Debris in motorway damaged my car
 

I was on the M10 at 6am this morning and ran over a brick or piece of wood that was in the middle of the fast lane!!!!:freak3:

My tyre and wheel seems OK, but the the debris flicked up and has damaged my rear bumper!!:cry: :mad:

Has anyone ever tried to claim against the council/highway agency and won??

I did that on the Aston Expressway a few years ago. I was doing about 45mph and ended up with a burst tyre, buckled wheel rim and bent suspension.

Fortunately it was a company car, but it would be worth getting your car checked over especially given the speed which I assume you were travelling at!

Pete

I hit a 'sleeper' on the M1 many years ago (in the dark) in a Renault 5, chassis was diamond shape afterwards, woke my girlfriend rather quickly too :)

Complete write of (TPFT :( )

Simon

Only if the Highways Agency was negligent will you stand any chance of recovering any losses. If, for instance, they had received a report of debris on the carriageway and had failed promptly to remove it, you may be able to demonstrate a failure in their duty. If there were no such reports, and they may of course tell you that there were none, you must look to your own insurers (after all, that's what they are there for) for the costs of repair.

Remember, the system works on a fault-based level. No fault, no compensation.

First step maybe is to do a Freedom of Information Act enquiry of the HA and ask if there were any reports of debris in the carriageway. Do not refer to the extreme outside lane as the fast lane. It is not.

If it had been reported the Highways Agency would immediatley despatch someone to remove it and also pass it on to the Police so that if a traffic car was in the area they could deal with it.

Unfortunately it's your responsability to see and avoid the hazards infront of you

Sorry to hear it, but I echo what Legal Eagle & SteveScooby say.

Your insurers will pay for repairs under your policy terms, but unless you can prove that the Highways Agency &/or the Police received a report of the debris and then failed to act on it in reasonable time you wont have a case for recovery / compensation. Notwithstanding that, they will say you should have avoided the debris because you should have been driving within the limits of your vision to react to it laying there. Sorry. :(

I was travelling up a B road dual carriageway when a rear bumper from a 4x4 flew over the car in front and landed on my bonet!! Smashed the grill and dented the bonnet:razz: ..was more worried about the car so pulled over to ckeck...now realised I should have been chasing that 4x4 for damages!!!:(

Was the number plate not still attached to the bumper? :lol1:

Years ago one of those triangle 'men at work' signs (stand and all..!) got flicked up by the car in front (M6) at about 70 ish. I watched in slow motion as it flew through the air and smacked into the front of my 205 GTI. Other than braking sharply there was nothing I could have done to avoid it (and yes I was a reasonable distance behind the car in front)..!

Luckily it was just before the Police stop/station slip (you'll know what I mean if you know the M6 around B'ham) so I pull off to a/ check how much of the front end was left and b/ report it so I can hopefully claim off the bloody idiots who hadn't secured the thing.

Guess what, the very helpful policeman couldn't have given a toss..! He said that they would send someone out to get it removed, but even though road signs should have an ID number on the back to say who it belonged to, they'd just say it wasn't theirs and there would be very little else I could do. Couldn't even be bothered to look at the damage to the car. He did however have time to give me a producer as it was still classed as a road traffic incident..!??

Luckily the damage was surprisingly light (scratches on front wing and a broken door strip) which given the bloody size of this thing and the bang it made was unbelievable. So a new door strip some T-cut and a bit of touch up sorted it out.

Therefore, IMHO, something like a brick in the road leaves you without a leg to stand on (unless you see it drop off a vehicle and take the number, just don't expect much help from the old bill)..!

I'm an insurance assessor. I have the Chartered Insurance Institute Diploma and am an Associate of the Society of Claims Technicians. And my professional opinion is that you are well and truly Donald Ducked !!

