# dash cam footage



## bidderman1969 (Oct 20, 2006)

complicated one this, last year we saw a crash happen right in front of us, so was caught on dash cam, when police arrived, went through everything that happened, showed them the footage, he took my details, and said they would be in contact. we were there for over an hour, remember getting back around 2-2.30 in the morning in the end, anyway, about 6 months pass, and i had heard nothing, so i contacted the police for them to say that they have no record of me or my footage at all! gives you a lot of faith in them doesn't it? :lol:

so, they actually came out to my house in the end to get the footage, very pleased they were too that i had it, and grateful for it as well.

anyway, lots of time has passed since when out of the blue, my customer got contacted by a solicitors, with a letter asking for information about the footage as to the make and model and about the files as i never gave my details to the police!!!!!

now i have had these emails from the solicitors as i have told them i don't want my footage to be used as it wasn't the Police's footage to give out, i have spoken to the police department about this and she was very nice about it all, and apologised and kindly told me about the process which i never knew about, and that if its not copyrighted, like bus footage as an example, they can forward it on, and she also said that if i emailed her she would email the people she sent it to stating that i didn't want the footage used.

emails....

me...

* Hello xxxx,
I am the taxi that has the footage of the accident that occurred on 29/05/2015, I have been informed by a customer of mine that you were trying to track me down in regards to footage of the accident?
Regards
Mr xxxxx*

their eventual reply....

* Hello Bxxx
Thanks for contacting me.
Essentially, I have an accident reconstruction expert analysing the CCTV footage from your vehicle. He has asked what the make and model of the camera is and if the files are in the same format the dash cam originally produced or if they have been processed in any way.
I am not sure if you can perhaps help me by answering these queries.
Kind regards and apologies for my delay in coming back to you*

me, must admit i was getting annoyed with them now, as still not actually asked they could use it, even retrospectively.....

* That's MY footage though, where did you get it from?*

them.....

*The Police sent it to me with the police accident report.*

(found out they actually asked for it, but still,lol)

me....

*Well it's not theres to give, so I would like it back please. Also I would like the names of the insurance companies who maybe using it, as well as the accident expert contact number as I will not be allowing the footage to be used.*

them....

*I suggest that you take this up with the Police directly.*

.....which i did subsequently, then got back to them....

me.....

*Have you heard from Surrey police yet?*

them....

*Dear Bxxx

I have not heard from Surrey Police.

I have spoken to my supervisor and he advises that the dashcam footage is in the public domain now, even if you would prefer it wasn't.

If you want to complain to the Police that is fine but I can't get involved.

I've obtained the footage through legitimate means and it is the most important piece of liability evidence we now have.
*

i don't want to go into details of why i don't want this footage to be used, so please don't ask as i will just ignore it, and yes they are just doing their job, but is there really nothing i can do about it now? should i make a complaint to the police? i really didn't know that this happens, and was NOT MADE AWARE of this when handing over the footage, surely this MUST be stated?

i know it seems i making a mountain out of a molehill over it, but did everyone else knew the police can and do do it?


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## Ben108 (Jul 26, 2014)

The police using dashcam footage is nothing new, as soon as you announced you'd recorded it on said device and allowed the police to view it, you allowed it to be used in such investigation. 

From a Police background - there really isn't a lot you can do now as like they've said, it's evidence in an investigation.


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## bidderman1969 (Oct 20, 2006)

don't mind the police having it, thats what i gave it for, i don't want insurance companies to have it


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## bidderman1969 (Oct 20, 2006)

won't be doing it again i do know that


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## sshooie (May 15, 2007)

I used to deal with the police regularly in my previous line of work, their incompetence never surprises me.

I've had them lose complete DVR's and other types of evidence.


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## FJ1000 (Jun 20, 2015)

I have provided the police with dashcam footage before, for a hit and run I caught on camera. Glad I did too.

It was also sent on to insurance companies. I didn't explicitly give consent, but then I don't see any reason to withhold it.

In the end, the police didn't pursue the matter, with the reason given because the incident didn't happen on a public road (in an industrial estate). However, the victim still benefited from the footage as the hit and run driver's insurance company had to foot the bill of the repairs.

I have no idea why you would have a problem with the footage being circulated, and you are being very opaque about it (which in itself is very odd). So without giving any reason for your stance, or being willing to even discuss it, it's hard to know what the problem is exactly.

You caught an accident on camera. It's your moral duty to help the victim by providing the footage to the police. If it's useful to an insurance company too, I see that as a good thing.


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## sshooie (May 15, 2007)

Depends if the cam car was law abiding at the time of the incident....


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## bidderman1969 (Oct 20, 2006)

Which iwas


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## Ben108 (Jul 26, 2014)

I don't really see an issue with it. If you willingly allowed the police to see it and allowed them to use it, then it then forms part of an investigation so will have been provided to insurance as part of a pack. 

Personally, I'd have no issues with it being used. If someone hit my car and someone had footage of what happened, I'd want them to provide it as well as there's too much of these fake crashes at the moment and all the evidence helps, stops innocent drivers being penalised. On the same note, I'd provide any footage mine records to help them too.


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## Natalie (Jan 19, 2011)

Can I ask why you don't want it to be used? 

From my point of view if someone had footage of an accident I was involved in, I'd be very grateful (well perhaps not depending on the way the claim was going lol) if they allowed it to be used to help settle the claim.


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## DrEskimo (Jan 7, 2016)

Same as above. 3 times I've provided dash cam footage for someone else. Ive given it to them for the sole use of providing it to their insurer. On one occasion this has also been given to the police as the person failed to stop and I merely presented footage with their number plate, proving they were at the scene at the date and time stamped.


