Tracing hit and run for boat insurance.

[Twyfordbridge]

Last week I posted on the YBW Practical Boat Owner forum asking about help relating to AIS in the hope of finding the boat which damaged mine while unattended alongside a visitor pontoon. The boat that hit mine at 4.30pm then stayed overnight and left just after 9am the following morning without reporting the incident or leaving any details leaving me with a hefty repair bill. Harbour staff were on duty there when he arrived and when he left. I was given some great help from a member here but unfortunately it drew a blank. With total cooperation of the harbour I now had stills from the cctv footage ( persons blurred out) the name of the boat which turned out to be British, the make and model and also area of registration from the transom. Three solid days of emails, messages and phone calls to marinas and harbour officials drew a blank .... Data Protection.
Then today I thought I'd try the Small Ships Register fully expecting another blank.... and they're phone is manned until 4pm on a Sunday.
I explained the situation to a very sympathetic and helpful gentleman to who said he was bound by data protection and could not give me any information at all. But he did ask if I had the name of the boat which was a very unusual name, I gave it to him. A location?, I gave it to him. Vessel type?, Sailing. Make and model?, I gave him both. He had an exact match! He then asked me for my name, email address and phone number and stated that he was quite willing to send him an email asking him to contact me regarding the incident. He also sent me an email immediately stating that he had contacted the owner on my behalf.
Now that's what I call customer service.
Now just got wait and see if he replies to me or not

 

[RivalRedwing]

Last week I posted on the YBW Practical Boat Owner forum asking about help relating to AIS in the hope of finding the boat which damaged mine while unattended alongside a visitor pontoon. The boat that hit mine at 4.30pm then stayed overnight and left just after 9am the following morning without reporting the incident or leaving any details leaving me with a hefty repair bill. Harbour staff were on duty there when he arrived and when he left. I was given some great help from a member here but unfortunately it drew a blank. With total cooperation of the harbour I now had stills from the cctv footage ( persons blurred out) the name of the boat which turned out to be British, the make and model and also area of registration from the transom. Three solid days of emails, messages and phone calls to marinas and harbour officials drew a blank .... Data Protection.
Then today I thought I'd try the Small Ships Register fully expecting another blank.... and they're phone is manned until 4pm on a Sunday.
I explained the situation to a very sympathetic and helpful gentleman to who said he was bound by data protection and could not give me any information at all. But he did ask if I had the name of the boat which was a very unusual name, I gave it to him. A location?, I gave it to him. Vessel type?, Sailing. Make and model?, I gave him both. He had an exact match! He then asked me for my name, email address and phone number and stated that he was quite willing to send him an email asking him to contact me regarding the incident. He also sent me an email immediately stating that he had contacted the owner on my behalf.
Now that's what I call customer service.
Now just got wait and see if he replies to me or not

I would have thought the HM and marina could (should) have offered similar...

 

[johnalison]

I’m glad to hear it (the result). With an unusual name you can get some details from the list of radio licences, though probably not as much as you already have.

 

[SaltIre]

Are hefty repair bills, and investigation, not best handled by your insurance company?

Edit: Just read your other thread in which you say you hope to provide your insurer with the other owner's details.
Marine Traffic AIS .. ‘Professional’ query

 

[westernman]

Last week I posted on the YBW Practical Boat Owner forum asking about help relating to AIS in the hope of finding the boat which damaged mine while unattended alongside a visitor pontoon. The boat that hit mine at 4.30pm then stayed overnight and left just after 9am the following morning without reporting the incident or leaving any details leaving me with a hefty repair bill. Harbour staff were on duty there when he arrived and when he left. I was given some great help from a member here but unfortunately it drew a blank. With total cooperation of the harbour I now had stills from the cctv footage ( persons blurred out) the name of the boat which turned out to be British, the make and model and also area of registration from the transom. Three solid days of emails, messages and phone calls to marinas and harbour officials drew a blank .... Data Protection.
Then today I thought I'd try the Small Ships Register fully expecting another blank.... and they're phone is manned until 4pm on a Sunday.
I explained the situation to a very sympathetic and helpful gentleman to who said he was bound by data protection and could not give me any information at all. But he did ask if I had the name of the boat which was a very unusual name, I gave it to him. A location?, I gave it to him. Vessel type?, Sailing. Make and model?, I gave him both. He had an exact match! He then asked me for my name, email address and phone number and stated that he was quite willing to send him an email asking him to contact me regarding the incident. He also sent me an email immediately stating that he had contacted the owner on my behalf.
Now that's what I call customer service.
Now just got wait and see if he replies to me or not

You should file a police report making a claim for damages from X and provide the information you have mentioned above.
I would imagine this would be treated in a similar way to a hit and run road accident with no injuries.
The police would then be able to get access to the details of the owner of the other boat.

Try talking to the police. Do not leave it too long. A road accident would have had to be reported within 24 hours.

 

[john_morris_uk]

You should file a police report making a claim for damages from X and provide the information you have mentioned above.
I would imagine this would be treated in a similar way to a hit and run road accident with no injuries.
The police would then be able to get access to the details of the owner of the other boat.

Try talking to the police. Do not leave it too long. A road accident would have had to be reported within 24 hours.

I thought that nowadays, if there’s no injury to anybody, the police treat such an accident as an entirely civil matter.

