A teacher who heard a "very loud noise" while driving on a busy road was left facing a demand of £450 from a fellow driver, and he is warning others to remain vigilant of the potential "scam".
Teacher Pulled Over After Hearing Loud Noise
The teacher was driving through a "busy, tight town centre" when he "heard a very loud noise". After checking his mirrors, he concluded he had not struck anything and carried on with his journey. A few minutes later, he was "pulled over by a vehicle presumably telling [him] something had fallen off [his car]" or that his "exhaust was dragging or something like that".
A man then approached his vehicle at the passenger door side, and the teacher is "certain" he "pushed" his wing mirror into the car to "simulate a collision."
Demand for £450 and Threat of Police Action
The man told him: "You've smashed my wing mirror and driven off, and I am going to call the police and inform them of this crime." The teacher has "never been in a collision before" and while he did not believe he was "at fault", the "huge, clanging noise" had unsettled him and "really spooked" him, particularly as the man was "very believable".
The man "also had his family in the car" — a woman and two children in the back seat — which enhanced his credibility and further helped to "throw" the teacher. The fraudster began threatening "police action" over the teacher's alleged "crime", warning him that if he "wanted to avoid a fine and points on his license", he "should pay him for the repair to his car."
False Plates Discovered
The teacher said the man searched eBay for the damaged wing mirror, presenting him with an auction listing carrying an asking price of £450. Posting on Reddit, he said: "In hindsight this was surprisingly fast. Going through insurers would have cost me more in the long run no doubt so to save a police investigation I agreed to pay for the repair."
However, suspicions continued to niggle at the teacher, prompting him to check the man's MOT status on gov.uk, where he discovered the licence plate was incorrect — the "car was running false plates for this scam".
The teacher went on: "Fortunately I ran his plate on gov.uk and found it was registered to a completely different car that was taken off the road in 2012. He tried to explain this badly."
He said: "I said, 'actually we should call the police', and all of a sudden his demeanour changed. The cost went down, he's still arguing with me I'm at fault and I'll get points and wreck my insurance. I said, 'fine, let's call the police and work this out'."
It was at this point they agreed to go their separate ways.
Teacher Urges Drivers to Be Safe
Upon reflection, the teacher acknowledged he "would do a lot differently" if faced with the same situation, while noting the advantages of hindsight. He said he would have "insisted" on photographing "both vehicles" and their IDs, but felt grateful to walk "away with no loss, other than time and a loss in humanity".
Since the incident was "incredibly convincing" and occurred at "5pm in broad daylight", he encouraged drivers to "be safe". He was eager to share his experience on Reddit, having struggled to find UK posts about the so-called "wing mirror scam". The teacher claimed to have reported the incident to the police.
