Wednesday 16 June 2010

But Hang On... YOU Crashed Into ME!

It's lovely, my local town. You take a ten minute drive away from my house, up out of a valley and down a long and winding road with stunning views out over green hills and fields, and you're there. It's colourful and interesting with just the right amount of charming and eccentric thrown in. Full of independent shops and local produce, it has a real close-knit community feel to it. The post-office workers ask after your children and the woman who works in the second hand bookshop keeps books back for you that she thinks you'll be interested in.

Down the bottom of town is a row of really lovely (but overpriced) shops - mostly independent and family owned. There is a gorgeous cook-ware shop selling everything from heavy cast iron Le Creuset pans to rows and rows of tiny pots of food colouring pastes in every shade of every colour imaginable. There is a drapers with samples from floor to ceiling of beautiful silks and fabrics (you can hear the sewing machines gently whirring upstairs) and an interiors shop full of locally thrown pottery and hand made furniture. There is also an extravagantly upmarket clothes shop to which people have been known to travel from London when there is a sale on.

Now much as I hate to generalise, there is a certain type of woman can often be seen parking her extremely posh and unnecessarily large vehicle in one of the free parking spaces that lie facing onto both sides of the one way street on which these shops are situated. With her designer sunglasses perched elegantly atop her head and great clouds of perfume wafting in her wake, her entire demeanour screams, "I am expensive!!! My husband works away!!! I win dammit!!!"

Yesterday I had an ill child at home and some essential errands to run, so my next door neighbour kindly let my son snuggle up in his pyjamas on her sofa while I quickly made the trip into town. Driving slowly up the aforementioned one way street, I could see only one empty parking space that had been made impossible to get into due to a woman in a BMW X6 straddling one of the white lines that marked it, essentially taking up two parking spaces. I was anxious to get back to my boy and so in a bit of a hurry, stopped my car, got out, and politely asked the woman in the BMW to please move over slightly so I could pop my car in next to her. I got back into my car intending to reverse it out of the way in order to allow her to re-park, but by this time other cars had driven up behind me, so I was unable to move back untill they had all passed. Obviously annoyed by my effrontery at having asked her to move in the first place, the woman in the BMW then reversed huffily out of the parking bays without looking and, despite my frantic beeping, drove straight into the drivers side of my tiny Clio. Shocked, I drove forwards, stopped further up the hill and got out. The woman and her two passengers had also got out of their vehicle and looked about to walk off in the other direction. I walked quickly towards them. One of them turned to me with a false, spiteful eyed smile and said:

"I see you found somewhere else to park then."
Me: "Um... you've just backed into my car. My driver door's all dented."
Driver: "Well I didn't feel anything"
Me: "But come and look at my car!"
Driver: (walking up the road with her expensive friends to survey the damage, and then asking incredulously) "And that's just happened has it?"
Me: "Yes! I'm not lying for goodness sake. You just backed into me. You know you did. Didn't you hear me beeping?"
Driver: (raising her voice) "Yes, so I stopped. Anyway, you knew I was going to reverse. You didn't move out of the way! Pretty bloody stupid thing to do if you ask me!"
Me: "There were people behind me. I couldn't move out of the way. You would have known that had you been looking, which is what I presumed you would do. Most people tend to before reversing I find."
Drivers friend: (with same false spiteful smile as before) "Well I certainly didn't feel anything either, and for a dent that big I think we probably would have don't you?"

To be honest I was starting to feel a bit out of my depth. Already shaky from having had an (albeit minor) bump, I was now faced with three hostile women who were not only flatly denying what was obviously true, but who were also now openly sneering at both me (I had barely had time to brush my hair that morning) and my slightly grubby, bashed up car (complete with screwed up fruit gum wrappers all over the dash.) In the end the driver reluctantly gave me her details and they walked off, their heels clicking down the pavement, the drivers friend suddenly turning around to administer a parting shot:

"So do you want the details of two witnesses who didn't feel anything happen then?"

It was one of those situations where you think of about a million ways in which you could have handled it better - only about half an hour later. But in that moment as I stood there in the street watching them disappear in a trail of over-dressed nastiness into the clothes boutique, all I could think was:

"But hang on. You crashed into me..."


27 comments:

  1. I really want to use some very bad language here, but I will just call them cows. I hope you can get this sorted out without any hassle, good luck. I am gasping to call them some choice names though!!

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  2. Bitches. Get the police involved right now. I'm serious. There will be paint traces of their car in the dent. It can be proved. I'm serious. Call them right now - don't let these horrible harridans get away with this. I better stop now before I really swear. And tell the police about the attitude of the witnesses too!

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  3. Jen and Steve, Well the story doesn't end there. Afterwards, a man approached me to say that he had seen it happen and would I like to take his details as an independent witness? Then a friend of mine who was walking up the road found me still slightly shaky and took pictures on her mobile phone of the scuff marks on the BMW that showed where it had hit me. She also encouraged me to phone the police, so I did, but they said that because we had exchanged details that the law had been complied with, so it was a civil matter to be sorted out by our insurance companies. I've phoned my insurance company and given them the womans details, so we'll go from there I guess. Thanks for the comments. I couldn't quite believe their behaviour either. Surely the first thing you do if you hit someone is get out and see if they're o.k. and then apologise!

