A Leeds taxi driver is “angry" with the police for not being 'helpful' after his car was hit by another driver while his family were in the car.
The father-of-six had parked up outside Osmondthorpe Convenience Store, leaving his wife and four-year-old son inside while he went to pray at a nearby mosque. A van smashed into the side of his car, giving the pair inside a nasty shock and an ugly scrape along the rear left side.
Mohammad Aslam Daqeeq is unhappy with West Yorkshire Police for not being more helpful, urging them to access nearby CCTV footage to find the vehicle registration plate. He now faces either £500 bill for the repairs or high charges from his insurance company and losing his no-claims bonus.
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Mohammad’s Toyota Verso was hit by a pickup van in Osmondthorpe Lane on Friday, June 3 at 1.34pm, and he desperately trying to track down the driver.
Mohammad, 38, who's based in Selby, said: “I had my wife and kid in the car. When they hit the car, my son fell down as he was standing. My wife came out of the car but she couldn’t see the registration plate. That van was driving very fast.
“They didn’t feel good at all. It was such a shock.”
Mohammad said that he hasn’t prayed since, saying that he was “angry with God” about what happened. He said: “I was inside the mosque praying at that time. When I came out from praying, I saw my wife who told me what happened.
“I came to my car and I was like ‘What?! What is this?!’ I did not feel good at all.
“To be honest with you, I have not prayed at all since that time. I am angry with God as well, I went into the mosque to pray and this happened to me."
The 38-year-old was able to acquire CCTV footage of the pickup van as it passed his car but the footage shows only the side of the vehicle and not its number plates. He’s unhappy West Yorkshire Police won’t request access to CCTV further down the road at an angle that shows the number plate.
Mohammad said: “Why did he run? He could just give me his insurance details and then he could go. He shouldn’t be driving like this, that fast, he could have hit someone else.
“The police should help me find the registration number, there are many cameras. Why are they not helping me? It’s not going to take them hours to do it, there are about a thousands of cameras everywhere.”
He’s saying on top of the damage and his wife and son’s distress, his insurance company is now also going to charge him because he doesn’t have the van’s registration.
He said: “My insurance is telling me that I am going to have to pay for access charge to my car and they are not going to give me courtesy car as I can’t give them the driver’s registration number. It’s not fair.”
West Yorkshire Police has been asked for a comment. On the police's Frequently Asked Question (FAQ) page, it says: "If you did not manage to note down the registration of the vehicle then you can still report the accident to the police but unfortunately there are no further enquiries that can be made.
"However, if the vehicle had an identifying mark on it, a company logo for example, then it may be that the vehicle driver can be traced."
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