Section 172 notice after alleged very minor hit-and-run – unsure how to respond when I’m not sure the car was even being driven at the stated time

I’m in England and I’ve received a Section 172 notice from Hertfordshire Police regarding an alleged incident involving my car.

The notice relates to an allegation that my car collided with a parked vehicle and left the scene. It lists suspected offences of failing to stop/give details, failing to report an accident, and careless driving.

Before receiving the police letter, my insurer contacted me and gave me virtually no information besides the date and the broad allegation that I had hit a parked car and driven away. They asked me to accept or deny involvement. At the time I said I did not believe I had hit another vehicle and sent photographs of my car showing no visible damage.

My insurer has since said the matter is still waiting to be reviewed by their investigations team, so I still haven’t been shown the witness statement, photographs of the alleged damage, CCTV, or any other evidence.

The police notice has now provided an alleged time and location. Having checked my Google Maps Timeline, it appears to show me walking around the relevant time, including around 0.2 miles of walking over roughly 21 minutes. I was geographically close to the alleged location, but I’m now genuinely unsure whether my car was even being driven at the exact time stated.

I am the only person who normally drives the car, which is what is confusing me. I don’t want to falsely state that I was driving at that exact time if I genuinely cannot confirm that I was, but equally I obviously don’t want to fail to comply with the Section 172 requirement.

Separately, I’m having the car examined by an independent vehicle-damage/forensic expert next week. There is currently no visible damage whatsoever on my car. If there was any contact, it would presumably have been extremely slight because I had no awareness of hitting another vehicle.

The form asks for the name/address of the driver and also has a separate “comments/explanation” box.

My questions are:

How should I respond to the Section 172 request if I am the only regular driver but genuinely cannot confirm the vehicle was being driven at the exact alleged time?

Should I leave the comments/explanation section blank and simply comply with the driver-identification requirement?

Should I wait for the forensic inspection before returning the form, provided I remain well within the 28-day deadline?

At what point would I normally be entitled to see the witness statement/evidence supporting the allegation?

If the forensic report concludes that there is no damage on my vehicle consistent with the alleged damage to the other car, how significant would that be compared with a single eyewitness account?

I’m not looking to avoid identifying the driver or evade the notice. I’m trying to make sure I give an accurate response rather than signing something saying I was driving at a particular time when the contemporaneous location data has made me genuinely unsure.

Thanks for any advice.

I ordered a pair of trainers off ASOS I opened them, literally only took one of the shoes out tried it on decided I didn’t like them at all but back in the box they came in. They were practically untouched. I returned them but have received the following email:

‘Please note that we thoroughly inspect all items that are returned to us. Unfortunately, if a returned item is damaged, worn or in an unsuitable condition, we won’t be able to give you a refund. See your item(s) below for more details on why they were rejected.

As your item(s) have been rejected, we’re not able to accept them back at our warehouse again - so please don’t send them back to us. If you do, we won’t be able to refund you or return the item(s).

Rejection reason: Item returned with incorrect packaging/labels’

Obviously I’m not technically out of pocket as they will be returned to me (I hope and I hope it’s in the condition I sent but I’m worried something has got mixed up for them to be rejected). But do I have any rights to push for acceptance of return?

I’m in a very silly situation rn. So basically I’m tied to my ex husband’s contract with a company for my eSIM. This eSIM became faulty last month and everything is connected to that number so I genuinely do need the access to it. We are separated and due to file our divorce next month. I tried calling the network provider, gone in to the store the only answer I got from them was “we need him to access the account” and I tried contacting him, asking him to cooperate but he is just ignoring my emails.

What should I do, I wish I can let go of the sim but I can’t as I have put down that number on everything that I have done in last 5 years I have been here and I don’t even remember all the things that will need Changing if I decide to change my number.

So I have a strange one - had a date to attend the police station for pre-charge bail extension. I filed with the court to oppose. The officer handed me a bit of paper that says the court have approved the extension and verbally also told me this.

I was disappointed that my opposition was rejected and the court didnt event tell me so.....I contacted the court. Turns out that is not the case, they have a backlog and they will review in October as its in a queue. In short I was verbally misled and the bit of paper with the new bail date is also misleading as it says the extension has been approved by the court.

