Car crash - what to do

[sandman]

I have no idea what to do if they're truly crazy and call your bluff, but I doubt they will.

That is a definite weakness in your strategy.

a criminal record as long as your arm, including drug-dealing, injuring someone in a crash (couldn't make that up), and blackmail.

If you think for a split-second that the person described above sounds even REMOTELY likely to be "intimidated" by a loud-voiced foreign youth brandishing a CD, then you definitely need your heid examined!

[tsukinodeynatsu]

I have no idea what to do if they're truly crazy and call your bluff, but I doubt they will.

That is a definite weakness in your strategy.

a criminal record as long as your arm, including drug-dealing, injuring someone in a crash (couldn't make that up), and blackmail.

If you think for a split-second that the person described above sounds even REMOTELY likely to be "intimidated" by a loud-voiced foreign youth brandishing a CD, then you definitely need your heid examined!

Point. Most of the people I know who do this are gangsters. I think I hang around too many gangsters, now I think about it.

On that note, if OP has made any male friends in bars, he should definitely be calling for their assistance. THEY should do the negotiating for you.

[whitetiger]

Point. Most of the people I know who do this are gangsters. I think I hang around too many gangsters, now I think about it.

On that note, if OP has made any male friends in bars, he should definitely be calling for their assistance. THEY should do the negotiating for you.

Do not get the local drunks to handle your legal matters. Furthermore, most males that hang out in pubs are not necessarily gangsters. So what gang are your friends from?

[tsukinodeynatsu]

One of them I have no idea, I just know he's getting heavily involved in one. We're not good enough friends that I would pry into his personal life like that but we're good enough friends that I'd ask for his help if I needed it!

The other is the Anping area gangs from down here, I'm not sure which temple is theirs though - I've never asked. I know the big boss and some 'previously-heavily-involed-but-not-anymore-honest' members very well. I also frequently cook dinner for someone from the Annan area gang. It's never brought up that 'Hey, you're all gangsters' though; it's kind of something you pretend not to know.

I said bars because it's actually fairly common down here to know a LOT of gang-folk if you go out to the local bars (particularly talking bars), though I suspect most foreigners don't realise that their drinking buddy is or was a gangster. It's very much still a neighbourhood thing with certain areas - if you're from between XX Street and XX Street, you will have been involved with the XX gang at some point in your life. Even the ones who have 'left' are all 'good friends' who they've known 'all their lives' so they can't just 'leave something like that behind completely'.

EDIT: You wouldn't want 20 people with you at a negotiating table @.@; Take one person who's a good friend. Someone on that side of life is good because they know how to talk the talk and stop the crazies from being crazy, plus the crazy won't consider setting twenty men upon you the next day if they think you might have the ability to do it back to them.

Also, taking a drunk to a negotiating table is a bad idea also. As is being drunk there yourself.

[Charlie Phillips]

get a friend with a licence to front up to the cops and say that someone who ran a red light hit him while your friend was driving your car, then buggered off. there was no point stopping as there was no one there.

Don't you know that's ILLEGAL, urodacus?

God forbid we become so assimilated!

But it's EXPEDIENT. Urodacus has gone native.

[nil desperandum]

Well, the conclusion to this story is as follows: went to court last week and that was a waste of time as they just told us to sort it out ourselves (which is what we've been trying to do all along). So we finally met the guy today in a local police station. Well, it was pretty tense as you can imagine - seeing some bastard sit opposite smirking because he openly admitted that he's only trying to screw you because he knows he can, not because he genuinely feels aggrieved. Anyway, after a short slagging match, he asked for 220,000. We went with 50 and ended up meeting at 80,000. Personally, I wasn't happy at giving him more than 10k because I was still so angry, but my relatives (Taiwanese) insisted that the legal route is incredibly lengthy and more expensive so I reluctantly agreed. The good news is that there's nothing on the legal record - the court said that if we could come to an agreement then they would drop the police fine for driving away from the scene of an accident. All in all, I'd say it was a score-draw in this instance. Don't drive off!

[sandman]

Well, the conclusion to this story is as follows: went to court last week and that was a waste of time as they just told us to sort it out ourselves (which is what we've been trying to do all along). So we finally met the guy today in a local police station. Well, it was pretty tense as you can imagine - seeing some bastard sit opposite smirking because he openly admitted that he's only trying to screw you because he knows he can, not because he genuinely feels aggrieved. Anyway, after a short slagging match, he asked for 220,000. We went with 50 and ended up meeting at 80,000. Personally, I wasn't happy at giving him more than 10k because I was still so angry, but my relatives (Taiwanese) insisted that the legal route is incredibly lengthy and more expensive so I reluctantly agreed. The good news is that there's nothing on the legal record - the court said that if we could come to an agreement then they would drop the police fine for driving away from the scene of an accident. All in all, I'd say it was a score-draw in this instance. Don't drive off!

That's a better result than you could have hoped for. Congratulations

[tomthorne]

Man, the legal system over here . It's certainly different.

Compensation is some arbitrary figure based on negotiation. Nothing to do with damages or injuries - just haggling. Fines are dropped for offences that would probably see you doing time in the UK, because it's convenient to drop them.

Oh well, you shell out 80k but probably save 60k in fines and have no record. Sounds like a fantastic result to me. Much better than a score draw. Going to get a license and insurance now?

[nil desperandum]

So I hand over 80k to the guy in the police station (still seething a little). One last handshake and I'm thinking 'at least that's over with anyway.' Then he says, 'Do you fancy eating dinner? My treat!' Unbelievable.

[tsukinodeynatsu]

So I hand over 80k to the guy in the police station (still seething a little). One last handshake and I'm thinking 'at least that's over with anyway.' Then he says, 'Do you fancy eating dinner? My treat!' Unbelievable.

Hope you didn't go. Only thing I can think is that he wants an excuse to make up some shit and sue you more. O.O;