The heart(less) surgeon?

[Grafton]

To the cardiothoracic surgeon who smashed into our car just before Christmas,

I hope the emergency surgery you were rushing off to perform went ok. It must have been difficult for you not to stop at the scene of the accident but I know you wouldn't have left our three young children screaming in our smashed vehicle at the intersection of Dulwich Common and College Road unless your patient was perilously ill.

In fact, I suspect that the reason you ploughed into the back of our stationary Audi estate at speed, almost propelling it into the path of oncoming vehicles by the sheer force of impact, was because your mind was consumed by the complexity of the tricky surgical procedure you were about to scrub in for. Open heart, was it?

Cynics have suggested that I'm wrong in my assumption that you're a surgeon. They say that the reason you sped off in your stoved in silver Smart car when approached to exchange details was because you were either over the blood alcohol limit or you were driving without a licence, without insurance or without a moral compass. They, cynics that they are, say you did a runner to save your own skin.

But I'm no cynic. I bet that since finishing up in that operating theatre, you have spent every waking moment trying to track us down to repair our car and to check on the welfare of our children. They're fine, by the way. Their little necks hardly hurt at all any more. And they've almost entirely stopped sobbing hysterically every time the car slows into a designated right turning lane.

My deepest regret in your not stopping, though, is that I never got to meet such a remarkable, selfless human being who so evidently holds the power of life and death in her hands. I am right, aren't I? You were racing off to save a life with your scalpel rather than potentially taking four with your steering wheel??Because you're not the sort of woman who flees the scene of an accident after ramming a car full of people and causing thousands of pounds of damage... are you??

Hope you're having a happy new year.

All the best.

[northlondoner]

Yikes. No CCTV to get number plate? Check if the schools had any road-directed cameras . Hope kids are ok.

[LadyDeliah]

Smart Car and thousands of pounds worth of damage are hard for me to reconcile, seeing as they look like soft drink cans!

Love the way you dealt with it though in your post and hope you find the guy who did it.

[Help-Ma-Boab]

LD, was a woman by the post, time to find oot a surgeon, in a smart car, going to operate, a cardiothoratic surgeoan at that, guess not many hozzy that far that have that expertise. No numberplate, regardless they are in shock. Kings mibees?

ETA: I see now it was a ruse. The story was blah, blah etc. Sorry misread. Im no Bergerac but had that figured oot!

[Huguenot]

They sped off as you were approaching them for insurance details?

Surely you'd have remembered the plate?

Did you not call the police? They'd have had plenty of cameras that would have picked up a stoved in Smart Car?

[Grafton]

Thanks for the replies. Really appreciate it. But by way of answering some of the queries/suggestions:

Everyone is fine now;

There is no CCTV at that intersection;

No, we don't have the licence plate of the Smart car. The immediate concern was for the children, then - for a little while at least - for the driver of the other car, then for the traffic on that busy junction. The accident happened at 5pm on a Tuesday night on the South Circular. You might be able to imagine the scene. Even witnesses who stopped to express their concern - and their disgust - didn't catch the plate as the woman scarpered.

The cost all adds up when you take into account a new rear bumper, rear spoiler, chrome strip for the tailgate, dent in the tailgate and back left panel, new rear passenger-side tyre, and repairs to the exhaust system plus labour, paint and materials. Even if it was just a Smart car, the speed of the impact made all the difference. If the engines in Smart cars were in the front then she'd have been stranded, but they're not. And she wasn't.

The police don't have the resources to deal with more serious crimes never mind something like criminal damage and leaving the scene of an accident. I've been down to the station three times, rung them three times about it, and filled in all their forms. They just clearly have more important things to do, quite understandably in the circumstances. And, besides, they say: this happens all the time.

Which is why I've turned to you guys. Someone - other than the woman herself - knows who did this. Someone lives in her street and has seen her smashed up Smart car, irrespective of the tale she's probably concocted to explain the damage. Someone in an automotive body shop may have repaired it. Or? or? or...

If some girl called Julia can use the powerful tool of social media to track down some guy called Martin she met one night in a club in Spain, then surely someone out there has some information that might help us?

[Huguenot]

I really hope you get her.

A lot of the Smart Cars in S London used to come from the Surrey Smart Car Centre in Purley.

I'm guessing that if it was proper smashed up she'd have needed to take it to a specialist rather than a panel beater, so they might be a good place to start?

There's only 7 centres that could do a major service in South London:

smart Croydon

smart Stratford (Aftersales only)

smart Brentford

smart Epsom (Aftersales only)

smart Dartford (Aftersales only)

smart Colindale

smart Loughton

A totalled car coming in over the Christmas holiday with probably a few major parts to order would be hard to forget?

One of the managers might get a bit jobsworth about telling you, but I'm guessing a family man mechanic might be more forthcoming if you approached him casually first and explained your predicament?

The maximum penalty for failing to stop after an accident is 5 ? 10 penalty points, a fine of up to ?5000 and a driving ban at the discretion of the court.

You'd also get damages.

You can make her really regret this ;-)

[Grafton]

Thanks, Huguenot. Good thought. I've been told by a few body repair shops that I'm going to run into data protection issues but, as you say, perhaps someone will be sympathetic. Who knows?

I don't feel particularly vengeful about the whole matter, though. Mostly, I just feel disappointed and disillusioned. All I want is for the woman who caused the accident to take responsibility for her actions, pay for the repairs to our car, and, if she means it, apologise for the fear, shock, osteopathy sessions, etc. And, of course, for the whole disappearing act.

I occasionally write the kind of letter that began this post because I find it cathartic to try to turn negative feelings into something vaguely amusing or entertaining. The anger, resentment, irritation or whatever emotion tends to dissipate in the process.

For all that, though, I can't understand anyone running away from his or her moral duty. Not very long ago I scraped the front of someone's car while I was leaving a parking space to go on the school run. I waited as long as I could but the owner didn't return. I pulled a used envelope out of my handbag and wrote on it with one of the kids' crayons. In my scrawled note, I apologised, and gave my name and telephone number because I wanted to fix the damage. The other owner texted not long later in a laughing manner, saying not to worry, that it was just a paint mark and rubbed off easily. That's merely the most recent example of several more serious incidents.

People say that what goes around comes around, but I've never found that to be the case.

Sigh.

[northlondoner]

Grafton you sound Luke a terrific person. Hope this doesn't make you too cynical - I'm sure it won't.

[DJKillaQueen]

H's suggestion is a good one and maybe the Police can be pursuaded to pursue that at least.