A hit and run in the UK is a criminal offence under Section 170 of the Road Traffic Act 1988. If you are involved in a road collision, you must stop at the scene and share your details; if you cannot, you must report it to the police as soon as reasonably practicable and within 24 hours. Fault does not come into it. Even if the other driver caused the crash, walking away can cost you up to six months in prison, an unlimited fine, between 5 and 10 penalty points, and possible disqualification — and far more serious charges follow if anyone was injured or killed.1Legislation.gov.uk. Road Traffic Act 1988, Section 170
What You Must Do at the Scene
Section 170 applies whenever a mechanically propelled vehicle on a road or public place is involved in an accident causing personal injury to someone other than the driver, damage to another vehicle, damage to certain animals, or damage to roadside property such as fences, walls, or hedges.
When any of that happens, you have to stop. If anyone with reasonable grounds asks, you must give them your name and address, the vehicle owner’s name and address if the car isn’t yours, and the registration number.
Where there has been personal injury, you also have to produce your certificate of insurance at the scene to a police officer or to anyone who reasonably asks for it. If you can’t produce it then and there, you must report the accident and produce the certificate at a police station within 24 hours, or within seven days at a station you named when filing your report.
One boundary catches people out. The animals that trigger the duty to stop are listed: horses, cattle, donkeys, mules, sheep, pigs, goats, and dogs. Cats, foxes, and other wildlife are not on that list, so hitting a cat does not create a Section 170 duty, however unpleasant the situation.
Reporting to the Police When You Couldn’t Exchange Details
Sometimes there is no one to exchange details with. The owner of a parked car is nowhere to be found. A pedestrian walks off before you can speak to them. In those cases you must report the collision to the police, at a police station or to a constable, as soon as reasonably practicable and always within 24 hours.
That 24-hour window is a ceiling, not a grace period. The statutory phrase is “as soon as is reasonably practicable.” Leaving it until hour 23 when a station was open all day could still put you in the wrong.
Some forces now run online reporting portals. Whether those satisfy wording that specifies a police station or a constable is not settled. If you want to be certain, report in person. You can file an online report as well for your own records, but treat the in-person visit as the one that counts.
Two Offences, Not One
Failing to stop and failing to report are separate offences under Section 170. The duty to stop bites the moment the collision happens. The duty to report bites separately, if you did not exchange details at the scene. Prosecutors regularly charge both.
Each carries the same maximum penalty, so a conviction on both counts effectively doubles your exposure. A court can impose penalty points on each offence and weigh disqualification against the combined picture.
The Penalties
Failing to stop or report is summary-only, meaning it is dealt with in a magistrates’ court. The maximum sentence is six months in custody and an unlimited fine.
The Sentencing Council’s guideline splits the offence into three seriousness categories. Magistrates look at how serious the collision was, whether anyone was injured, and how long you waited before coming forward. Penalty points run from 5 to 10, and the court can disqualify you outright.
Fines are means-tested. The magistrate considers your weekly income, outgoings, and dependants before fixing the amount. “Unlimited” means there is no statutory cap; the figure still has to be proportionate to the offence and to your finances.
When Injury or Death Is Involved
If someone has been seriously hurt or killed, the failing-to-stop charge is often the least of a driver’s problems. Prosecutors bring additional offences alongside it. Causing death by dangerous driving carries a maximum of life imprisonment for offences committed after 28 June 2022. Causing serious injury by dangerous driving carries up to five years. Those charges address the driving itself; the Section 170 charge addresses the decision to leave. Sentences can run concurrently, but the combined picture almost always makes things worse.
Section 172 Notices: How Police Identify the Driver
If police identify the vehicle but not the driver, they will send a Section 172 notice to the registered keeper. The notice compels the keeper to name whoever was driving at the time. You have 28 days from service to respond.
Failing to comply is itself a criminal offence, carrying six penalty points and a fine of up to £1,000. The only defence is proving that you did not know, and could not with reasonable diligence have worked out, who was driving.
This is how the gap in most hit-and-run cases closes. Number plate cameras or witnesses give police the vehicle; Section 172 gives them the driver. Ignoring the notice doesn’t make the problem go away. It adds a second charge.
What a Conviction Does to Your Licence and Insurance
A conviction for failing to stop produces an AC10 endorsement on your driving record. It stays on your licence for four years from the date of the offence.
The insurance consequences run longer. Insurers treat a hit-and-run conviction as a serious red flag on both driving judgment and honesty. Premiums rise sharply, and some insurers will refuse to cover you at all while the AC10 sits on your record. Even after it expires, application forms often ask about unspent convictions, so the shadow lingers.
New Drivers Face Automatic Revocation
If you passed your test less than two years ago, the stakes climb further. New drivers who pick up six or more penalty points within two years of passing have their licence automatically revoked. A failing-to-stop conviction carries between 5 and 10 points, so a single offence at the top of the range wipes out a new driver’s licence in one go.
Once revoked, you start over. Apply for a new provisional, retake both the theory and practical tests, and pay the fees again.
Defences That Actually Work
The most credible defence is genuinely not knowing a collision happened. If you brushed a wing mirror in traffic and neither heard nor felt anything, you cannot be guilty of failing to stop because you were unaware there was anything to stop for. The prosecution has to prove you knew, or should reasonably have known, that an accident had occurred. This defence holds up best for genuinely minor contact and becomes much harder to sustain when the damage is significant or a pedestrian was involved.
Beyond that, the defences narrow fast. Being in a hurry, feeling threatened by other road users, or intending to report later are not legal defences, though they may be raised in mitigation. Coming forward voluntarily before police track you down usually helps at sentencing, but it does not undo the offence.
If You Are the Victim of a Hit and Run
If you have been injured or had property damaged by a driver who cannot be identified, you can claim compensation through the Motor Insurers’ Bureau (MIB). The MIB runs the Untraced Drivers Agreement, funded by contributions from every motor insurer in the UK, for exactly this situation.
To be eligible you must report the collision to the police within 14 days. The MIB covers both personal injury and property damage claims arising from untraced drivers. It will review police records, medical evidence, and repair estimates before settling. The process is slower than a standard insurance claim because there is no insurer on the other side, but it exists so that victims are not left out of pocket when a driver flees.