Karen Gillard is working to solve a mystery that’s left her with a hefty insurance bill and her 2017 Volkswagen Tiguan off the road.
Gillard parked her vehicle opposite the driveway entrance to the Howick Countdown supermarket in Fencible Drive at about 8.45am on Tuesday, January 30, and walked to nearby Honeybun Jeweller, where she works.
At the end of her work day, at about 5.30pm, she walked back to her vehicle and was shocked at what she found.
Her dark blue Volkswagen appeared to have been crashed into while parked, and to make matters worse, the other driver hadn’t left a note with their contact details on it.
“I saw a bit of plastic in front of my car but no damage to the front of it,” Gillard says.
“Then I walked down and saw the back door side-swiped on the back rear corner.
“The panel work was missing. No note was left and that’s what annoys me the most.”
Gillard says she was upset at the sight.
“I basically burst into tears. I’ve owned it since it was new and I look after it.”
She phoned a friend, who arrived to help, and together they phoned the police.
“I wasn’t sure whether it was driveable,” Gillard says.
“In the end, after trying to get a tow truck, I decided to drive it home.
“The tow truck picked it up from my place the next day to take it to the panel beater.”
The vehicle is insured and is being repaired, but as the driver of the vehicle that struck Gillard’s left the scene without leaving a note, she’s stuck with an insurance excess bill for $500.
“I was just trying to work to earn a living,” she says.
“I’m disappointed they [the other driver] couldn’t stop or come back and leave a note on my windscreen just to say ‘sorry’.
“Accidents are accidents and I get that, but it would be nice to know someone had a conscience.”
Gillard is trying to obtain CCTV footage of the area her vehicle was parked in when it was damaged.
Her friend posted on Facebook about the incident to ask for eyewitnesses to come forward.
The post received numerous comments including from a person who says they saw her vehicle at 9.50am and by that time it had already been damaged.
Gillard says the vehicle that crashed into hers will have sustained damage to its front left-hand side.
She urges people with information on the incident to phone police.
A police spokesperson says under the Land Transport Act anyone involved in an accident with an unoccupied vehicle is obliged to report the incident, with their details, to its owner within 48 hours.
“If the driver cannot make contact with the vehicle’s owner, they should report the incident to police within 60 hours.
“A driver who fails to do so could be liable for an infringement if they are later identified.”
People with information on the vehicle that crashed into Karen Gillard’s Volkswagen Tiguan while it was parked on Fencible Drive, Howick, on January 30 can phone police on 105 quoting file number PO57612432.