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  4. How utterly, utterly horrible. So glad to hear about the follow-up and the fact you had an independent witness - hope things are sorted quickly by the insurance company.

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  5. Pity the police can't give the woman a talking to for her threatening behaviour - after all they intimated that they'd all gang up and deny it had happened. That's threatening behaviour surely - not to mention perverting the course of justice and all that.

    Where's Gene Hunt when you need him?

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  6. Grrrr. I'm having to seriously restrain my fingers from typing exactly what I think of those nasty bitches. How dare they! I hope your insurance company sorts everything out. Thank goodness for the independent witness. x

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  7. I cannot believe that. That's incredibly horrible!! A lesser person might have accidentally run her keys along her car! But good on you for taking the higher moral ground. I backed into a car in our car park last year and despite the fact no one was around I left my name and number tearfully under the window wipers. They were amazed that I had done so, so I guess it happens a lot. Sigh. I hate that this kind of nasty bitch exists in the world. Poor you. And poor Clio! x

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  8. What thoroughly nasty people they were, lets hope karma deals with them sooner rather than later. Hope the damage to your car isn't too bad. xx

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  9. Always call the police immediately before getting out of your car so idiots that think they are better than you can't treat you that way. I don't know where they get off but I probably would have lost my cool. I know when I get upset like that I am shaking also but I really hate condescending people. I am sorry you had to go through that experience.

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  10. I live in a place I love as well, and that took a VERY long time because of all the phoney "pretend to be"s. I still sometimes pathetically plan my walks, mail collections and errands when I know only the well grounded locals are about. Thanks! I respect your opinion as a smart and savvy blogger and I could only hope to behave as well as you did under the situation.

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  11. Sometimes I have trouble with a prejudice I have for people with lots of money. I tend to dislike them and I try so hard not to. The people who have so much and walk (or drive) all over the people who have not as much. You should write a post on this subject, you are a much better writer than I am.

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  12. How rude is that! Of course they felt it - if you hit the tiniest thing in a car you can hear/feel it. Make sure you get your money's worth from her, it'll probably only be a drop in the ocean to her anyway.
    By the way your village sounds chocolate-box perfect (except for those nasty ladies) x

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  13. What horrible people and what a horrible situation for you. I hope it gets sorted out without too much anguish.

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  14. C-c-c-c-cows. Assuming the daft bint eventually notices her monster truck with rear shock absorbers is actually scuffed too do not let your insurance company go knock-for-knock on this (or is that ancient terminology?!) make sure the c-c-c-c-cow gets full blame. C-c-c-c-c-cow!

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  15. What a trio of witches straight out of a coven! Thank heavens for the independent witness. Don't let them get away with it Gappy!! This is one of the reasons I don't drive. But your town sounds lovely. I could stare at rows and rows of food paste in every colour imaginable all day (I'm weird like that - and you noticed them so you must be weird too). x

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  16. You should have punched the bitches. (Though that might not have helped with getting the woman's insurance information.)

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  17. I'm with Jana lol, I don't think i'd have been able to handle it as calmly as you did, which probably wouldn't have worked in my favour.

    Glad that you're ok and hope it gets sorted quickly.

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  18. Nasty.

    I hope you're all right Gappy and that things are sorted out OK. I used to live in a Cotswold town where this kind of thing used to happen all the time. They deserve what's coming to them...sounds like you've got enough evidence to give to your insurance company.

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  19. What complete cows! I'd have been fuming and quaking at the same time. I hope you manage to get it all sorted quickly.

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  20. I am sure I used to live in the town that you described... ladies with umbrellas for the sunshine and cars that take up entire roads... that always seem to be out during the school run!

    Hope you get it sorted.

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  21. Oh God. How absolutely awful. Hope you're okay.

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  22. Sometimes I'm in a situation where I'd like to bludgeon some people, then I remember that my children are watching me, and I'm always glad later that I never bludgeon anybody.

    How awful. I hope it works out!

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  23. Christ, I felt all shaky for you whilst reading that! I can well imagine being in that position, except i would probably have burst into tears and backed down - I'm such a wuss

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  24. What utterly ghastly women! There is no call for rudeness and intimidation such as that and I hope they get their come uppance soon and with witnesses. I am being extremely polite about it too so pleaase feel free to put in as many Anglo Saxon words where you think they will fit. Urgh!

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  25. Oh my god what a complete and utter bloody bitch, sorry but thats made my blood boil! How can anyone be like that! Have you called the police? Can they do anything? Thats bloody awful! x

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  26. I actually gasped out loud at the awful, awful parting shot from the witch's "witness" friend. As if the rest wasn't already a horrid scene. I can sympathise, we live in a place that sounds very similar (but thnakfully no money flashing here, that's a bit further up the road ;)
    I am so glad you were not confrontational, you handled it brilliantly by the sounds (it doesn't matter if you go to pieces once they're gone as long as you've kept your head in front of the challengers, I say!).

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  27. We call them "Chelsea tractors" back in London. Not the drivers. But the vehicles. Evil bloody witches...

    Really glad you're getting it sorted, tho...

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