What the law requires
Under the Road Traffic Act 1988, you must stop after any accident and exchange your name and address and the vehicle’s registration number. These are the minimum legal requirements. In practice, you need considerably more to make a claim.
What you should collect from the other driver
- Full name and home address
- Vehicle registration number
- Make, model and colour of their vehicle
- Name of their insurance company
- Their policy number, if they have it to hand
- Their phone number
Photographs to take at the scene
Photograph everything before any vehicle is moved. A photograph taken after a vehicle has been repositioned may misrepresent what happened.
- Both vehicles from multiple angles
- The point of impact on each vehicle, close up
- The position of both vehicles in the road
- Skid marks, debris, or anything displaced in the road
- The wider scene: road layout, junctions, signs, road markings, visibility conditions
- The other driver’s documents, if they agree
Witnesses
If anyone nearby saw the accident, ask for their name and contact number. A witness account from someone with no interest in the outcome can be decisive in a disputed liability case where it is one driver’s word against the other’s.
If they refuse to give their details
Failure to stop and exchange details after an accident is a criminal offence under the Road Traffic Act 1988. If the other driver refuses, note their registration number and call the police. The police can trace the registered keeper from the plate.
If they cannot produce insurance documents
Drivers are not legally required to carry their insurance documents, but they must give you their insurance details. If they cannot or will not, note their registration and ask them to produce their certificate of insurance at a police station within seven days. Report it to the police in the meantime.