Damage to car alloy & tyre

senoraylan

Yesterday, a flatbed truck parked up in our close on the right hand side of the road very close to the junction which also has poor visibility because of a large hedge. He had to reverse once to let one of my neighbours into their driveway and another neighbours sounded their horn because of the danger he caused by parking like that.

My husband got home and as he came round the corner had to swing wide and hit the kerb (the road narrows at this point) damaging the O/S alloy wheel and taking a chunk out of the tyre and the kerb. He went and had words with the driver who told him there weren't any lines to say he couldn't park. We both told him, that as a professional driver, he should know not to park on a junction or to cause an obstruction. He then moved his truck.

Would the company be liable for the damage? We think it's put the tracking out too.

System

Nope, The vehicle was stationary and unattended. all the damage was caused by your OH's driving.

senoraylan

It wasn't though....the road narrows at the junction, it was a truck that was parked - ON the junction and there wasn't enough room to get through. And the driver was in his cab.

OddballJamie

Sounds like your OH needs to slow down when taking corners, it could have been a child in the road.

artbaron

senoraylan wrote: »

It wasn't though....the road narrows at the junction, it was a truck that was parked - ON the junction and there wasn't enough room to get through. And the driver was in his cab.

So why didn't your husband stop the car and ask the driver to move?

senoraylan

He's a professional driver himself and definitely wasn't going too fast. The angle he had to take the corner at is what caused the damage. Really, the junction is very difficult.......I'm looking for the law here, not what people think of my husband's driving. The guy in the truck was parked ON the corner of the junction, the highway code states that he should have been parked 10 metres away.

Does anyone know if he has a valid claim?

fivetide

senoraylan wrote: »

Does anyone know if he has a valid claim?

As you can possibly tell from the responses the answer is no.

Yout husband crashed into a stationary object. The Highway code says not to park near junctions but it didn't break any actual laws (no lines etc).

Given you should always be "able to stop in the distance you can see to be clear" the truck driver will simply say hubby was going too fast and if he had stopped he would have moved the truck (as he did).

Hubby should have stopped. Sorry but there it is.

System

The law is that the damage is 100% down to your OH. The fact that the other vehicle was in contravention of the Highway code doesn't come into it.

The bottom line is that your OH damaged his vehicle by trying to avoid a stationary vehicle. It didn't jump out at him.

OddballJamie

How do you know he wasn't going too fast, were you in the car with him?
If he had being driving slower he wouldn't have had to swerve into a kerb.

If the van was right ON the corner, how did he not see the van as he drove down the road?

He caused the damage to his own car, nobody forced him into the kerb and the other vehicle was stationary, he needs to accept responsibility for his own actions, even if the other vehicle was parked badly.
Your OH should count himself lucky it wasn't a family crossing the road he had to avoid.

andy111

Incredible.

senoraylan

The junction is obscured by a hedge....you can't see round the corner until you're on top of it. I was watching out of the window as he came round the corner....he wasn't going too fast....he doesn't do fast! As I said before, the kerb curves out and it was the angle he hit the kerb at, not the speed he was going that caused the damage....as I said in a previous post.

Unbelievable, some of these answers, incredible even. Facts was what I wanted, not a trial without a jury!

He has spoken to the company who are sending their insurance details over. hey got a little worried when he told them he is a professional driver & should maybe report the incident to VOSA!