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When You Must Report a Car Accident to UK Police
Only when you did not give your name and address at the scene. That single condition decides it — and it is the part almost everyone gets wrong, because "report it within 24 hours" has hardened into folklore. There is no general duty to tell the police about every bump. There is a duty to stop, and a separate duty to report that only bites when the first one was not satisfied.
Last updated 5 August 2026 · Applies to England, Scotland and Wales
Two duties, not one
Section 170 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 creates two obligations, and they operate in sequence:
| Duty | What it requires | When it applies |
|---|---|---|
| Stop and give particulars | Stop, and if required by anyone with reasonable grounds, give your name and address, the vehicle registration, and the owner's details if not yours | Always, where the accident caused injury to another person or damage to another vehicle, property, or certain animals |
| Report to the police | Report at a police station or to a constable, as soon as is reasonably practicable and in any case within 24 hours | Only where you did not give your name and address at the scene |
GOV.UK states it in one line: you must report the accident to the police within 24 hours "if you do not give your details at the time of the accident". Exchange details properly and the reporting duty never arises.
The 24 hours is a ceiling, not an allowance
This is the most consequential misunderstanding on the subject. The statutory wording is "as soon as is reasonably practicable and, in any case, within twenty-four hours". The Crown Prosecution Service is explicit that the duty to report means "as soon as reasonably practicable" — not within the full 24-hour window often mistakenly believed.
If you could reasonably have reported at 6pm and instead reported at 4pm the following day, you are inside 24 hours and may still have failed the duty. The clock is not a grace period you are entitled to spend.
How long must you actually stay?
CPS guidance puts it plainly: the duty to stop means to stop sufficiently long enough to exchange the particulars. Not a token pause. Not long enough to establish that the other driver seems unbothered. Long enough that anyone entitled to your details has had a real opportunity to take them.
Leaving early is where an ordinary collision becomes a criminal matter — and the CPS notes that failing to stop is usually viewed as the more serious of the two offences.
What the offence actually carries
Failing to comply is an offence under section 170(4). Under the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988, Schedule 2:
| Mode of trial | Summarily (magistrates' court) |
|---|---|
| Maximum penalty | Six months' imprisonment, a level 5 fine (the highest magistrates' band), or both |
| Endorsement | Obligatory |
| Penalty points | 5 – 10 |
| Disqualification | Discretionary |
Five to ten points is a substantial range for a single offence — enough on its own to put a newly qualified driver over the six-point threshold that revokes a licence within the first two years.
When to involve the police even though you don't have to
The statutory duty is a floor, not a recommendation. Contact the police regardless where:
- The other driver left without giving details — failing to stop is a criminal offence and they cannot report it for you
- You believe they are uninsured — GOV.UK advises telling the police
- You suspect drink or drugs, or driving that was dangerous rather than merely careless
- The details you were given seem false — a refusal to give insurance particulars once a claim is made is itself an offence under section 154
- The road is blocked or a vehicle is in a dangerous position
- It looks staged — a sudden unexplained brake, a car full of passengers claiming injury, an unusually swift offer of a preferred garage
Where someone has been injured, section 170 additionally requires you to produce your certificate of insurance; if you cannot at the scene, you must report and produce it within the same 24-hour framework.
How to report
The Act requires reporting "at a police station or to a constable" — in person, to an officer. Notifying your insurer is not reporting to the police, and nor is a phone call to a friend at the station. In practice:
-
999 if it is still an emergency
Anyone injured, road blocked, continuing danger, or a driver who has left the scene and may still be nearby.
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101 or in person otherwise
Call 101 for non-emergencies, or attend a police station. Many forces now also offer online reporting for collisions — check your own force's website, since provision varies.
-
Take the reference number
Ask for the incident or reference number and write it down. Your insurer will ask for it, and it is your proof that you discharged the duty.
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Report the driving separately if needed
Reporting the accident is not the same as reporting an offence. If you have dashcam footage of dangerous driving, most forces accept public submissions through the National Dash Cam Safety Portal, often run under the name Operation Snap.
Whether you had to report often turns on what you can show you did at the scene. A contemporaneous record of who you gave details to, when, and what was exchanged is the difference between a clear account and a recollection. Car Crash Lawyer AI timestamps each step as you complete it and assembles the whole thing into a report. See how it works.
Common situations
You hit a parked car and nobody is around
The duty to report applies — there was nobody to give particulars to. Leaving a note is decent and sensible, but it does not by itself discharge a statutory duty that requires reporting to a constable or at a police station. Do both.
You clipped a wing mirror and both drove on
If neither of you stopped and exchanged details, the duty to report applies to you regardless of what the other driver did. "They didn't stop either" is not a defence.
Nobody seems hurt and there is barely a mark
Damage is damage. Exchange details and the reporting duty falls away — but injuries such as whiplash frequently surface a day or two later, so a claim can follow a collision that looked like nothing at the time. Notify your insurer either way; GOV.UK is clear you must, even if you are not claiming.
You hit an animal
Section 170(8) defines "animal" for these purposes as a horse, cattle, ass, mule, sheep, pig, goat or dog. Hitting a dog engages the duty; a cat does not appear on that list. Damage to the vehicle or property involved may engage it in any event.
The evidence that shows you did it properly
Whether the reporting duty applied to you depends entirely on what happened at the scene — who asked for your details, what you gave them, and when. Weeks later, that comes down to whichever account is better evidenced.
Car Crash Lawyer AI walks you through the scene while you are still there: the other driver's details, photographs in the right order, a spoken account it transcribes, your what3words location, a DVLA check from the registration, and any police reference number — assembled into an 18-page incident report and emailed to you.
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- Road Traffic Act 1988, section 170 — duty to stop, give particulars and report
- Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988, Schedule 2 — prosecution and punishment
- CPS — Road Traffic: Summary Offences — on the duty to stop and "as soon as reasonably practicable"
- GOV.UK — Vehicle insurance: if you're in an accident