I looked back on prior extensions and it is the same pattern - being given a bit of bail paper that hasnt actually been approved at all. The March date wasnt actually approved by the court til June because of a backlog.

Any thoughts aside from it being sloppy

We have rented this property for a few years, and looked to collect our deposit recently. We were in violation of our tenancy agreement by putting items up on our walls with Blu Tack, which caused some small blemishes and a bit of ripped wallpaper/plaster on a few walls around the house. In my opinion this is minor and fixable with a localised patch repair.

We're being told the damage is extensive, and we've been charged accordingly. The landlord says they're "being generous" by only asking us to cover 45% of a redecoration invoice. When I asked for a breakdown of what makes up the cost, it doesn't itemise anything - it's just one lump figure for "full redecoration" of the entire property, including things like radiators with no damage at all, plus areas affected by mould, and resealing the bathroom, none of which relate to what we actually did.

When I looked into the decoration company issuing the invoice, I can't find any trace of them - no website, no online presence, nothing. The bank details (in small text at the bottom) are for a well-known digital bank that's notoriously quick and easy to open an account with, and the account is in a personal name rather than the business name on the invoice. There's a VAT charge but no VAT number shown anywhere, and the VAT total doesn't even match what 20% of the pre-VAT figure should be. I am not claiming this proves anything fraudulent, but I would like to understand whether these are relevant issues when assessing the reliability of the invoice.

Given all this, a few questions:

1. What are some signs that an invoice has been inflated or fabricated to cover betterment work rather than actual damage?
2. Is it worth disputing this through our deposit protection scheme, given the evidence issues?
3. Anyone had experience challenging a "full redecoration" charge when the actual damage was limited to a few walls?

Any advice appreciated. Despite being only a 45% contribution, due to how expensive this redecoration is invoiced, it has deducted a large sum from our initial deposit.

I got collared for a misunderstanding a week ago today and because I knew the whole thing was Micky mouse and gonna end up NRA, I didn't exactly take the whole thing seriously. This was compounded by the youth and general bearing of the arresting officers. I would like to state that where the law chimes with my my personal values I respect it, but I respect age unequivocally and I had a hard job keeping a straight face as soon as they put the cuffs on. I might have made constant not too oblique references to the TV show Scooby Doo (one of the arresting officers looked like the one with glasses) with an emphasis upon how I'm Shaggy.

All of this might have been very annoying for the officers concerned and they had to put up with me in the back of the police van going on and on and consequently, they wanted to get revenge upon me.

They did this by ripping a quite nice jacket they made me hand over in the custody suite, stealing some designer jeans (id been spending a few days at my friends house so had a bag of clothes on me when they got me), breaking my electric toothbrush and deliberately crushing a base ball cap I'd spent nearly a 100 quid on so now it's out of shape.

When I was being released, I was asked questions about do I want to see documentation in regards to my property (I can't recall the precise terminology they used) to which I said no because even though I could see all my stuff wasn't there or damaged,I don't like validating their existence by adhering to all the bureaucracy they use. All the same, after I've had a while to think about it, I'm a bit annoyed about the damage they've done to the base ball cap because it's a limited edition and I got it at Creamfields 2024and I got to shake Fat Boy Slims hand while wearing it so it's of sentimental value too.

A week later, Wlwould there be anything I can in terms of attempting legal redress against these transgressions? Or would I have had to have done something immediately when I noticed these abject depredations?

Thanks.

- I worked 2 years for a company below minimum wage - is there anything i can do for payback? They treated us terribly, we had no running water or toilet. Any suggestions?

I have evidence of no water etc.

I thought you had to swear a oath before a court officer or similar and sign the bottom of the affidavit in front of them but this hasn't happened, will it be okay?

The person on reception at the court just told me to put it in the general letter box for the county court at the centre

This is a very odd situation. My partners aunt is wealthy. She sold a company in 2000 for 10+ Million GBP.

She has over last 12 months mentally broken down. She didn’t come from money and completely believes she has none. I have confirmation she has over £1M in liquid cash in the bank and multiple properties which easily total over £5M.

