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Thread: Compensation for damage caused by poor road quality?

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    HEXUS.social member finlay666's Avatar
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    Compensation for damage caused by poor road quality?

    As I was driving down to see a friend 'darn saarf' on Thursday on the M1 by Leicester I heard some form of debris or another hit my car, didnt think much of it and pulled into the services just a little down the road, came out and noticed a small puddle on the road by where my car was parked, the van next to me were very considerate in leaving a load of litter when they left, so thought it was a spilled drink.

    1 mile after setting off engine was near overheating, pulled over as soon as I could safely then called breakdown cover out.

    Turns out I suddenly had a magical radiator in my car, I can pour litre upon litre into it, and it just disappears! seems whatever debris hit my car caught the radiator and punched a hole in it, unfortunately too big to repair

    As a result I was stranded from 11pm, didn't get back on the road until 2am in a courtesy car (as my car couldn't be transported to it's destination due to the time it occurred (luckily after midnight when the 2nd team arrived to tow me as it was Friday so they car would have to be picked up next week instead of the next day)), unfortunately it's a Ford Ka.... but free is free.

    So, is there a way I can claim some of/all this cost back due to not maintaining the road correctly?

    tl;dr: Car broken, loose items on road to blame, can I get them to pay some/all of the repairs?
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    Re: Compensation for damage caused by poor road quality?

    I reckon youe going to have a very tough job proving it, anyone else with you in the car or were you on your own ?

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    Formerly known as Andehh Andeh13's Avatar
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    Re: Compensation for damage caused by poor road quality?

    Just a guess but had there been an accident on the road earlier that day/week (check local papers/web sites, ring Highways Agency to find out) where the Highway's Agency had been instructed to clear away the debris? if so you could try & take it up with them for failing to clear it up properly?

    I think you might struggle though unfortunately. To get compensation I would imagine you'd need to prove who was responsible for the debris being there, and that would be very difficult. Highways Agency (or whatever party you chased) could just turn around and say prove it came from said accident/we missed it, or prove it hadn't come off one for the 1000s of vehicles that use the road each hour, and you'd be stumped.

    You just have to look at the abilities of local councils to get away with leaving the roads like the surface of the moon & the amount of damage it causes to cars to realise how futile claiming compensation back can be...and that's with hard, undeniable, proof to back your case.
    Last edited by Andeh13; 15-08-2010 at 01:33 AM.

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    HEXUS.social member finlay666's Avatar
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    Re: Compensation for damage caused by poor road quality?

    Going on my own, just wondering as there are RAC logs (and the logs of the contracted company that towed me to their depot to get the courtesy car) and IMO it's highly unlikely that my car would be fine for 150 - 200 miles and then suddenly just go, given the speed the radiator leaked I doubt I could have gone very far!

    Just been looking up rad prices online, luckily not too expensive, local place sells 3rd party ones for £50-60 new depending on the one I need
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    Re: Compensation for damage caused by poor road quality?

    you will not stand a chance, as its the motorway my suggestion is to chalk this one down to bad luck and don't waste any more time on it.

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    Welcome to stampytown! Salazaar's Avatar
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    Re: Compensation for damage caused by poor road quality?

    As has been said, it would be very difficult to chase this one. You'd have to prove that the damage was caused by the pothole and that whoever the Highways Agency's maintenace contractor was had been negligent in their duty to fix it, i.e. first that they had been aware of the fault and then whether they had failed to fix it in a reasonable amount of time.

    It's a lot harder to find and fix potholes than most people give credit for. While most agencies do employ inspectors, they can only inspect quite a small portion of the network, so most pothole reports come in from the public which then have to be assessed and categorised before they can send out a gang to fix them. And even then a judgement has to be made as to which ones to fix and when, after all the (public) budget for it is only so big.

    And thinking of budgets, it doesn't help that after a particularly damaging winter central government is slashing the budgets available anyway.

    So, tl;dr your chances of getting anything back are very slim to nil.
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    Re: Compensation for damage caused by poor road quality?

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    Re: Compensation for damage caused by poor road quality?

    Quote Originally Posted by Salazaar View Post
    So, tl;dr your chances of getting anything back are very slim to nil.
    Fair enough, i know there are claims for potholes/buses but not sure about debris on the road
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    Quote Originally Posted by tiggerai View Post
    I do like a bit of hot crumpet

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    Oh Crumbs.... Biscuit's Avatar
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    Re: Compensation for damage caused by poor road quality?

    good video that... well as good as 5th gear has to offer anyway. There is a couple of roads around near my work which are especially bad. So bad infact, that you cant actually avoid them because all you do is hit another one. I guess your pretty much out of luck though as you dont have any evidence, witnesses or otherwise. Damn shame mate, unlucky

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    Re: Compensation for damage caused by poor road quality?

    I'd agree with Salazaar. Whoever you seek yo get damages from has to provably culpable, and your first job will be proving it.

    If you know who left the debris and can prove it, then you may stand a vague chance, but even then, I suspect you'd have to either show that they knew they'd left the debris, or had been negligent in their precautions to prevent it.

    If going after the council or Highways Agency, you'd again have to prove negligence. The basic elements of neglegence are :

    - duty of care
    - breach of that duty
    - resulting damage

    Those bodies responsible for roads (and pavements) do have a duty of care. You may have to demonstrate that the damage to your car resulted from a breach of that duty, which depending on the state of the car, isn't necessarily a given. But you'd have to prove they breached their duty.

    For instance, with a pothole, can it be proven that they knew of the pothole? If so, have they failed to fix it within a reasonable period? if so, you've probably got breach of duty. if they didn't know of the pothole, have they been taking reasonable steps to keep abreast of the condition of the road? If they have logs of someone checking out the roads periodically, then they probably aren't liable for any damage occurring since the last check that has not been reported.

    And for something like debris that may have been there 10 minutes, or an hour or two, it'd be wildly optimistic to think the council or HA could have known or done anything about it.

    So I agree with Salazaar .... little to no chance.

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