Taking written statements from people involved in or witnesses to a road traffic accident was the norm when I was a Traffic Officer. The only time when one was not taken, generally speaking, was when the person refused to make one. This would normally be taken as an admission of some degree of guilt.
About fifty years ago I attended the scene of an accident on a main road in a busy northern town. It was late afternoon in the middle of November and the weather was horrible. Cold, drizzle, dark and not at all nice. I was the second traffic car to attend the accident and had a colleague, Pete, with me. The driver of the other Police car, John, asked me if I could take over dealing with the accident as he was going on leave at the end of his shift and the accident had all the hallmarks of becoming a fatal. An old woman had been knocked off a pedestrian crossing and into the road.
She had been crossing from left to right as I approached the scene and carrying two heavy shopping bags. She was on her way home which was about four hundred yards away, on a small estate of terraced houses.
The car which had hit her was parked on the left hand side of the road about fifty yards away. It was a one year old Nissan Micra, a small two door saloon car. The driver was a young man of 18 years, a mechanic who had been servicing the car that day and was simply doing a road test on it prior to the owner collecting it from the garage where the young man worked. He had left long skid marks on the road, indicating that he was travelling at some considerable speed.
The old woman had been taken to hospital and was undergoing major treatment. At that stage it was felt hat she would not survive and so from the outset I decided that we needed to deal with the accident as though she had already died. What I heard from one of the witnesses at the scene convinced me that the driver would be facing trial at the Crown Court as he appeared to be guilty of dangerous driving, and if the woman did die, then the charge would be Causing Death by Dangerous Driving. Trial by jury.
After taking details of a couple of witnesses to be interviewed later I arranged for the car to be taken to the Police garage where I would go over it with a fine tooth comb later. As we booked back on watch prior to leaving the scene we had a radio message to return to the station where a witness was waiting to speak to us.
When we got there we discovered two deadlegs waiting in the front Enquiry office to see us. I’m not certain who was the more surprised, them or us. It was not often these two minor criminals would voluntarily enter a Police station. Most unusual. Normally shouting and fighting was their usual way. Their story was even more unusual. They had witnessed the accident, had in fact been standing by the side of the road close to the pedestrian crossing and seen everything. They were so appalled by what they saw and the speed of the car as it approached the crossing that they felt compelled to come to the nick and make a written statement. So we took statements from them both, and from what they said it confirmed what I had already thought. The driver was driving far too fast prior to hitting the old woman.
After the statements Pete and I went to the hospital to get an update on the woman's condition. It wasn’t good. Severe head, leg and back injuries. She was in her mid seventies and not likely to last much longer. Her son was in the waiting room. We went to speak to him. He was about mid thirties and a well built man, sporting an ear ring. These days that would not cause any comment. In those days it was very unusual and marked him as a gypsy.
We talked to him and as gently as we could broke the sad news to him. He was a gypsy and lived locally with his mother, his wife and teenage son. Needless to say he was very distraught. As best we were able we tried to give him what solace we could, but it wasn’t easy.
About an hour later the woman died of her injuries. Pete and I went to the address of the driver. His mother came to the door and ushered us inside to confront him. He was sitting on a sofa with his father standing by his side. Before we could say anything the father started to tell us that it wasn’t his sons fault, the old woman ran across the road, and his son would not be making a statement.
After listening to him I turned to the son and asked him how old he was. He told me he was eighteen.
I stood by his side looking down on him and slowly took out my official notebook. I made a note of the time and the address where we were. I then cautioned him and told him he was going to be reported for causing death by dangerous driving. He said nothing, but his father had already given us a good idea what his defence was going to be. The father asked us if we were going to take a statement from his son. “Don’t need one” I said, “I know what happened. Don’t need your son to tell me a pack of lies. He’s going to court. Get him a good solicitor.”
The old woman ran across the road. Yeah sure. Mid seventies, loaded with two heavy shopping bags, and sprinting like Linford Christie. I took his driving licence details and without another word Pete and I left. This guy was not going to get away with this.
Over the following two weeks I interviewed the remaining witnesses and put together a prosecution file for the court.
Four days later the main ringroad around the town was blocked with cars, vans and lorries owned and driven by gypsies from around the north of England. There were over one hundred vehicles. I was on duty that morning and stopped the traffic at one of the junctions to allow the whole procession to pass through. It was very moving.
Several months later I was warned to attend Manchester Crown Court for the hearing. Our Barrister spoke to me before the case started and said he could not understand why the guy was pleading not guilty. The evidence was overwhelming.
We filed into court and the youth was called to the dock. The charge was read to him and he was asked how he pleaded. “Guilty” he replied.
And that was it. Sentenced by the judge and given a bollocking for not having notified the court of his change of plea before all the witnesses had been called. His Barrister got a bollocking as well.
A year later the woman’s son telephoned to speak to me. I went to see him at his home.
He was sat with his teenage son – he was about 13. The lad had been up to some sort of mischief and the gypsy’s son wanted me to put the fear of god into him. So I did.
After, we were talking when the son had been sent to him bedroom. He explained that because of the way I had dealt with him, his mother and his family, he respected me and so felt happy to have me talk to his son.
This gave me a warm glow after what had been an horrific time for him.
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