Z4 was hit whilst parked - luckily got a dash cam - but numberplate is not legible - *UPDATE found the car that hit me!!

[Acid_Monkey]

Hi!

My Z4 was hit, whilst parked in a gnarly area in Edgware, London with damage to drivers side front quarter panel, bumper and alloys. I'm so gutted!

Luckily I've installed a dashcam, but unfortunately the numberplate of the Honda CRV that hit me was unclear as the sun was out!

What do I do? I've made a report at the local police station, but doubt they'll request the video footage or cctv footage from the nearby bank and shops that would have seen the car enter the street where my car was hit.

I'm not sure I want to tell my insurers as I'll lose my no claims discount...! Wondering if there's anyway I could somehow extract the numberplate from the video...

Anyways heres the video - any advice would be super appreciated! - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxctBVxjsZY

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxctBVxjsZY[/youtube]

[85genius]

Sorry but with the reflections I dint think you'll get it from there.

Isn't leaving the scene of an accident a serious offence, I'd bug the police until they get the cctv, or even try contacting the camera owners yourself to get the footage

[John002]

If you grab a still image one of the photoshop gurus might be able to pull the reg from it.

[Acid_Monkey]

If you grab a still image one of the photoshop gurus might be able to pull the reg from it.

Yeah was thinking the same thing - unfortunately I don't know any gurus - but may try my luck on fiverr.com

[Acid_Monkey]

Sorry but with the reflections I dint think you'll get it from there.

Isn't leaving the scene of an accident a serious offence, I'd bug the police until they get the cctv, or even try contacting the camera owners yourself to get the footage

Yup - it is an offence, but I think the Police have better things to do - I was told by the Police when reporting at the station that this kind of thing happens 100's of times a day in London, and that I was better off speaking to my insurers to resolve it...

[Scooba_Steve]

My car was parked while hit once, it went to the Magistrates once I told the Met that insurers were dragging their heels. I had a witness though.

[Wildfire]

You could try and extract something out of some stills, but between the reflection, sun and the smear on the screen it may be very hard..

[alane29]

lots of people travel the same roads daily, I would be tempted to go back around the same time and wait round ..you never know

[PerryGunn]

I've grabbed what I believe is the most likely frame from the video and processed it but there isn't enough contrast to pull the reg plate - that said, I think that YouTube re-encodes the uploaded video so it's quite possible that detail has been lost, if you can grab a few original full-res frames and make them available I'm happy to have another go

[HubertK]

Go to any local shop which you think would have captured the car and ask if you could see the cctv or if someone could go through the times that the accident happened. I would be tempted to offer some cash if it's small independent shop if they don't want to give out the cctv.

[Acid_Monkey]

lots of people travel the same roads daily, I would be tempted to go back around the same time and wait round ..you never know

If else fails - this seems to be the option that makes the most sense - was thinking of staking out the road every Friday from 20 minutes...

[Acid_Monkey]

Go to any local shop which you think would have captured the car and ask if you could see the cctv or if someone could go through the times that the accident happened. I would be tempted to offer some cash if it's small independent shop if they don't want to give out the cctv.

Unfortunately the only shop with cctv that would have see the car enter from the main road is a bank... and plenty of council cameras, but I've no hope for either...!

[Acid_Monkey]

I've grabbed what I believe is the most likely frame from the video and processed it but there isn't enough contrast to pull the reg plate - that said, I think that YouTube re-encodes the uploaded video so it's quite possible that detail has been lost, if you can grab a few original full-res frames and make them available I'm happy to have another go

Thanks for taking the time to do this for me. Really appreciated!

I've pm'd you a link to the dropbox original video file. It starts 1:14 into it.

Thanks again - thats awesome of you!

[SO8]

As has been said, the police will not make CCTV enquiries - they simply haven't got the people to do it.

Have a go at grabbing stills and working on them - a part index will allow the police to do certain checks if the part index has enough of the index.

[Acid_Monkey]

Update - managed to make out the first half of the numberplate by playing and back and forth a section of the video. Spent around two hours this evening scouring the streets near where the accident happened - guess what? found the car that hit me, with my paint down the side of his car! W@nker! Updated my fail to stop report with the police station with the persons plates and address....

Tempted to leave a note on his windscreen...

Result!

Thanks everyone for your help/advice - I guess persistence pays off!