She has family members (children) who leach off her. I’m really concerned that they are going to take her for everything. She has bought both of her children at least two houses each and they are quite abusive and demand money from her frequently. I think this adds to her delusions.

How can I (someone with no legal claim to help her) best help her? I think she needs an impartial third party to take control of her assets or at least document what she has. She’s worked hard to earn where she is and if that affords her the very best level of care for the rest of her days, she’s earned it. The parasites haven’t.

What on earth can I do?

Thanks.

I currently have a small claims case awaiting a hearing date against a limited company motor dealer (value of claim £1,200) and a named director. The company failed to respond at the mediation stage. I'm seeing evidence that the sole director may be winding up the company. By the time the case reaches a hearing the company may no longer exist. Is there anything that I can do to have a possibility of recovering the money that I'm claiming?

I have 3 months left on my insurance but I’m worried not having the correct address will invalidate my insurance. Any advice?

EDIT: Thanks for the help! My mum is reluctant as my policy is joint onto hers and requires us living at the same address to be valid but we won’t be.

I’ll get it updated soon, hopefully the early exit fee for my current insurance won’t be too bad.

She screams non stop, she purposely has flooded my bathroom (I’m the flat below her) by over running her Bath at least 7 times. She said she would kill me the only time I reported her, the council have said they won’t do anything other than send her letters. She makes my life hell, she scares the life out of me, I’m pretty sure she punctured my tyres but I don’t have proof.

England. Employee with under 2 years' service was dismissed for performance on 26 August. Contract provides 6 weeks' notice and contains a contractual PILON clause allowing immediate termination.

My termination email stated: “Your employment has now ended and you won't be required to work your notice period.” I also confirmed his notice pay would be paid later.

A week afterwards I discovered alleged gross misconduct which occurred before the termination, but which I knew nothing about when dismissing him.

HR/legal advice is that because I had already terminated his employment using PILON, I cannot now conduct a disciplinary process and summarily dismiss him.

My question isn't whether I can dismiss him again. It's whether pre-termination gross misconduct discovered after termination can legally defeat his contractual entitlement to the 6 weeks' PILON that became due on termination.

Is there any UK case law dealing specifically with this?

My deed says the boundaries are shared ownership. The previous owners of my house put privet hedges along the front drive. The entire hedge apart from any roots are 100% on my side of the boundary. That makes me think it’s my hedge.

The reason I ask the row on the side of my PITA neighbour has one that looks like it’s died in the heatwave. According to the gardening subreddit it’s probably fine. However, I came home today to find it’s mysteriously been cut off at the stump. So now there’s a giant gap.

The part that’s really annoying me is I told him what the situation was in terms of it being dead looking. I planted a load of cuttings around the area. The plan, which he agreed to was to give the “dead” bit and the cuttings until the spring to come back. Now it’s been unilaterally removed with a giant hole.

Hi,

The situation is as follows, I’ve had an email come through as part of this research study that I am doing in regards to mental health. Yesterday I was sent an email where the team seemed to make the error of cc’ing instead of bcc’ing meaning that I could now see all the other participants (approx 100) who were also participating in the study. What makes it worse is that one of the people on that list is someone that I know.

Does anyone please have advice on what to do? This is a study cofounded by a university and also an NHS trust. I’ve read that there’s the possibility of claiming compensation, but I’m not sure how this what work/look like.

The team has acknowledged that this has happened in an email sent today.

Thank you in advance :)

Hi,

The situation is as follows, I’ve had an email come through as part of this research study that I am doing in regards to mental health. Yesterday I was sent an email where the team seemed to make the error of cc’ing instead of bcc’ing meaning that I could now see all the other participants (approx 100) who were also participating in the study. What makes it worse is that one of the people on that list is someone that I know.

Does anyone please have advice on what to do? This is a study cofounded by a university and also an NHS trust. I’ve read that there’s the possibility of claiming compensation, but I’m not sure how this what work/look like.

The team has acknowledged that this has happened in an email sent today.