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## Marve (Jul 5, 2013)

Natalie said:


> Can I ask why you don't want it to be used?


No you can't ask, Bidderman will ignore you if you ask...

If you ask me, that is the only weird thing I can see in this whole story.


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## sshooie (May 15, 2007)

I've been out of the industry for the past two years, but time and date stamping from a dash cam would have been inadmissible for various reasons, they may have changed it but I doubt it as it's an easy one to fend off.


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## bidderman1969 (Oct 20, 2006)

the whole point of this isn't about the accident, its about me not wanting the footage used by the insurance companies, and the fact the police have made money out of passing on the footage to the insurance companies, "administrative charge" (funnily enough, i didn't charge the police an "administrative charge", but they can... hhhmmmm.....) at the end of the day, i feel i should have been asked regardless, if my footage can be forwarded and used for the the purpose of insurance, nothing about what happened or why i didn't want it used any further than Surrey Police, i cannot see how i can't stop it being used, doesn't make sense to me, same as if one of you photos is being used by someone else.....


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## ardandy (Aug 18, 2006)

Do you know the police have made money from footage?


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## bidderman1969 (Oct 20, 2006)

ardandy said:


> Do you know the police have made money from footage?


yes, they told me on the phone


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## armufti (Oct 11, 2016)

But why would they have made money out of it? I can't see what monetary value this has for them.
Provision of this to insurance companies would help the non fault party massively.


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## ardandy (Aug 18, 2006)

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring...paid-millions-for-details-of-car-crashes.html


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## armufti (Oct 11, 2016)

ardandy said:


> http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring...paid-millions-for-details-of-car-crashes.html


Thanks Andy that'd helpful.

I still think the benefits outweigh the costs in this aspect. Provision of the footage would still help and protect the non fault from personal claims etc

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## Ben108 (Jul 26, 2014)

This is a weird story, and I don't feel we have the full picture here 

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## FJ1000 (Jun 20, 2015)

Ben108 said:


> This is a weird story, and I don't feel we have the full picture here
> 
> Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk


Yep either that or the OP is just the type of character that gets upset about everything!

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## TOMMY_RS (Aug 2, 2010)

What a strange thread. I also don't understand how the police have made money forwarding the footage to the insurance.


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## bidderman1969 (Oct 20, 2006)

FJ1000 said:


> Yep either that or the OP is just the type of character that gets upset about everything!
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Great deduction there :thumb:



TOMMY_RS said:


> What a strange thread. I also don't understand how the police have made money forwarding the footage to the insurance.


Quite simple, they made a charge to solicitors/insurance company to send them my footage, hardly complicated


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## bidderman1969 (Oct 20, 2006)

Ben108 said:


> This is a weird story, and I don't feel we have the full picture here
> 
> Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk


Why do you need "the full picture" here? As in why I don't want them to have it? That's my personal reasons, and have nothing to do with the original question


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## ianrobbo1 (Feb 13, 2007)

Hah!! I know why you didn't want the footage to go any further, :doublesho

It's so you can get £250 off Harry Hill for his TV Burp :lol:


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## FJ1000 (Jun 20, 2015)

So OP, you can see the consensus is that nobody really understands what the problem is.

Hope that's cleared it up for you.

You did the right thing passing the footage on. Leave it at that and move on.


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## sshooie (May 15, 2007)

How much are we talking?


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## steve6690 (Feb 25, 2016)

bidderman1969 said:


> Great deduction there :thumb:
> 
> *Quite simple, they made a charge to solicitors/insurance company to send them my footage, hardly complicated*


Not quite correct. The police do charge insurance companies when they ask for a copy of the collision report. I think it's around £80. Bearing in mind that the taxpayer has footed the bill for the police to produce the report in the first place, why should a private, profit-making company use it to pursue a civil claim without giving the taxpayer a contribution towards the costs ?
Your footage was part of the report. One thing to note - the police could have seized it from you whether you wanted to provide it or not, if they believed it contained evidence of an offence.
It's an interesting point you raise though - should it be forwarded to a private company without your consent ?. When it was seized from you it became an exhibit and should, I think, have been returned to you if not required for court.


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## bidderman1969 (Oct 20, 2006)

steve6690 said:


> Not quite correct. The police do charge insurance companies when they ask for a copy of the collision report. I think it's around £80. Bearing in mind that the taxpayer has footed the bill for the police to produce the report in the first place, why should a private, profit-making company use it to pursue a civil claim without giving the taxpayer a contribution towards the costs ?
> Your footage was part of the report. One thing to note - the police could have seized it from you whether you wanted to provide it or not, if they believed it contained evidence of an offence.
> It's an interesting point you raise though - should it be forwarded to a private company without your consent ?. When it was seized from you it became an exhibit and should, I think, have been returned to you if not required for court.


cheers, this is what I'm getting at, glad someone can understand :thumb:


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## bidderman1969 (Oct 20, 2006)

FJ1000 said:


> So OP, you can see the consensus is that nobody really understands what the problem is.
> 
> Hope that's cleared it up for you.
> 
> ...


:tumbleweed:

:tumbleweed:


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## ardandy (Aug 18, 2006)

Can I have the footage for my terrible (now separate) dashcam channel? 

I promise I won't make any money from it!


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## DrEskimo (Jan 7, 2016)

ardandy said:


> Can I have the footage for my terrible (now separate) dashcam channel?
> 
> I promise I won't make any money from it!


Ha!

I might have a couple of clips if you want them mate.:thumb:


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## bidderman1969 (Oct 20, 2006)

You've always asked and credited my username on it before, :thumb: but do you really want footage of motorcyclist flying through the air and landing in a heap in front of the car?


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## bidderman1969 (Oct 20, 2006)

I probably have a few more if you like though?


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