Highway Incident Claims (Claim for Car Damage)

A question about : Highway Incident Claims (Claim for Car Damage)

hi all,

I'm looking for advice on the best way to handle the following what happened to me yesterday evening in Bournemouth/Poole.

I was driving through a part of Bournemouth where i see a couple of drunk people moving cones and road signs.

What I didn't see was that just before I passed by where they were stopped that they had collapsed a couple of triangular roadwork's signs and led them in the road. I drove over them much to their amusement.

Rather than confront them I called 999 hoping they would get arrested, stopped and gave my car a quick once over. initially it looked okay and I thought nothing more of it.

A couple of miles later my BMW went into limp mode and finally stopping a few seconds later just giving me enough time to park safely

My local garage collected the car earlier today it has a cracked sump, the engine is in an unknown condition.

I reported this to the police again for a reference crime number earlier today as this was criminal damage expecting the people who moved the signs would be liable.

After speaking to the police they say I can claim against the firm responsible for the works because it is their responsibility to secure any road work signs and barriers etc.

So, long story short.

Has anyone here managed to claim or can add anymore detail to the process?

J

Best answers:

• You would have to prove the company who placed the sign are negligent in order to succeed in a claim against them. As the signs appeared to be ok until they were moved by a third party your claim is unlikely to succeed. Best bet is to get onto your insurance company.
• You make it sound like you will be succesful in a claim
  The HA or their agents are responsible for the traffic cones etc, however as you witnessed they were moved by unauthorised persons adn were not aware at the time that the equipment was moved to be able to put it right.
  Good luck, but you may have to right the repair out of your own pocket.
• Let's say these signs had fallen off the back of a truck just out of your sight, and you were the first car there. Whose fault would it be that you hit them?
• No, it would only be a negligent loader's fault if the sign had caused damage in the process of falling off.
• The police aren't experts in civil law. It's unlikely that the highways authority would have had any liability for the fact that a couple of drunken prats messed about with their road signs. If you want to claim against them, the first question you have to answer is: realistically, what do you think they ought to have done differently to prevent this happening?
  The drunken prats might be liable, but making a claim against them depends on (a) finding them and (b) being able to extract enough money from them to pay for your repairs (and that depends on them having a reasonable amount of money in the first place).
  If the damage is significant your best option is likely to be to claim on your own insurance policy. If your insurers think there's a reasonable chance of recovering the money from someone else they'll do that themselves - but don't hold your breath.
• Here's why your claim may fail:
  Quote:
• Did the police catch the guys and get their details?