an apology by the police, to say that a mistake had been made by a member of staff, and the summons was never sent to the other driver.
"I am so angry," she added.
"I have had to pay out £700. It should have gone to court and justice should have been done."
Surrey Police were unable to discuss the specifics of Mrs Pacey's case.
A spokesman said: "A complaint has been received by the Professional Standards Department at Surrey Police and the matter is being thoroughly investigated.
"The complainant will be informed of the outcome in due course and it would be inappropriate to comment further at this time."
Comments
by CroydonLife
Tuesday, August 28 2012, 5:12PM
“Totally unacceptable. Today I reported a murderous lorry driver who was following a car so closely, the driver couldn't see the number plate on the lorry. And he was lurching closer, to initimidate. He wanted the car driver to exceed the 30mph speed limit. When the car passed a 40mph sign and speeded up to 40, the lorry driver was seen clapping - both hands off his steering wheel.
I called the police and they said they couldn't actually do anything without an independent witness statement. I said I recorded it on video - surely that is all the evidence you need? My video shows him illegally undertaking the car, using a cycle lane and a hatched area, then making gestures out of his window, jeering, and filming back on his mobile 'phone, looking backwards at the car instead of driving his large lorry, loaded with scaffolding, which would have caused fatalities if it had hit anything.
But the police have nowhere for people to send video evidence of crimes and are not interested in seeing it. Why? Because it would give them some WORK TO DO? They are worse than useless. Anything to avoid catching criminals and solving crimes.”
by oxtedjames
Monday, August 20 2012, 2:02PM
“So basically the driver is off the hook? Why are there so many rules favouring the criminal.”