News: Ed Balls fined £900 for leaving scene of accident

THOSE DRIVERS who have ever considered not reporting a gentle parking knock to the owner of the other car, should learn from Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls’ experience.

Last May Balls admitted to leaving the scene of a low-speed parking accident without telling the owner of the other car involved. This week he was fined £900 and given five penalty points for the offence.

The district judge at Leeds Magistrates’ Court said his was “at the lower end of the scale of seriousness.”

However, he said that had Balls stopped to exchange details with the owner of the other car, the incident would never have been the subject of criminal proceedings.

Vehicles whose drivers have driven away from the scene of an accident without leaving their details, are logged as untraced by the Motor Insurers’ Bureau. In 2013 they numbered 12,884.

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