A couple of hours ago I was involved in my first crash since driving (5 and a half years!).

My girlfriend and I were on our way up to a funeral in Sheffield through Chatsworth Park in Derbyshire. I don't know if anyone knows it, but its where the Duke of Devonshire lives, and because royalty have an obsession with wildlife, the park is full of sheep, deer, and game birds, with an unfenced public road winding through the middle of it.

Anyway, we entered the park at about 9.40, and because it was quite early I was taking it slowly because of the amount of wildlife, there's always sheep and birds that run out onto the road unexpectedly. We were almost through the park when a group of pheasants started to run towards the road about 100 yards in front of us. I began to slow down, breaking gently as I wasn't sure if they were going to veer off somewhere else.

They didn't veer off, they kept running towards the road, so I slowed down a little bit more, eventually coming to a stop just in front of the birds. I'd been watching the bloke in his Jaguar XJS behind me in the mirror through the park, and as I came to a stop I heard a massive screech of tyres and then BANG! we were pushed forwards about 30 feet

I managed to de-clutch and let go of the brakes before the impact so it wasn't as bad as it could have been, but its still made a mess of the Polo:

Anyway, the first thing that my girlfriend said was that her neck hurt, so I got out and went to see the driver of the Jag. He got out and said "well thats all I need!" and I agreed with him. He wanted to exchange insurance details and go, but I made him wait while I phoned the police and an ambulance, as by now I was beginning to hurt a bit.

The police attended, breathalysed us etc, all clear. Got his statement and mine, and after about half an hour or so we were able to go. The ambulance came and checked both Jen and me over, but said we're ok on the scene and to get to hospital if things get worse later.

The police have said it was all his fault, he wasn't paying attention to the road or the surroundings (animals etc), and they think he may have been going too fast, based on the 30 feet long skid marks before the point of impact. He even said that its dangerous with animals round there! Have contacted insurance etc, but its definitely going to be a write-off

Here's a few more pics for those morbid people who always want pics!:

Creased N/S and O/S quarters:

The Jag - doesn't look bad but the Polo fought back well! It has creased the bonnet and scuttle, pushed the bumper back into the rad and pushed the rad back:

The scene. Where we ended up:

The skid marks:

I removed the rear bumper and O/S wheel arch and was able to drive the car home! The shell is twisted as it crabs a little bit, but nothing else has been affected, and I'm going to be breaking it, and putting all the parts onto another Mk3 - so I'll be back! :)

Anyway, will be keeping my eye out over the next couple of weeks for a decent Mk3, and waiting for results on the insurance etc.

Will get some more pics in a bit now its home, but you get the idea!

An unhappy Tom.

Edited 9 February, 200818 yr by minis84

Damn, sorry to hear about this :( Jag driver can't have any excuses.

Whiplash compo though... every cloud eh

Ouch, damn V12 jags take a runway to slow down dont they. Glad you and the girlfriend didnt come out with any serious injuries, though seatbelt bruising is always unavoidable!! The Jag looks unmarked? Maybe it looks worse up close?

It wasn't even a V12 though, it was 'only' a 3.6 six-pot :)

Yeah if you read what I wrote about it the Jag did sustain quite a bit of damage underneath! Plus the resolution of the phone camera isn't great...

Edited 9 February, 200818 yr by minis84

Yeah I read that.... only a 3.6 lol. Yeah the jag seems to have took the same damage as my mates car when he skidded on ice before christmas, though he didnt want to get rid of the car (I have no idea why it was only a rover with 90k on the clocks and a dodgy gearbox lol), so he had a new radiator, bumper, bonnet and lights... talk about loving your car!! You got anything in mind for the next GT?

Edit: another mate of mine was in a car crash last year (real mess of a crash he was lucky to be alive) and he was in the back seat of the car, which got absolutely mangled... and he got out walking! He complained about being sore and ended up being in agony for about 6 months and wasnt allowed to play gaelic or that for his team (which he lived for), but found out he's getting 5 or 6 k compensation within next few years!! Hint hint

Edited 9 February, 200818 yr by Chris_McCartney

I know that road. Gutted about the polo.

Dunno why, but I've always liked XJS'.

100% claim whiplash.

my brother just got paid 1800 and his damage was minor.

Really sorry for you Tom, what a right bastard that is. Glad to hear that you and Jen are pretty much ok bar the unavoidable "whiplash".

I suppose the only "positive" thing to come out of all this is that at least there is no question about who is at fault. It may take time but at least you will get paid out.

Good luck with the insurance, lets hope they dig deep and pay up ASAP.

i love the bit where the polo fought back LEGEND ! gutted tho another polo death .... get that compo for both of you ! such a shit jag any way hope it gets written off to teach that tw*t a lesson !

were the pheasants o.k????(sorry some one had to say it)

unlucky though hope its all sorthed oon

what a nice person .

i know where you mean near chatsworth been a few times!

such a shame this has happened i hope it all gets sorted hastily, an your both ok! :)

bad news mate! hope everything gets sorted out asap and you can get back on the road

thats plop dude, ino where u mean, bin down them roads early and late in the day, gota keep you attention up!

did u actually run over what you tried to avoid then?

100% claim whiplash.

my brother just got paid 1800 and his damage was minor.

Did he even have whiplash?

jag is mint! hope you were ok though!

Edited 9 February, 200818 yr by Dom101

Thanks for all the replies everyone :)

Am feeling a bit worse now, both of our necks are hurting more than before, and we've both got headaches, never mind, if it continues we'll get to the doctors on monday...

As for the fucking pheasant, no the bloody thing ran off!!!

On the upshot though, this afternoon I went and bought another Polo

A 1.0 indian red Coupe, pretty much absolutely mint, 87k, sunroof, everything working etc etc - once the assessor has been to see my GT (sometime this week) then I'll be swapping everything over and having a nice Indian Red GT! So every cloud and all that!

Thats shit!

I go through there a fair bit, always a bit dodgey with the roads and animals the way it is.

That jag driver is a tool though, I would have been pissed with him

Gutted to hear about the polo, was a minter too!

I'm about most nights and weekends, give me a shout and i'll pop down and help you do the conversion.Also got an engine crane if required?

Pettsy

Ahh thats shit, seen your car loads of times around Ilkeston looked like a minter

Glad youv got yourself another shell though.

Such a shame, but at least your almost 100% ok. I've had the 'trauma' of having to sort out the result of someone elses bad driving and even though I wasn't even in the car and it wasn't a write off (just!) it was still a pain. I'm surprised you got whiplash considering you appear to one of the few people that have adjusted their head restraint accordingly.

At least you've got a replacement lined up and Indian Red is clearly the best colour for a MK3

Hope everything gets sorted quick.

Bugger!!

I hope he said sorry after the 'thats all I need' comment. There is allsorts always running through there, I came back through there after going to a wedding in October and it was really misty, took it really steady.

gutted for you mate your car looked a nice one as well :( know the road very well i go bikeing in the fields above. my mate had a deer run into the side of his car on that road did a fair bit of damage but he got some free colour coding done. I'm quite handy with a spanna if you need a hand as well

edit just seen your drives: bit at the side what engine you got in your mini?

Edited 9 February, 200818 yr by eskimo_god

That sucks man, if that had been me and the Jag driver has said ''well thats all i need'' i would have given him a taste of the back o' my hand lol.