15th March 2024
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Investigation of serious injury collisions are set to improve following the London Assembly’s Police and Crime Committee’s report of findings and recommendations, published today.
Key points
- AVZ believes this is the first time a Local Authority has publicly scrutinised a police force on how they handle serious injury investigations.
- Following a call for written evidence and two oral evidence sessions with police, victims’ organisations, solicitors and campaigners, the committee identified gaps in how serious injuries are investigated. Issues with training, resourcing, evidence collection, communication with victims and solicitors, and a lack of transparency and accountability were found to be impacting serious injury investigation in London.
- The report outlines recommendations that if implemented, would significantly improve not only the quality of investigations conducted by the Metropolitan Police Service (“Met”), but also ensure that Londoners can have confidence in serious injury investigations and that victims do not lose out on the compensation they urgently need to help them cope and recover from their injuries.
Background
In 2022, 3,859 people were reported to have been seriously injured in collisions in London. Whilst the definition of a serious injury is broad, from a broken finger all the way to life-changing injuries like a broken neck or back, collisions are nonetheless impacting many Londoners. And the police investigation of a serious injury matters. Without a high-quality investigation, a criminal prosecution is not possible – leaving drivers who pose a risk to the public undeterred and unpunished. Civil compensation which is vital for much-needed rehabilitation becomes harder to access, reduced in amount, or not possible if evidence is not collected by police to prove liability. And road safety policy is impacted if a thorough investigation is not conducted, as without knowing the causes of collisions, decisions on how to prevent future collisions are not based in fact.
Despite the importance of a quality investigation, the procedures and practices of the Met were found by the committee to be opaque, and evidence both sent in and explained in the oral sessions showed that serious gaps exist in how serious injury collisions are currently investigated. The report identifies that whilst the Serious Collisions Investigation Unit (SCIU), despite some resourcing issues, provides an exemplar service, this was often not the case for the majority of collisions, which typically are investigated at the scene by a borough officer, and then continued by desk-based police staff at Marlowe House. It is worth pointing out here that the SCIU investigates fatalities, and only about 100 of the 3,859 people seriously injured in London every year. Whilst a significant part of the report is dedicated to the procedures and practices of the SCIU, attention is also given to the work of borough officers and Marlowe House. Evidence from both the oral sessions and the written submissions found issues in terms of evidence gathering, resourcing, training, communication with victims and solicitors to facilitate compensation, and a lack of transparency and accountability.
Key Recommendations
A total of 11 recommendations to address these issues are outlined in the report. Whilst all of them would improve the situation in London, AVZ has identified four key recommendations:
1. Training
“By 31 December 2024, the Met should review its guidance and training offered to police
officers attending the scene of a collision, to ensure they understand what is required and that all necessary “basic checks” are being completed.”
…and…
“The Met should develop an action plan for how it will ensure all officers involved in the
investigation of serious injury collisions are equipped with the most up-to-date guidance and
training. The Met should provide an update to this Committee on planned extra training for
collision investigators by 31 December 2024. The Met should also consider how it can involve organisations that support road traffic victims in the design and provision of this additional training.”
We heard from the evidence given by police that borough officers receive very little training on road traffic offences and collision investigation, with a lot of it done online. Recognising this gap, Superintendent Ross Morrell, the SCIU lead, spoke about further improvements they wanted to introduce. Based on the approach taken in Manchester, the MPS wants to introduce “enhanced supervisors” in each of 12 Super-Boroughs (2-3 boroughs), with two trained collision investigators assigned to each of the enhanced supervisors, working on a two-year rota. This will be included to improved training and a requirement for ‘basic checks’ (CCTV evidence gathering, witness statements, body-worn footage etc). Ensuring this is delivered through an action plan, would significantly improve the quality of the investigations being conducted. AVZ welcomes the opportunity to be involved in the design and provision of this additional training.
2. Transparency and Accountability
“The Met should work with MOPAC, and the London Victims’ Commissioner, to introduce a
satisfaction survey for victims of serious injury collisions in 2025-26; and publish the results of this survey.”
…and…
“In response to this report, the Met should set out what oversight and performance measures it has in place to quality-assure evidence collected at the scene of a serious injury collision.”
Surveying seriously injured victims on their experience of the police investigation will allow the police to be held accountable on the service they are delivering. As shown throughout this inquiry, the evidence given has been entirely qualitative from victims and their solicitors. Surveying victims would ensure greater opportunity to identify good practice by the police, as well as areas which require improvement. Equally, clarity around how the Met is ensuring the quality of the serious injury investigations they conduct will help to improve them.
3. Facilitating, not impeding, civil compensation
“The Met should improve training, and associated guidance, provided to investigative officers
and staff about what information they can disclose to victims, families and lawyers during the
investigation of a serious injury collision. It should provide the Committee with an update on
how it has improved this information training by 31 December 2024.”
… and…
“By 31 December 2024, the Met should explore the possibility of developing a standardised
process and an online portal for victims and families of serious injury collisions to request
Information.”
Often the most pressing concern for Londoners who sustain a serious injury is access to compensation to help them financially if they’ve been rendered unable to work, and also to help pay for rehabilitation. Solicitors during the evidence session reported that the NPCC guidelines on disclosure were frequently not being met by the Met, and this was delaying victims’ access to much needed compensation. Improving training on this issue, along with the systems that police and solicitors use for disclosure, would go a long way towards ensuring victims can get access to financial support.
4. No Further Action
“The Met should review its standard operating procedures and guidance to increase the amount of information that victims receive in serious injury investigations that result in no further action (NFA).
The Met and TfL should establish a joint review of serious injury collisions that result in NFA
decisions in 2023-24, to ensure that these decisions were appropriately quality-assured and well communicated to the victims involved. In response to this report, they should share the
terms of reference for this review.”
Most serious injury collision investigations by the Met are believed to result in a ‘No Further Action’ (NFA) decision. The reasons for NFA (e.g. lack of evidence, evidence not gathered, victim at fault) are neither communicated to the victim nor recorded. As such, neither victims nor the public know why the police have taken a decision not to prosecute. This not only leaves victims in the dark about the circumstances of the serious injury they sustained, but also makes it difficult to monitor how well the police are investigating collisions. Both the joint review and more detailed reasons given to victims would improve this.
Summary
Many thanks to the London Assembly’s Police and Crime Committee for this report. AVZ will continue to lobby and work with the police to adopt the recommendations outlined in the report, and we will also shortly be publishing our own survey for Londoners who have been seriously injured on the roads, to continue to provide evidence as to how serious injury investigations impact road collision victims.
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