Hit and Run .... actually you don't need to bother running

6.30 on a February morning this year, the car I co-own is tidily parked in a bay near its co-owner's flat.
THWUMP - a 236 bus hits it on the wing.
The driver swings out of his cab, looks, accelerates away.
Two figures on the pavement step forward; yells of 'Oi stop!'.... ignored.
They write down their names and details- both are eminently respectable citizens on their way to work as a local tradesman and a manageress --and attach the note to our windscreen.
Next to the wing mirror trailing by its cables across the scratched bodywork.
The case is reported, the car gets £263 garage work.

Straightforward, no?

No. This is Hackney.

It took pressure by a solicitor we had to employ to even get the police to LOCATE the driver over two months later. They had initially told us he could not be found.
So they find him, and eventually pay him a visit.
Guess what? they have dropped the case, because.....

'Mr Jerry Omango of 23 Lea Hall Garden, E10 7AW
denied the charge.'

To support this decision they also visited the witnesses to verify that as they only gave a basic description of the man they would 'probably not be able to identify him again in court'. And that they were 'unwilling to appear in court' (against the police decision not to pursue the case).

§ I've written for the second time to my (labour) MP this morning. Her first response merely echoed the police report that 'unfortunately the driver could not be located'. §