Complaint Handling Reviews

The Complaints

The complaints in this case arose after the applicant was involved in a road traffic collision (“RTC”) which police officers attended following a report to Police Scotland. The applicant’s car collided with a bus whilst the applicant was carrying out an overtaking manoeuvre. The applicant and the bus driver, held each other at fault for the collision. The incident was reported to Police Scotland and officers attended. On conclusion of the investigation at the scene of the incident, the applicant was issued with a conditional offer of fixed penalty for careless driving.

We have reviewed the handling of four complaints, namely that: 

1. officers carried out insufficient enquiries in respect of the RTC which resulted in her being incorrectly held at fault
2. officers advised that they would carry out CCTV enquiries and visit the applicant later to provide an update, however they failed to do so;
3. officers wrongly issued a ticket to the applicant even though she was not the driver at fault in the collision; and
4. officers were rushed and wanted to leave the scene of the incident as soon as possible; 

Police Scotland's Decision

Police Scotland upheld complaints 1 and 2 but did not uphold complaints 3 and 4.

Our Findings

We have found that Police Scotland handled all the applicant’s complaints to a reasonable standard. 

Police Bodies: Police Scotland