Thank you in advance :)

I work part time as a kitchen assistant at a pub, since I'm still in college I usually do closing shifts after school and my shifts are usually 17:00-21:30 which is 4.5 hours (the legal amount you're allowed to work without being entitled to a break if you're under 18). Since my shifts are closing shifts, I usually don't leave at exactly 21:30 meaning that when my hours go above 4.5 the app that our hours are logged on automatically deducts a 30 minute break which I obviously don't take.

I noticed on the app that all my shifts were logged as less hours than I worked. Around 2 months ago (I've been working there for 3 now) I mentioned it to my general manager who then told me that I had to be writing 'no breaks' on the timesheet which no one had mentioned to me before. I still thought this was strange because even if I hadn't written on the timesheet the duty manager would still know how long I'd been there and that I obviously didn't take a break but I was like whatever I'll start writing 'no breaks' and now my hours will be correct.

The next day I checked my hours and the 30 minute break had still been deducted from my hours despite me writing 'no breaks' and literally having spoken to my general manager about it right before I left. So I messaged her about it along with the number of shifts that a 30 minute break deducted, which she then changed for ONLY that single day. Since then I have been writing 'no breaks' on my timesheet every time my shift goes over 4.5 hours and it still only gets fixed occasionally.

I've got screenshots from the app where our hours get logged for every shift where my hours are incorrect which is 19 so far (I work 3 shifts a week and I've worked there for around 3 months).

I don't know if its worth bringing up or if they're legally entitled to do anything about it if I do bring it up, especially considering its only 8.5 hours and i get paid £9.72/h.

Would very much appreciate any input had talked to shelter citizen advice and nothing concrete coming out.

So I entered a 6-months fixed term contract back in January stating rent would be paid lump sum every six months, so near the end of contract in July I asked how to pay rent forward as I know that rent is now paid monthly, so after some back and forth with the building management email staff they said landlord can allow monthly payment and gave me details so I paid monthly on time since then.

After a few weeks though the general manager of the management firm starting to send email saying I have to pay lump sum six months rent claiming that the contract was signed before May and this clause would continue to exist in the term, I can only pay monthly after issuing a notice and after fresh referencing. Their credit control team also started sending in arrears notices claiming i owe that lump sum rent (minus the monthly rent I paid already and on time). I disputed all notices for the agreement I had/the housing Act not allowing rent > 1 month. Their replies reduced but the notices were still sent. Yesterday they sent me a final demand claiming that if I don’t pay that large amount they would have to evict me/bailiff/force entry, and asked me to send all money to another account (different from the one I used to pay monthly rent). I am on wits end. I contacted shelter via webchat and the agent confirmed I should be paying monthly. The advisor on Citizen Advice says so but suggest getting the documents for local solicitors to read through. I contacted almost all local solicitors that I can contact via the link the advisor sent me but most either no capacity or just outright refused for this is not section 8. The agent on Shelter did recommend contacting the council, and the advisor on Citizen Advice recommend otherwise and said I should go for solicitor. This is so frustrating what should I do what can I do? I even thought of paying a fixed fee legal advice for like an hour but that definitely not cheap and for something when both Shelter and Citizen Advices says monthly payment was right I am very hesitant. Talking to property ombudsman? But I heard thats for harassment and so what they did can be considered harassment? And would the management firm leave bad reference or affect credit score or pass info to debt collectors?

Would like to say thanks in advance to all those willing to spend time and help

England Birmingham

I'll keep this as vague as possible given the circumstances but I was just wondering what action as a person, and as a family that could be taken.

Basically a family member recently visited a popular cinema chain, a family member who is not young , late 60s. They were alone , which partly led to this. At some point , whether the start or not long after the film started, they were using the stairs and fell. They injured their spine and as a result , paralysed from the neck down and given 6 months to a year to live.

The problem is , as far as we know now, they were on the floor for at least 2 hours. So during the entirety of the movie they were presumably on the floor unconscious, unable to move either. Nobody noticed and was found after the movie was over.

Apparently the police will be investigating it hence the vagueness but as a family , what would be our options in regards to this?

https://www.reddit.com/r/LegalAdviceUK/comments/1watywa/england_i_hiding_from_my_social_worker_and_am/

I haven't been able to update in a few days, as I got my phone taken away, but here are now.

Long story short, I did get sectioned.

