Vehicle damage caused by falling fence around council roadworks

jamesh1982

On October 25th I was driving past a council roadworks which was fenced off, when a gust of wind caught the fencing and blew it out into the road into my car, causing the front bumper to be hanging off and damaged, and my car scratched and dinted. I had to pull into the side of the road and call out the AA to temporarily cable tie my bumper back on and they then escorted me home. Car is not safe to drive it was just a temporary fix to get me home.

Telephoned council because it was their roadworks, they asked for an accident report which i wrote for them , who forwarded it onto their insurers.
Next the Insurers asked for copies of quotes for vehicle repair from two vehicle repair centres of my choice, which i obtained and provided them with.
Then the insurers asked for copy of witness statement, i had a witness who prepared one and forwarded it to them.

Finally 2 months (and many taxis to places due to no car and phonecalls to the insurers) later the insurers say they will not pay out because nobody is negligible, nobody is to blame, so i have to pay out £800 to get the car fixed myself! I cant afford this.

What can i do? My opinion is that the fencing barrier around the roadworks wasnt fit for purpose if it blows over due to a gust of wind.

GSXRCarlos

really not sure, but i agree it wasn't your fault

how much is your insurance excess?

huckster

Hi

Send a complaint by recorded delivery to the Councils Insurers asking for their final response, as you will be taking this up with the FOS.

The FOS will charge the Insurers a case fee of £500, so they may take a look at your claim again. They may make you an ex gratia payment offer to compensate you without admitting any liability.

The Insurers are probably technically correct. Unless you can prove that the Councils roadworks team were negligent, you are unlikely to succeed.

My advice is to always obtain comprehensive cover if you can affort it, as this would have covered you, less the excess. Someone I worked with years ago parked his car near a companies storage facility and had his car written off during a storm which blew material from this site on to his car. Unfortunately, he only had TPF&T, so could not claim. From memory the car was worth about £2k at the time.

dacouch

Why would the FOS become involved?

huckster

Dacouch

The FOS receive a lot of complaints where techically a claim is not admissable.

But in this case the Councils Insurers have messed around for 2 months to tell the OP, what they could have told them at the start. This has denied the OP, the opportunity to take steps to investigate the liability of the councils roadworks team, by obtaining evidence that may have been available at the time. Have the Insurers deliberately, done this, knowing that 2 months down the line, the OP is not in a position to atleast make some effort to prove liability?

Could the FOS decide on a partial settlement due to the 2 month delay?

dacouch

The FOS will not normally become involved if your complaint is not about an Insurer you have a policy with

lisyloo

Hi James - Did you take out the legal cover option with your motor insurance policy?

cogito

The council have a duty of care to ensure that fencing around works is secure and safe and will not cause damage or injury. In normal weather conditions, fencing can be expected to be secure. What were weather conditions in the area at the time? You would be able to obtain meteorological reports. Unless storm conditions were prevalent, it is reasonable to assume that the council had not taken adequate steps to prevent this sort of thing happening in which case, they would appear to be responsible for the damage.

In my experience, local authorities will try to wriggle out of responsibility wherever they can - often in the hope that the claimant will simply go away. Once you have the meteorological report, write back to the council giving them 14 days to settle faioling which you will take procedings in the small claims court.

And to back up dacouch, you can't complain to the FOS if you're not the policyholder. Your claim is against the council, not their insurers.

huckster

Cognito/Dacouch

Is that true that you could not go to the FOS about the decision of a 3rd parties Insurer?

dacouch

Whether we can help with your own particular complaint will depend on:

• whether the business you are complaining about is one that we cover;
• what the complaint is about (there are some restrictions on the types of dispute we can look at);
• when the event you are complaining about took place (time limits apply if you leave it too late to complain); and
• your relationship with the business you are complaining about (for example, we will not always look at disputes between businesses, or where you are not an actual customer).

http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/faq/answers/complaints_a2.html

In addition I doubt the council (Who are probably self insuring upwards of the first £10000) subscribe to the ombudsman

huckster

Dacouch

Yes I read that, but this is only general guidance and the wording is 'we will not always look'.

I had heard that where someone had 3rd party cover and they had problems with a 3rd parties Insurer, the FOS would look at this.