The Witness Statement

If you've ever experienced the mind-bending stress of being involved in a car accident, then spare a brief thought for anyone the driver may have called upon to be a witness. While the days immediately following a crash are typically filled with both of the vehicle owners completing insurance claim statements, anyone who actually saw what happened may be called upon as a witness to the event.

This needs to be done with approval by the witness, but there is a moral obligation for that person to come forward and say what happened. Anyone who is happy to act as witness will have to complete a Statement of Witness form, which is fairly straightforward. There can be several witnesses to the same accident.

You will be asked where you were, what events took place and who you think was at fault. Where there is one party who was blatantly in the wrong, it is easy for the witness to apportion blame. However, being British, and therefore living in the Kingdom of Sweeping Understatement, it can be difficult for us to just say, “it was him/her”. If there is no doubting who was at fault, then you need to make that clear.

What happens when both parties would seem to be jointly responsible for the accident? In this case, it is acceptable to write, “joint responsibility”, or something similar. If it is a case of 75% versus 25% blame, it is probably better to put, “unable to say” in the box and let the insurance company make their decision based on the events you have described. This way you are not allowing your subjective judgement to interfere with proceedings. You will also receive fewer telephone calls from either insurers or their solicitors.

You are also asked if you know anyone involved, and from which vantage point you observed the accident. This is a filter designed to test if your statement is one-sided (such as to favour your friend who may have been at fault), and also the validity of your statement based on how well you saw what happened.

The best advice is make a clear statement of events, be familiar with the date, time and location of the accident and, if in any doubt, do not make a statement of blame if you are not 100% sure. This will save you a lot of phone calls, and the parties involved a lot of time and expense.

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