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Road sign blew over and hit my car

To cut a long story short, a road sign blew over during high wind conditions and caused 800 quids worth of damage to my motor.

The companys insurance say that as two sandbags were placed over the sign, this is all that is reasonably expected and therefore they have no offer of compensation.

Where do I go from here before I go to my local councillor or solicitor as I dont believe this is right? What if it blew over and landed on a kids pram?

I would n't let this one drop. Who ever places temporary road signs are required to maintain them for the duration of their placement. I think the insurance company is just trying to dodge the costs. I would imagine a short discussion with a solicitor would put this straight.

I've emailed the insurance company this so I'll wait and see what there response is;

Further to your recent correspondence, may I say how disgusted I am with your response to my claim for compensation to repair the damage your clients company caused to my car.
Having worked in Traffic Management before, I know that the patent for a Temporary Road Sign is as follows;

(WO/2004/103770) MAXIMUM WIND RESISTANT PORTABLE ROAD SIGN

MAXIMUM WIND RESISTANT PORTABLE ROAD SIGN

The invention relates to temporary road signs.

Many road signs suffer disadvantages, in that they use an"A"frame that opens up to support the sign. The signs and frames can often be found damaged and unserviceable. The signs need sand bags to balance the units in winter months when winds are at their peak ; this is costly in time and effort. A traffic cone provides weight and height to maximise stability and visibility, adding more cones and additional weighting when required to the easy attachment hole provided in the lower bracket will increase stability. The object of the invention is to provide a unit that produces considerable benefits to both the user and public.
The invention utilises a traffic cone for support, the brackets fold to allow flat packing. The signs brackets are positioned as low as possible on the cone as to maximise stability by lowering the center of gravity producing a stable unit. A locking device on the brackets locates preformed holes in the traffic cone for releasably securing the sign to the traffic cone. The brackets will allow the sign to be angled or vertically mounted. Larger signs use two or more cones.

As you can see, this clearly states that a traffic cone is used for support, sandbags are needed to balance the unit and ADDING ADDITIONAL WEIGHT WHEN REQUIRED WILL INCREASE STABILITY.

No traffic cone was used for support. High winds were well enough forecast for that night and your clients employee's failed to take adequate precaution's to increase stability as required and ensure public safety. Also, I fail to realise that you believe your client has no liability as my car would have not been damaged if your clients sign hadnt been placed there.

I will have no hesitation in raising the matter with my solicitor, local councillor and the department of health and safety if you fail to respond to my claim within 7 day's of this email.

I think you are well within your rights here to make the claim.
Would it be worth by-passing the solicitor if you feel competent with the administration and emails etc to avoid solicitor fees?
Initailly I think you need to put it in writing rather than emails and then threaten with County Court. If you get no joy, then take them to the Couty Court as I believe it cost around £40 to make the application.

When all is said and done, they have ultimate responsibility to ensure that the sign cannot cause damage or injury to anyone. Can't see how they can even hope to avoid the blame.

Les

Whoever is carrying out the raodworks has a duty to maintain those roadworks 24hrs a day. They should take adequate precautions to ensure the signs do not blow over.

This will be covered by the NRSWA regs under (SLG) sign ,lighting and guarding.

Chip

If you can claim for pot hole damage now this should be easy...

just a quick note, keep all emails in paper form and build up a file, never take phone calls which discuss this matter make sure they write to you. Don't give up as i think you have a good case, also you could also use your local media to help your case.

law student