Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Turkish car crash
Having had the unfortunate experience of a motorcyclist bouncing off my hire car bonnet in Turkey recently, I can’t say enough how lovely all the local people were to me; particularly the lady with the roadside stall who gave me a cushion to sit on in the shade and a glass of water; the guy from Almira Car Hire who had a replacement car for me within an hour, and most of all Polat and Rhiannon from the Grand Ucel Hotel in Ovacik – Polat for coming with me to the police station and and Rhiannon for tea and sympathy.
Thankfully I had full insurance (NEVER skimp on car hire insurance) but the whole process was pretty scary as you have to call out the traffic police by law in Turkey if you have an accident (even if no-one else is involved) otherwise your insurance is invalid and you mustn’t move or do anything until they come.
2 police cars and a large van turned up, the traffic was re-directed, all angles measured and photographed and me and the motorcyclist were both breathalysed (standard procedure). Lots of talking went on, none of which I understood, with lots of people milling about. The motorcyclist’s boss turned up, who spoke some English, and told me I’d have to go to court unless I paid him some money. ..
The police asked me to sign a handwritten statement, in Turkish, - I had no idea what it said, and no-one had actually spoken to me to take a statement. I asked if I could go to the hotel I’d been heading for to find someone to translate for me, which the head cop (who was very polite throughout) agreed to. Luckily for me, Polat, the hotel owner was there along with his English wife Rhiannon and he came with me to the police station.
I was asked if I wanted to ‘complain’ against the other person. Having no idea what this meant or what the procedure is in Turkey I said yes and hoped for the best. The police took a statement, asked me a lot of personal questions (I got the usual Turkish pitying look at the no husband, no children bit!) photocopied my driving licence and passport, which they gave back to me and let me go.
But I had no idea whether they were going to charge me or if I would be needed again, or what any of the procedures are, and a couple of nights later I got an intimidating and quite scary phone call at my hotel from one of the motorcylist’s friends who wanted me to meet him in a bar and hand over some money – which needless to say I didn’t, but I spent a wary few days wondering if I was going to subjected to a revenge attack or get another phone call.
If anyone can give me any information on how things work or if there’s anything I should have done or be doing, I would be very grateful!
Thankfully I had full insurance (NEVER skimp on car hire insurance) but the whole process was pretty scary as you have to call out the traffic police by law in Turkey if you have an accident (even if no-one else is involved) otherwise your insurance is invalid and you mustn’t move or do anything until they come.
2 police cars and a large van turned up, the traffic was re-directed, all angles measured and photographed and me and the motorcyclist were both breathalysed (standard procedure). Lots of talking went on, none of which I understood, with lots of people milling about. The motorcyclist’s boss turned up, who spoke some English, and told me I’d have to go to court unless I paid him some money. ..
The police asked me to sign a handwritten statement, in Turkish, - I had no idea what it said, and no-one had actually spoken to me to take a statement. I asked if I could go to the hotel I’d been heading for to find someone to translate for me, which the head cop (who was very polite throughout) agreed to. Luckily for me, Polat, the hotel owner was there along with his English wife Rhiannon and he came with me to the police station.
I was asked if I wanted to ‘complain’ against the other person. Having no idea what this meant or what the procedure is in Turkey I said yes and hoped for the best. The police took a statement, asked me a lot of personal questions (I got the usual Turkish pitying look at the no husband, no children bit!) photocopied my driving licence and passport, which they gave back to me and let me go.
But I had no idea whether they were going to charge me or if I would be needed again, or what any of the procedures are, and a couple of nights later I got an intimidating and quite scary phone call at my hotel from one of the motorcylist’s friends who wanted me to meet him in a bar and hand over some money – which needless to say I didn’t, but I spent a wary few days wondering if I was going to subjected to a revenge attack or get another phone call.
If anyone can give me any information on how things work or if there’s anything I should have done or be doing, I would be very grateful!
