Police turn away man at station

Allan Hill said when he went to report the accident, which took place on 29 June close to Montecasino in Fourways, a male officer told him to make a statement at the Douglasdale police station which is close to where the accident took place.

According to Hill when he asked for directions to the police station the officer was not able to give him the address. The officer allegedly told Hill to follow the signs along the N1 highway.

“I find this to be completely unacceptable as I was under the impression you could report crime and accidents at any police station in the country. To me this points to laziness within the police service,” said Hill. He told the police officer of a previous accident in Sandton, which he was able to report at the Fairland police station. The officer then accused him of being a bad driver and said, “So having a car accident is a regular thing for you.”

Fairland police station spokesperson Constable Michael Kgatla confirmed that a statement can be taken at any police station irrespective of the area where the incident took place. According to Kgatla a female officer attended to Hill.

“The officer explained that if she opened an accident report at the Fairland police station she would not be able to give Allan the accident report number, but only an occurrence book number. The accident report number could only be obtained by Hill after the report was sent to Douglasdale. Hill could have used the occurrence book number to claim from insurance, but he left without giving his statement, nobody chased him away.”