Evidence a taxi passenger should preserve after an accident

How to use this guide

This page is about preserving facts before they disappear. The separate claim-document checklist deals with the formal pack that may later be submitted to the Road Accident Fund or reviewed by a lawyer.

Start with safety and treatment, not evidence gathering

Do not remain in a dangerous position or delay necessary treatment to take photographs. If you cannot collect information safely, ask a trusted person to record what they can without interfering with emergency services or other road users.

Tell the treating clinician that the injuries followed a motor-vehicle accident and describe symptoms accurately. Do not minimise a symptom because it seems temporary, and do not exaggerate it. A contemporaneous clinical record can later help distinguish the initial injury, subsequent treatment and any unrelated condition.

Write down the first facility, ambulance service, treating practitioners and dates. Keep discharge papers, referrals, prescriptions and appointment messages as they are received.

Prove that you were a passenger

A passenger may not have booked through an app or received a ticket. Preserve whatever places you in the taxi and on the route:

• a fare receipt, bank or wallet payment, booking message or route information;
• the place where you boarded and intended destination;
• the seat you occupied and the people seated nearby;
• names or contact details of other passengers;
• messages or calls sent shortly before or after the collision; and
• location data that you already lawfully control.

Record what you personally remember before discussing the event repeatedly with others. If a detail is uncertain, label it uncertain rather than filling the gap. A later correction is easier to explain when the original note shows what was and was not known.

Capture the taxi and other vehicle details

If it is safe and lawful, record the taxi registration, route marking, colour, operator or association information, driver details and visible damage. For every other vehicle, record the registration, make, colour, driver and owner details that are available.

Photograph the wider road before focusing on damage. Useful context may include the direction of travel, lane positions, intersection controls, skid or debris location, lighting, weather and nearby landmarks. Do not move an object merely to improve a photograph.

Keep the police or traffic reference, names of responding officials, tow information and the station or office where the accident was reported. The official accident record may not contain every passenger’s detail, so check whether your name and role were captured accurately when you lawfully obtain it.

Keep observation and legal conclusion separate. Evidence that establishes the journey and the passenger's presence does not by itself establish which driver was negligent. Record lane movements, signals, speed impressions, impacts and statements as accurately as possible, but leave the eventual allocation of fault and causal responsibility to the statutory assessment on the full evidence.

Preserve original digital files

Keep the original photo or video file on the device or in a secure export before cropping, annotating or forwarding it. Preserve metadata where possible. Create working copies for sharing and retain the untouched original separately.

For messages, export the conversation in a way that keeps the sender, recipient, date and time. A screenshot can be useful, but it may omit surrounding context. Do not delete an inconvenient message or alter a document to make the chronology appear cleaner.

Make an evidence register with four columns: item, source, date obtained and storage location. Add a short note when another passenger, family member, hospital, employer or official supplied the item.

Record independent witnesses early

Ask for a witness’s name, contact details, location during the accident and what they observed. Do not coach the witness or send them a prepared version to adopt. Preserve their own words and record whether they were another passenger, a road user, a nearby worker or an emergency responder.

If someone captured video, ask them to keep the original and note the device or platform. CCTV and vehicle footage may be overwritten quickly, so record the business, building, intersection or vehicle that may hold it. A legal request for footage should be assessed promptly rather than assuming the holder will keep it indefinitely.

Build a medical chronology

Create a table with each treatment date, facility, complaint, diagnosis, referral, medication and next appointment. Add later symptoms when they arise, but do not rewrite the earlier entry. Keep proof of missed or postponed appointments and the reason.

The current RAF 1 form includes medical-report fields about the injured person, first treatment, injuries, care and clinical notes. That makes accurate identity and treatment records important, but the form does not turn a personal diary into a medical opinion. Clinical findings must come from the appropriate treating or assessing professional.

Preserve accounts and medical-aid statements even if another person paid. Separate an account from proof of payment so the file does not imply that an unpaid invoice was settled.

Prove income, study and care consequences

Evidence of loss should show the position before and after the accident. Keep payslips, employment terms, shift records, leave entries, incapacity certificates and employer correspondence. A self-employed passenger may need invoices, contracts, tax records, bank entries and evidence of cancelled work.

Also record effects that are not captured by wages: missed classes, interrupted training, replacement transport, paid care, household assistance or equipment. Keep receipts and explain the connection to the injury. Do not create a round estimate without preserving the underlying dates and amounts.

Keep identity and version differences visible

Check whether your name, identity or passport number is consistent across the police, hospital, employer and claim records. If a document contains an error, keep the original, request a formal correction and preserve both versions with the correspondence explaining the change.

The same rule applies to the accident time, vehicle registration and injury description. Quietly replacing the old version can create an unexplained contradiction. A dated correction trail is stronger than a polished file with no history.

What not to do with the evidence

Do not publish medical records, identity documents, children’s information or accusations on social media. Do not hand the only original to an intermediary. Do not pay for a promised police record, claim outcome or witness statement without verifying the person and process.

Avoid signing a statement that you have not read or that contains details supplied by somebody else. Ask for a copy of anything you sign. If language or accessibility is a barrier, request a proper explanation or assistance before confirming the contents.

Turn preservation into a controlled file

Use one read-only folder for originals and a separate working folder. Name working copies with the date and a neutral description. Keep a backup under your control and record who receives each sensitive item.

The Road Accident Fund publishes claim information and current forms, while the Road Accident Fund Act establishes the statutory framework. Those sources should be checked when the formal claim pack is prepared; they do not replace scene, witness, treatment and loss evidence that must be preserved from the facts.

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