Why are you not asking your insurer to do it?

It's an irrelevant question, but it's because I've chosen to do it on the basis that they might not bother trying to recoup the cost if it's left to them. And I don't want to lose my €350 excess plus my right to a no-blame discount. Once I have the owner's address I can request his insurance details and short cut the potentially long drawn out process of recouping my excess from the third party.

He may not, but at least I will have an ddress for him via which my own insurance company can contact him. My theory is that he drove off simply because he expected nothing more to happen about the incident, given that I was driving an Austrian registered car in Dover. He didn't hang around to discover that I was British. I think perhaps he just took fright, he wasn't a kid who might have had insurance issues. I did a quick (free) check on his insurance status and the car is currently insured, and has a current MOT.

I'm hoping that, once I mention I have filed a police report, that he has committed at least two road traffic offences (failing to stop after an incident, careless driving), that the incident was caught on CCTV, and that I have a witness, he might feel inclined to get in touch.

And of course, the very fact that I have been able to track him down with my knowledge of the UK system will no doubt concern him.

Good idea, but unfortunately not possible. It requires me to tick a box confirming that I'm a UK resident (which I'm not), and also to enter the reg number of my car, which won't work because it's obviously Austrian registered (and insured).

EDIT: I did a free check a week ago and it was currently insured at that point.

Edited by Mike H on 26/02/2023 at 10:26

I suspect the six weeks is to give them some 'cover' when things go adrift

Yes, that was my thinking. I recently renewed my British passport from here in Austria, and rather than the 11 weeks turnaround time the Passport Office is quoting I had it back in two weeks from dropping it in a postbox here.