Damage from road chipping

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Sun 29 Feb 2004 19:40
Damage from road chipping - Peter C
My brother was driving his well cared for Audi A4 towards a roundabout.The road had been covered with the sharp chippings that are to prevent skidding. He heard a terrific noice underneath the car form the chippings. When he got home he noticed that the whole front of the car and the windscreen had been peppered with these chippings. The local highway departement claim that signs were put up and the contractors would sweep the road.He said the sign was not there on the day he was on the road The estimate to fix the paintwork excluding the windscreen is over £1000. Does he have a chance of a claim? He suspected that the chipping were so numerous that a lorry had perhaps dropped more than it should have.

Cheers

Peter
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Sun 29 Feb 2004 21:28
Damage from road chipping - DavidHM
Lots of "he saids, they saids," but do you have any evidence? In the end, the contractors will argue that they didn't use an excessive amount, were only following the job specifications, and any damage was caused by your brother's driving too fast and ignoring the signs.

There is a chance of a successful legal claim, but it's not an especially strong one IMO.

His best chance, especially if he has protected NCB, would be to go through his insurance.
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Sun 29 Feb 2004 21:30
Damage from road chipping - Hugo {P}
David

In this case would he not be well advised to get a photo of the site BEFORE he approaches the highways department to illustrate lack of warning signs etc?

Hugo
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Sun 29 Feb 2004 21:35
Damage from road chipping - DavidHM
If there is still a need for signs there, i.e., if the chippings haven't been completely smoothed away by traffic, it may help.
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Mon 1 Mar 2004 22:52
Damage from road chipping - Wales Forester
My car was splattered with wet cement as I drove through some temporary traffic light controlled roadworks a couple of weeks ago.
I saw the cement splattering as it left the cement mixer truck's chute and hit the hole it was filling as I drove past, but it was only when I parked at work that I realised the side of my car was badly affected.
I drove straight to the nearest jetwash and lanced it off before it had chance to set.

I work for the local authority and contacted our Highways department but they were not interested as the work was nothing to do with them which was a bit annoying as the other cars in front and behind me must have had a good splattering too.

As it washed off ok and left no lasting effects I didn't pursue it any further as it seemed I would be wasting my time.

PP
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Wed 3 Mar 2004 20:20
Damage from road chipping - hillman
From the description the damage by the gravel is very severe, and would not normally occur in normal driving. The gravel would be more likely to cause damage under the car, and of course break the windscreens of others. Have you asked your brother if he was tailgating a lorry at speed?
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Thu 4 Mar 2004 00:01
Damage from road chipping - Kevham
Hiya,

I'm sorry to hear about the damage caused. To try and give you more info, this site has some good quality bits and bobs covering the standards and procedures covering re-surfacing and surface re-dressing (there's a difference between the two). A good reference library or university library may have copies of the actual British Standards mentioned.

www.highwaysmaintenance.com/

I hope this helps.
k
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