Dad told to pay £500 to find out how his son died
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
A GRIEVING father has blasted police for making him pay more than £500 to find out how his son died in a road accident.
George Durrand sought answers as to how his 17-year-old son Christopher was killed at Hastigrow Bridge on the outskirts of Bower in February last year.
But he was stunned to learn he would have to pay £500 for a report into the tragedy and would not be able to obtain it for free under the Freedom of Information Act.
Mr Durrand, who owns and runs Oldwick Garage in Wick, claims Northern Constabulary would only allow him to see the report if he paid the hefty three-figure sum, which he agreed to do.
But he is now calling for a change in legislation to allow parents to see reports which investigate how their child died without having to pay a penny.
Mr Durrand said anyone who had suffered the loss of a son or daughter, like him and his partner Valerie Henderson, had already paid enough.
"Over the last year, it has been unbelievable how we as a family have been treated," he said.
"It is the right of every parent to find out what caused one of their children to lose their life and it is insulting that we are asked to pay such a large amount of money.
"We have been fighting every step of the way to get any information about what happened to Christopher in the accident.
"We asked the police if the report was available under the Freedom of Information Act and we were told it wasn’t free and that we had to pay over £500 to see a copy, which I did."
Added Mr Durrand: "The reason I paid for it is because we needed to move forward to see if the report would help us find out what really happened to our son.
"We have paid enough with the loss of Christopher – we should not have to pay any more."
Mr Durrand also claimed there were a number of inaccuracies in the accident report.
It referred to Christopher driving a Ford Focus when he was actually at the wheel of a Ford Fiesta.
He also found that the report did not contain information about all the damage to the vehicle. When he queried this, he was told that it was not practical to highlight all the damage in an accident of that nature.
He said it was unacceptable to ask someone to pay so much money and not carry out a complete examination of the vehicle.
"Not all the damage to the car was included in the report – I took issue with this and I got a response which said ‘it was not practical or desirable to record every piece of damage for the record’.
The police response continued: "There are often a large amount of damaged parts on a vehicle which has been involved in a collision and it is not always possible to interpret the cost of each one."
Mr Durrand said: "If they are not recording all the damage for the record, they cannot carry out a proper investigation.
"Any MoT professional has to make sure every inch of the car is in good condition and can’t ignore certain aspects because they do not think it is desirable."
A spokeswoman for Northern Constabulary yesterday said the force was unable to comment on Mr Durrand’s complaint but the policy on charging the public for reports was set by the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland.
Since the death of their son, the couple have been actively engaged in promoting road safety in Caithness and, through several fundraising events, have raised £8000 for worthy causes.
Last year, three people were killed in road accidents in Caithness.
