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@Wannabe
Just to add to these comments... Like cliveo, I'm lawyer, and I can say that this is VERY sound advice to get an investigation moving properly. I prosecute, and I have to chase police officers on a regular basis, phone their inspectors / sergeants, threaten to drop the case, etc. etc. if they don't get off their arses and get the evidence I need.
Hassle them until they get it right. Civil cases certainly help financially, and specialist firms with links to CTC are an excellent starting point.
Something else people don't often realise -- opening a car door so as to injure OR endanger any person is a criminal offence. How many times have we all had to swerve round some dippy cow who hasn't checked her mirror / blind spot before swinging open the door on her 4x4? Usually right in front of a following vehicle, without time for livesaver checks. I recently prosecuted a guy down in Portsmouth who opened his car door without looking, straight into the neck of a passing cyclist, who was in his naval whites, on his way to work. The sailor was extremely lucky, and is still walking, despite the fracture to his neck.
That's a really bad example, but it's an offence to ENDANGER, not just injure, so if someone does something that really takes teh piss, tell the cops. Be prepared for them to tell you it isn't a crime, but cite the following and shock them with knowledge!
Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1986
Regulation 105,
No person shall open, or cause or permit to be opened, any door of a
vehicle on a road so as to injure or endanger any person.
Road Traffic Act 1988, Section 42 makes contravening the above regulation an offence.
Top thread, v useful. I'd be glad to volunteer myself as resident criminal lawyer for the board!