Cheers to everyone for all the good news ;) I'll just use it as an exuse to get it resprayed and colour coded:thumb:

I had a similar experience when I was 18 (a few years ago now:)) I was travelling along a national speed limit road and was approaching a bend. I slowed down accordingly and then spotted a big lump of debris (compacted mud) in the road, it wasnt really safe to slow down to much as I was on a bend and the road was wet so I tried to avoid it.

Unfortunatly there was no real way of avoiding it so I ended up hitting it with the o/s/f wheel. This flung the car into a spin, it hit the kerb which flung it into the air the car rolled a couple of times (on a grass verge) and finally stopped on its side after being brought to a halt by a sand stone wall (my head hit the wall, luckily I had light tints on the front that saved my face getting cut up to much - was still finding beads of glass in my head months after lol). Anyway I was knocked out and woke up with my girlfriend at the time screaming, hanging above me. I got her out and luckily a few people who witnessed what happened had stopped.

Police and ambulance turned up, we went to hospital. Police told me at the hospital that from all statments taken and their report that there was no way of avoiding the debris and I was in the clear (basically whoever came along that road first was going to crash). The car was a total write off but we got out alive and that was all that mattered, gf had to spend a night in hospital.

With the accident report from the police I went to the solicitors, he looked into the report but said I had to have someone witness the debris falling from a vehicle (which I didnt have even though the council had been doing some work on some land by the incident). I applied for legal aid but this was declined as there wasnt much chance if any off me winning. The car was insured tptf so I couldnt claim. So basically I think if you dont witness the debris coming off a vehicle or being left in the road there isnt much you can do.

I was coming back from Bristol on the M4 late one very cold January night a couple of years ago.

Wanting to get home, I stuck my foot down. Was in the fast lane when I saw something in the road - too late for me to react I went over it. Heard a thump, looked in my rear view mirror to see something billowing out the back of the car.

Luckily, the motorway was pretty quite so immediately swung over onto the hard shoulder ( as did the chap who was trying to keep up with me).

I'd hit a lump of concrete which had punctured a huge hole in my sump!! Oil all over the carriage way and all over the front of the car behind me.

Waited 2.5 hours for AA ( the stoopid pillock in their call centre tapped incorrectly the motorway marker number so their breakdown van went to Newport rather than the London side of Reading!!). Called police to advise of oil hazard on carriageway. Said a patrol car would come out to us. In the end I flagged down a passing copper who wasn't interested in the debris etc on the road, but after we pointed out the dangers, agreed to call the motorway maintennance guys to clear it ( he sent them to the wrong side of the motorway though:rolleyes: )

Never did try to claim as thought I wouldn't stand a hope in hell - the impact had blown the concrete to smithereens - had fully comp insurance but excess was high so it was easier to pay up rather than take a hit to my no-claims. Just over £500 later, it was an expensive to see the in-laws:mad:

Cheers for taking it in good heart !:thumb:

Technically, it's possible to claim against councils for damage caused by potholes and for slides caused by oil left on the roads, but there's no strict liability. Instead, it's necessary to prove that the council has failed in their duty to maintain the roads by not acting timeously.
~and the courts aren't keen to allow such cases to proceed as they see them as "opening the floodgates" against revenue which ultimately comes from the public.

Just so you know !

~and the courts aren't keen to allow such cases to proceed as they see them as "opening the floodgates" against revenue which ultimately comes from the public.

I can't agree with that sentiment. The current Government has been challenged many times by the judiciary so there is no love lost between these two. I still think the courts behave in a way that shows independence from State influence, and long may this continue to be the case.

Agreed that the courts are and should remain independent from the Govt.

The point I was making was that judges will from time to time refer to the fact that they do not want to "open the floodgates" in inviting multiple claims against Public Authorities which would not be in the public interest given that the general public would ultimately require to meet the costs involved through increases local taxes.

I take your point. The public interest criteria can be used to justify a variety of things.

And neither party made an offensive remark !! Stay on Snet Eagle !!! :thumb:

Andy

:lol1: :lol1: :lol1: