Car damaged by roadworks

usefulmale

Mark23 wrote: »

I seemed to of misplace my crystal ball to know that they were going to be right outside, I realised when it was too late and my car was cordoned in unable to move

Was the road that they told you they were resurfacing right outside?

Strider590

Mark23 wrote: »

There was no notice about possible damage, only thing they raised in the letter was high levels of noise

Normally these letters ask you not to park on the sections of road affected by the works.

AdrianC

Mark23 wrote: »

I seemed to of misplace my crystal ball to know that they were going to be right outside, I realised when it was too late and my car was cordoned in unable to move

No, you DID know they would be right outside - you just didn't know exactly when in the time range, so decided to chance it.

neilmcl

Mark23 wrote: »

Yeah it's been damaged, I cleaned a section on the car thinking it was just surface tar with some traffic film remover and all the black bits went, but the orange bits stayed. I thought it was rust speckles at first and maybe loose chippings took it down to metal but the weather has been pretty nice with no rain so there is no chance of that. The damaged parts are like a crater, slight raised around the edge and go in at the middle

Try a tar and glue remover to see what that does. If it doesn't help and it does need a repair then you'll probably end up dealing with the contractor's insurance company to get a resolution. A number of years ago I got a damaged wheel and tyre after running over a pothole on the motorway during roadworks where the road followed a contraflow and a big hole was left where, presumably they dug out a cats eye or similar. Had to deal with their insurer and it took weeks but managed to get a pay out for a new wheel & tyre.

JP1978

Mark23 wrote: »

That's the thing, there were no warnings. Only thing they stated was noise disturbance if they said possible damage to parked vehicles I would of parked elsewhere

Come on! Do you live in a bubble? Have you never seen roads been resurfaced before? Do you think that they have time to knock on every door to find out whose car it is - say at 3am in the morning when they reach a car - that may or may not be parked directly outside the owners house?

Take some responsibility for your own [non] actions rather than putting the blame on someone else.

JP1978

Mark23 wrote: »

I seemed to of misplace my crystal ball to know that they were going to be right outside, I realised when it was too late and my car was cordoned in unable to move

The crystal ball was the letter you had saying they would be working between 19:00 hrs and 06:00 hrs.... do you expect an exact timetable? What if they had got to your part early - would you want them waiting at the side of the road until the allotted time?

Mercdriver

I have some sympathy for the OP here. They were meant to be resurfacing the road here, not the pavement, where the OP's car was parked. They have a responsibility to take care not to damage things that are outside the maintenance area. In my experience, where they are unable to keep to this, the note specifically asks that cars be removed. This seemingly wasn't done.

Since the contractor is acting on behalf of the local authority, it's the LA that should look after the OP and they should recover their loss from the contractor.

Mark23

I apologise for my ignorance but I'm not a road worker, I don't know the process of resurfacing, if the letter stated damage may occur or we ask if you could park elsewhere I would of and if I never then its on my head. By the time I seen what was going on it was right next to my car and too late. The next day I was well away from where they would be doing the work
Roads tend to be shut when resurfacing so I've never actually seen what goes on

harrys_dad

Is it legal to park on the pavement outside your house? Maybe the reason there was no notice to remove cars was that there is no legal parking on the highway anyway, and it might be illegal to park on the pavement, wide or not. It appears that in most, but not all, of the country it is illegal to drive on the pavement but not park on it. I wonder how your car got there.

Having said that, maybe you should contact your local councillor, see whether they can intervene with the council and get a claim from their public liability insurance (they can then claim from the contractor).

Mercdriver

harrys_dad wrote: »

Is it legal to park on the pavement outside your house? Maybe the reason there was no notice to remove cars was that there is no legal parking on the highway anyway, and it might be illegal to park on the pavement, wide or not. It appears that in most, but not all, of the country it is illegal to drive on the pavement but not park on it. I wonder how your car got there.

Having said that, maybe you should contact your local councillor, see whether they can intervene with the council and get a claim from their public liability insurance (they can then claim from the contractor).

Many places in London - the A4 Talgarth Road being one of them specifically requires residents to park on the pavement. In fact it is only in London where parking on the pavement where not specifically allowed is illegal.

Where a major route is part of the Red Route, parking on the road is not allowed and in many cases - the A4 Talgarth Road being one of them - the parking areas are marked on the pavement in white paint, with regular blue signs stating to park on the pavement. I believe this is also the case along some sections of the A406 North Circular road and the A40