Thanks for the replies, just an update, we're still waiting to hear back on what is happening - last we heard from the insurer is that neither side is prepared to back down, but our insurer is at least now believing our statement and that it all sounds dodge, i think they're looking into the credibility of the witness. Unfortunately (or maybe not as who knows what would happen), our footy teams play each other this weekend but we are out for the day and will miss it.... gutting, i would have liked to meet her! re the bulbs, on our car they all remained in working order... they're quite high up (but that is proper crash forensics - i'm impressed!!). I'm not sure what damage was done to the other driver's car as i wasn't present, but it sounded comparable to that done to ours.

Hi, despairing at humanity so i thought i'd seek some advice. My wife was on an A-road single carriageway waiting to turn right into a minor road when someone went into the back of her car. She said she could see the car coming but couldn't really do anything and said she was likely distracted by her kids in the back as she wasn't looking ahead (my wifes observations from the mirror). No witnesses were present (apart from the kids), no photos or dashcam. They wanted to not go through insurance companies (and admitted their fault), but my Wife was near her work and on work time (part of her job is to drive around for the NHS visiting old people), so filed the report to her insurer. When my wife was contacted by her insurer, the other driver does have insurance, and they are claiming that my wife reversed into them?! Which was ok, as i thought everyone is at fault if you go into the back (unless maybe in a car park or something). Then a few days after that lie, we are now being told that they have an impartial witness who saw the whole thing, and it will now go down as my Wife's fault. The whole situation is so laughable and we can't believe there are people like this about. I should also add that since then we have discovered our son's play in junior footy teams in the same league so we are likely to "bump" into each other in the near future. Any thoughts on next steps, or are we going to just have to live with being branded liars and face the premium hike?