 

[westernman]

I thought that nowadays, if there’s no injury to anybody, the police treat such an accident as an entirely civil matter.

Yes they do, once you have the contact information of the other party.
Hit and run is a criminal matter.

 

[ylop]

But he did ask if I had the name of the boat which was a very unusual name, I gave it to him.

If the boat has an unusual name - try searching Ship Station List - you may well find the vessel owner name. Now if that was also relatively unusual and you had a region of the country to narrow down your search then it might well be more fruitful.

Personally I'd pass what you have to the insurers and let them pursue it. "Data Protection" suddenly becomes a less robust "nothing I can help you with" when its requested by solicitors on behalf of the insurers!

You should file a police report making a claim for damages from X and provide the information you have mentioned above.

I'm not sure which jurisdiction you are in but the police in the UK will not be interested in you making a "claim for damages".

I would imagine this would be treated in a similar way to a hit and run road accident with no injuries.

I doubt it - there's a very specific offence in the road traffic act of failing to exchange details at the scene of an accident, unless there is similar in the marine legislation and you can find a copy who knows what the rules are you've no chance on getting traction...

The police would then be able to get access to the details of the owner of the other boat.

I would expect if you can find the marine policing unit that they will be able to get the details. That doesn't necessarily mean they'll give them to you either!

I thought that nowadays, if there’s no injury to anybody, the police treat such an accident as an entirely civil matter.

They most certainly do not. Failing to stop/exchange details at the scene of an accident is treated quite seriously by the police - the starting assumption seems to be you had something to hide. Some individual cops / police forces will use more discretion when perhaps it was not obvious there was damage, there was nobody obvious to exchange details with and the insurers promptly resolve it others will pursue a prosecution even then. Certainly in a case where there is obvious damage, obvious ways to contact the person, and they make off I'd expect any police force/officer to pursue it.

One final thought - whilst you will want to pursue the other party your insurer will get to a point (quite quickly) where its easier to just pay for the damage than worry about who caused it. Costs of tracing the other party. Risk the other party denies it and have to go to court to prove it. Risk the other party does not have insurance to cover the costs etc.

 

[jon and michie]

I’m glad to hear it (the result). With an unusual name you can get some details from the list of radio licences, though probably not as much as you already have

Interesting

 

[M Hill]

If the boat has an unusual name - try searching Ship Station List - you may well find the vessel owner name. Now if that was also relatively unusual and you had a region of the country to narrow down your search then it might well be more fruitful.

Just put my boat names in and even my MMSI but nothing found so not sure how useful this database is.

 

[dunedin]

Just put my boat names in and even my MMSI but nothing found so not sure how useful this database is.

Have you got a valid ships radio licence? Sounds like you might not.

 

[M Hill]

Have you got a valid ships radio licence? Sounds like you might not.

yep, duly issued by Ofcom
Just logged into the website and checked too.

 

[ylop]

Just put my boat names in and even my MMSI but nothing found so not sure how useful this database is.

Odd. I’ve tried it with a whole bunch of vessels where I would know if it was right, some which are not on SSR (small boats never leaving the U.K.), some SSR ones, some Part 1 ones. All came back with either the right details - or the details of a previous owner (ie someone has “forgotten” to update ofcom). The only ones that didn’t list an owner were commercial vessels (I tried some of the calmac fleet) - but the vessel and its MMSI is still listed. You don’t even need to have the full name, eg if it’s registered as “Discovery of Xxx” you can just include part of the name.

 

[mil1194]

yep, duly issued by Ofcom
Just logged into the website and checked too.

Mine doesn’t come up either - with correct MMSI numbers (2) and valid license.

 

[johnalison]

Mine comes up just with the boat name. I've even found that some Danish bloke has had the cheek to use the same name.

 

[mil1194]

Mine comes up just with the boat name. I've even found that some Danish bloke has had the cheek to use the same name.

I had 54 all called variations of the same… I don’t think it’s a reason to risk a name change thou’.

 

[Stork_III]

Mine comes up just with the boat name. I've even found that some Danish bloke has had the cheek to use the same name.

Did you click on your boat in the list? More details are revealed.

 

[Rappey]

A guy i know had his boat T boned by another whilst it was on its mooring in portsmouth harbour causing around 18k of damage He tried reporting it to the police and khm but neither were interested.
Part of the offending boats bow roller snapped off and was left on the deck of the victim boat. It was easily identified as belonging to a sigma.
The victim then did a tour of the harbour, found the offenders boat as the bow roller part matched perfectly. Once challenged the boat owner still denied he sailed in that area of the harbour and hit another boat. In the hands of the insurers now.

 

[Never Grumble]

A guy i know had his boat T boned by another whilst it was on its mooring in portsmouth harbour causing around 18k of damage He tried reporting it to the police and khm but neither were interested.
Part of the offending boats bow roller snapped off and was left on the deck of the victim boat. It was easily identified as belonging to a sigma.
The victim then did a tour of the harbour, found the offenders boat as the bow roller part matched perfectly. Once challenged the boat owner still denied he sailed in that area of the harbour and hit another boat. In the hands of the insurers now.

where about in the harbour?

 

[Rappey]

Along side the decomissioned warships, the more north easterly one of the two. The yacht was on a hardway sailing club mooring.