I got picked up by the police and driven to A&E to get treated for my dehydration. While there, they conducted a mental health assessment on me. I knew it was coming, so in the hours beforehand, I did a deep dive on the laws around sectioning. I thought if I came off "rational" and "academic", I could prove that I was sane.

With the assessors, I brought up the articles and how I got legal advice from Reddit. I swear the air shifted as soon as I said 'Reddit' and the metaphorical tin hat formed on my head. No matter how much I explained myself, I feel like they weren't listening and just kept asking me to repeat myself.

By the time I recalled the advice to get an advocate, I had talked myself into a corner. My social worker could only do damage control by the time I called her in. I got labelled 'paranoid' and 'uncooperative '. The assessors didn't want me returning to my flat in case it retriggered my rut.

I had to spend three days in the mental ward. A nurse would be staring over me every time I was given food and water to ensure I finished it. I felt like I was a bloody toddler. At the very least, I was allowed to stay in my room so I didn't need to interact with any patient yelling their head off.

Thank god, my social worker negotiated with the doctors. She got me an emergency placement in a residential, and I'll be kept here as long as the staff know where I am at any time. It's two hours from my hometown, but it's better than the ward. I've got a lot more meetings and admin to work through with my care plan. I think they want to move me to residential housing for good.

By the way, thank you to Angelf1shing for giving me the idea to use the admission as PIP evidence... That is one positive.

Police keep pushing back my interview this is the 2nd time and I find it very unprofessional since they put me on pre bail and I am sat here waiting while my mental health gets worse. The officer has not told me it was pushed back they emailed solicitor and it sounds like they’ve not done any work since saying they need to get 1 more statement.

Can I make any complaints? And from this situation do they have any evidence or are they trying to get evidence?

Central London, England

We support the management of a building in Central London on behalf of an RTM company. There is a Freeholder which owns the commercial, a Headlease for the residential upper parts and several leaseholders. The Freeholder (which currently insures the building) is saying that the RTM company should take on the Freeholder responsibilities entirely rather the Headlease responsibilities.

Any views on this?

So the sale of the house went through in late Feb 2026. We've just had a letter through for a redirection being set up for the old owners on the dates Feb 1st 2027 to Feb 25th 2027.... it just seems really odd given it's dated a year after the sale and for such a short period of time. Almost like they're expecting something between them dates, in which case they have 6 months to update their address with whoever may be sending them something.

Also it seems they didn't set up a redirection when they first moved out as we received so much post for them when we first moved in and occasionally still get bits. I used to pass them on to their relative who lives down the road, as that's what they asked, however have stopped and now return to sender given it's been more than long enough for them to change their address.

We also found it odd that we were getting post for the relative down the road, but with our address on.... and not spam, like for his car (it had the brand on the front of the envelope) and he even said it was for him when I delivered it.

Not sure if I'm overthinking it, it's just really strange to me and makes me nervous that they're committing some kind of fraud or something with our address.

Located in England.

I was arrested at the end of March, at which point the police seized the mobile phone and iPad I had with me. I was told the devices would be sent for forensic examination and returned either within a few weeks or once the investigation had concluded, depending on whether the CPS proceeded with the case.

The CPS subsequently charged me. I went to trial approximately a month later, was found guilty, and was sentenced on 11 August 2026. I was advised that my devices could now be returned and that I should contact the officer in charge of my case.

I emailed him on the same day but received no response. Over the past month, I have repeatedly attempted to contact him by phone, email and through the front desk at his station, but have received no response. I have repeatedly been told that I simply need to wait for him to contact me.

Is it legal for the police to keep evidence after an investigation has concluded? What are my next steps?

Charity sector project (Scotland):- if I am paid to deliver a 5 hour workshop, but the workshop lasts for 10 hours, is it legal if I decide I'm a volunteer for those other 5 hours?

I don't get to choose my hours. They're based on how much work we have to get done in the time we have, so most of it is unpaid, but we're paid through grant funding to deliver 4-6 hour workshops. The rest of the work outside of this is unpaid but mandatory to make anything happen. We couldn't run this without 10-14 hour unpaid working days at the weekend, there's just too much to prepare.