A Devon family is calling for the driver of a car involved in an alleged hit and run to come forward after a woman was left suffering from shock and several injuries.
John Hensby and Lisa Robey were travelling on the A386 New Road from Torrington to Bideford at approximately 7.45pm yesterday (Sunday, September 24) when they were hit by a car which has left turquoise paint on their vehicle.
The car pulled out of the Devonshire Park junction and hit the front of Mr Hensby’s car before continuing all the way along the vehicle. The car then drove off in the direction of Torrington.
Gail Clark, Lisa’s sister, said the police were called straight away but decided not to attend the scene as no one was hurt and low on resources.
She said: “But within 10 minutes my sister had a funny turn, she had numbness on her face and shoulder and she had to go to A&E.
"She is still very sore and she’s got whiplash, she’s been given some painkillers, and she’s going to be off work until the swelling in her shoulder from her seatbelt goes down.
"Some injuries take time to come out fully. They are both still in shock.
“A crime has been committed because they left the scene of a crash, so regardless of whether anyone had been injured we felt the police should have been in attendance. We have to go to Bideford police station today to fill in an incident report and John and Lisa are just trying to sort out insurance and things like that now.
“It’s just not right that the other driver didn’t stop. Our car is likely to be written off, it’s smashed in at the front and the electrics aren’t working properly, and their car is probably damaged too. We have a witness too, an ex-policeman who had to direct traffic around our vehicle. We just need to find the driver. We believe it to be a Rover 25 on inspection of the parts.”
Gail’s husband Paul has posted pictures of the damage to Mr Hensby’s car on Facebook, which has been shared nearly 300 times.
Gail has also uploaded pictures of the turquoise streak of paint left on their white car, asking locals to look out for a car of that distinctive colour.
A police spokesman said: “No injuries were reported to the police during our contact about this incident.
“The police will always prioritise available resources and each response is linked to ‘threat, risk and harm’ and predominantly the needs of the victim. Not all reported incidents will receive an immediate policing response to the scene; that includes a non-injury minor collision where there are no victim vulnerabilities or concerns flagged with us when reported.
“If police were informed of an injured party due to this incident, the response could well have been different, but we must make operational decisions on the information given to us by the caller.”
If you have any information about this collision you can contact police by emailing 101@dc.police.uk or by calling 101 and quoting log number 829 of 24/09/17.
