I was hit by Sophie Wessex’s car... and they just drove off!
WHEN a 4x4 simply drove off after a collision with Gill Walker’s Peugeot she was shocked that the driver didn’t stop to swap insurance details. But seconds later an unmarked police car with flashing blue lights drew up to tell her the other vehicle, which it was escorting, was carrying a member of the Royal Family and wasn’t allowed to pull over. In fact, her car had been in a prang with a police vehicle carrying the Countess of Wessex – and four months later, she is still awaiting an insurance payout. The case may even go to court because Mrs Walker claims the sergeant driving the police 4x4 has denied liability, leavpulled ing her insurer no choice but to sue West Midlands Police. The 59-year-old receptionist said she was changing lanes in Birmingham city centre at rush hour when she was hit by the 4x4. It drove away, leaving her to exchange insurance details with the officers in the second car, and give them her dashcam footage. The crash took place on November 13, when Sophie Wessex was in the city opening a rehabilitation centre for injured soldiers – the only royal on official business in Birmingham that day. Mrs Walker, a mother of two who was driving home to Bartley Green, said: ‘I’d indicated and moved over into the middle lane. ‘On my dashcam you see the 4x4 in the right-hand lane, its wheels turn and they’ve caught me from the back end of my bumper. ‘They stopped and I wound down my window and indicated for them to pull over. But as I over, the 4x4 just drove off. Then another 4x4 with blue lights pulled over and I shouted, “He’s driven off!” They said, “No, they’re with us”.’ She says the officer explained to her: ‘There’s a Royal on board, they’re not allowed to stop.’ Mrs Walker asked who it was but was told they could not say. She said West Midlands Police had denied liability to her insurer, Tesco Bank. ‘The police are saying it’s all my fault,’ she told the Birmingham Mail. ‘But the dashcam footage shows I’ve clearly got into the lane and they have hit me. ‘They’ve put the blame on me. It looks like it’s going to court – the police don’t want to know.’ But she added: ‘They hit me, I didn’t hit them. There wasn’t a huge amount of damage to the car and it was still driveable. So why are they denying they did it? They clearly did. Tesco is going to have to take legal action against the police’s insurance company.’ A West Midlands Police spokesman confirmed one of its cars ‘was in a collision with a vehicle during a police operation, resulting in damage to both’. He added: ‘Due to operational reasons and force protocol, the vehicle did not stop, but another in convoy did. A report has been completed by the driver, a sergeant, and is with the force’s insurers.’ A Tesco Bank spokesman said: ‘When we are unable to reach a resolution with the insurer of the third party, we take the case to litigation, which in this case is the insurer of the police vehicle.’ Buckingham Palace declined to comment last night.