Kerbstone Claim

kurbstone

Hello I am new to the forum and thought i would share what happened to me whilst driving down a country lane back in March 2015

My wife and I were driving down the lane as usual and it is narrow at the best of times when an oncoming vehicle approaches there are some make shift verge type laybys to pull over and let the oncoming vehicle pass but unfortunately on this particular day we came to a spot in the road where their was no layby to move over too and both the oncoming and us had to both move over to the verge to be able to pass one another,

this happens all the time the verge is low and muddy and tyre tracks are already gouged into the mud as other vehicles tractors lorries etc had to squeeze past one another, on such a tight narrow lane it was not safe to reverse up and search for a layby, this would be hazardous for both vehicles, so the squeezing by is often done this way.

Whilst driving slow and i mean very slow almost 5 miles an hour crawling speed as we passed one another we heard a loud bang!! at the front passengers side we were both shocked and visible shaken from this totally unexpected accident .

We stopped and pulled to one side to inspect and the tyre had burst and a dent in the alloy wheel, this was obvious that the tyre had hit a very hard obstacle, we looked at the verge and could see funnell shape kerbstones to let the water drain through into the fields adjacent, the kerbstones were sticking out into the road from the verge, the taper ends were gone and their was two hard shoulders on both kerbstones sticking out where the tapers should have bee. The kerbstones were not parallel to the road but at an angle as to shape a funnell .

We called the RAC and they came to change the wheel as we could not do it in such a position on the side of the road, the RAC had the expertise to replace the wheel.
The RAC man agreed that the kerbstone was indeed an obstuction and should be repaired as soon as possible. There where also no warning signs ..

We looked online and used the claims form provided to make a claim we provided photos and receipt for the repair of the new alloy wheel refurbishment and new tyre costing approx' £200.. We also supplied information regarding witnesses i.e the RAC man and supplied pinpoint details of the exact location of the kerbstones.

After many months and at first being told that the claims form had been wrongly sent to a person with a smilar name in the same department?..

The reply was that no liabilty could be accepted because they were not made aware of the problem before we encountered it, and that they have a regular inspection routine and this was not reported prior to our accident. Even after we looked at the inspection reports and works schedule the kerbstones had indeed been reported as misaligned and were marked for repair and to be made safe back in 2014.

When i pointed this out the reply was that 10 months had passed since they were last repaired and that they weather could have made it like this since the last repair, after they had already told me that the repairs had been made soon after my claim was submitted in march, I pointed out that the kerbstones had not been repaired in years ? but they insisited that they had.

.. After 8 months now since first reporting the accident it was only last week around October 20th 2015 that i have now seen that the kerbstones have now been finally repaired and replaced with a large single tapered kerbstone to replace the original sections of kerbstone. The reply was that this a" a verge over run" and thats why my accident happened and they will not accept liability.

It would seem that no matter what the problem would be in any road under any circumstance they will not or never have to pay compensataion as they could always say no matter what the reports say or inspections say that they were not aware of the problem prior to any accident and that they have a regular inspection routine and that the problem was either reported and marked for repair no matter who tries to claim they have a set of answers to counter any such claims.

I am so very dissapointed after driving for 41 years with an impeccable driving record that i am being fobbed off or dissmissed as having no basis for a claim ? the accident was unforseable and unavoidable in my opinion the kerbstones should have been repaired long before i hit them and or at least a sign warning of such drain gulley's The last email i received was to say they are not able to accept liability and i can seek legal advice if i wish i am not sure what the costs involved would be if i were to pursue a small claims court proceedure and they know it would probably be not worth my while for £200?

Deflated defeated and thouroughly upset that they can beat me up with words the fact remains the kerbstones were sticking out and they admitted themselves that they needed to be repaired and in their own words made safe??

tykesi

Any chance of some punctuation or paragraphs? That wall of text is not easy to read!

antrobus

Short version: car is damaged by a misaligned kerbstone on the public highway. OP has sought to claim the cost of damage from the relevant local authority; they deny liability on the grounds that they were not aware of the problem, and thus were not negligent.

See for example, http://www.lgo.org.uk/publications/fact-sheets/complaints-about-damage-property-highways

BigBopper

If the accident was to use your words unforseable, then why should the council be liable?

There are three parties involved in this incident.

You
The other driver
The landowner

Why did you chose to go direct to the landowner to claim?
It was after all you who chose to drive on the verge, had you like many others just put another rut in the verge you would never have reported the damage to the grass.

marliepanda

You can't complain about road hazards that are not even on the road...

BigBopper

marliepanda wrote: »

You can't complain about road hazards that are not even on the road...

If you read up and find out what a road is you may wish to reconsider that comment.

stevemLS

It is a statutory defence in a claim such as this to show that the highway authority had taken "such care as is in all the circumstances was reasonably required" to ensure that the highway is not dangerous. (s58 Highways Act 1980)

A schedule of inspections and inspection reports is usually sufficient to establish that defence. The less well used the road is, the less frequent the inspections need to be.

Afraid I think your claim will get nowhere in the circumstances you describe.

kurbstone

I took the claim to the Highways agency as per their instructions online
unforeseable because when you travel along narrow country lanes you tend to pay attention to oncoming traffic and the muddy verge looked muddy like any muddy verge would look and the kerbstone corner was not immediately visible at the point of passing closely to the oncoming vehicle

unholyangel

Even if the danger was unforeseeable to you, you still need to prove negligence on their side in order for them to be liable.

LABMAN

OP from what I read you chose to drive 'off road' rather than use the passing places...I can see why the Council refuses to accept liability.

kurbstone

Yes there are passing points along the road at this particular spot in the road there was no other choice than to pass slightly to the left of each other!!..
niether driver at this point would have chosen at this point to back up or reverse 25 yards back to a passing point especially on a narrow bendy road two cars pass each other all day everyday on this road using the side of the muddy verges with usually no problems its just at this particular spot in the road there is a funnel gully drainage sysytem with kerbstones protruding onto the tarmaced part of the road!!! tractors that frequent this road often would easily just ride over the protrusions.