Home › Guides › What to do after a car accident

What to Do After a Car Accident in the UK: Step-by-Step

Stop. Check whether anyone is hurt. Give your name, address and vehicle registration to anyone with reasonable grounds to ask, and get theirs. Photograph the scene before the vehicles move. You only have to report the accident to the police if you did not give your details at the scene — and you must tell your insurer either way, even if you are not claiming.

Last updated 4 August 2026 · Applies to England, Scotland and Wales

The legal minimum: what you must do

Your duties after a collision come from section 170 of the Road Traffic Act 1988. They apply when an accident happens "owing to the presence of a mechanically propelled vehicle on a road or other public place" and someone other than you is injured, or damage is caused to another vehicle, to certain animals, or to property.

There are two duties, and the second depends on the first:

1. Stop and give your details. You must stop and, if asked by anyone with reasonable grounds, give your name and address, the vehicle's registration, and the owner's name and address if the vehicle is not yours.
2. Report to the police — only if you did not give those details. If you did not give your name and address at the scene, you must report the accident at a police station or to a constable "as soon as is reasonably practicable and, in any case, within twenty-four hours".

Step by step at the scene

1. Stop and make the scene safe

   Stop as soon as it is safe. Switch on hazard lights. If you are on a motorway or fast road and it is safe to do so, get everyone behind a barrier rather than staying in the vehicle. Do not stand between vehicles.

2. Check for injuries and call 999 if needed

   Call 999 if anyone is injured, the road is blocked, or a vehicle is in a dangerous position. If you are unsure exactly where you are, a what3words address narrows you to a three-metre square — give it alongside the road name and direction, not instead of them.

3. Exchange details

   The legal minimum is name, address and vehicle registration. In practice, take:

   • Full name, address and phone number
   • Vehicle registration, make, model and colour
   • Insurer name and policy number
   • Whether they are the registered keeper — if not, the owner's name and address

   Photograph their driving licence and insurance certificate if they will let you. It removes any argument later about what you were told.

4. Photograph everything before the vehicles move

   Once the cars are moved, the positions are gone for good. Capture wide shots showing both vehicles and the road layout, close-ups of each area of damage, all registration plates, skid marks and debris, road signs and markings, and the weather and light conditions.

5. Get witness details

   A name and mobile number is enough. Independent witnesses carry real weight when the two drivers disagree, and they disperse within minutes.

6. Record your account while it is fresh

   Memory degrades fast, and insurers may not take a statement for days or weeks. Record a voice note covering the direction you were travelling, your speed, what you saw, what you did, and the sequence of events.

7. Tell your insurer

   GOV.UK is explicit: "You must also report the accident to your insurance company, even if you're not planning to make a claim." Most policies require notification within a set period. Staying quiet to protect a no-claims discount can invalidate your cover if the other driver claims against you months later.

Why almost nobody manages all of that

Read that list in the calm of your kitchen and it looks straightforward. At the roadside it is a different proposition. You have just been in a collision. Your hands are shaking, there is traffic going past, it may be dark or raining, and the other driver is either apologetic, aggressive or on the phone to someone. You are trying to remember a checklist you have never needed before.

So people take four photographs instead of fifteen, all of them close-ups of their own bumper. They get a name and a phone number but not the insurer. They mean to write it all down later and then don't. Nobody is being careless — the situation is simply hostile to careful record-keeping.

The consequence surfaces weeks later, when the accounts diverge. Insurers decide liability on the evidence in front of them. Where one driver has photographs of the vehicles in position, an account recorded at the scene and a witness number, and the other has a hazy recollection, the outcome tends to follow the evidence. Where neither party can prove much, claims are commonly settled on a split-liability basis — which means a claim against your record, an excess to pay, and a premium that reflects it for years.

When you must involve the police

Beyond the section 170 reporting duty, contact the police if:

• The other driver leaves without giving their details
• You believe the other driver is uninsured — GOV.UK advises telling the police
• You suspect drink or drug driving
• Anyone was injured and you cannot produce your insurance certificate at the scene
• The road is blocked or there is a continuing danger
• You think the collision was deliberate, such as a "crash for cash" set-up

Should you admit fault?

No — and not because it is legally forbidden, but because most UK motor policies contain a condition requiring you not to admit liability. Breaching it can affect your cover. Fault is determined afterwards from the evidence, sometimes apportioned between both drivers.

This is not a licence to be unhelpful. Checking whether someone is hurt, apologising for the situation, and exchanging details courteously are not admissions of fault. The distinction is between being decent and volunteering conclusions about blame.

What counts as an "accident" under section 170

Wider than most people assume. The duty bites where there is injury to someone other than you, or damage to another vehicle, to property, or to an animal — and "animal" has a precise statutory meaning. Section 170(8) defines it as a horse, cattle, ass, mule, sheep, pig, goat or dog.

Cats are not on that list. Hitting a cat does not trigger the section 170 duty to stop and report, though hitting a dog does. It also covers hitting a parked car, a wall, a bollard or a garden fence. If nobody is there to take your details, that is exactly the situation where the police reporting duty applies.

If the other driver drives off

1. Write down or record the registration immediately, before you lose it
2. Note the make, model, colour and the direction they went
3. Look for witnesses and dashcam footage from other vehicles
4. Report it to the police — failing to stop is a criminal offence
5. Tell your insurer. You may be able to claim through the Motor Insurers' Bureau if the driver is never traced

What to do in the following days

• Injuries: see a GP or attend A&E. Some injuries, whiplash in particular, surface a day or two later, and a contemporaneous medical record matters if you later claim.
• Keep every receipt: recovery, storage, hire car, taxis, prescriptions.
• Secure your dashcam footage before it loops and overwrites itself. This is the single most commonly lost piece of evidence.
• Write down anything you remember later and date it.

Sources

• Road Traffic Act 1988, section 170 — duty to stop, give particulars and report
• GOV.UK — Vehicle insurance: if you're in an accident

Related guides

• What details to exchange after an accident: a UK checklist
• How to document car accident evidence
• The six point safety check to run at the scene