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Right then here's the scenario. Driving along the last night on a normal A-road and coming the other way was a gritting truck going like a bat out of hell. I slowed down a touch, but as the truck passed the car I was driving, it got hammered by grit. I even joked at the time that its a good job I wasn't driving my new Focus ST170. Anyway I never thought no more about it. Later on when I went to put the car in the garage I found a pool of liquid underneath the car. I couldn't identify it properly at the time and thought it best to wait for further investigation this evening. I have just had a look at the car and it is the radiator that that has been pierced on the front side, just where the ventilation cut-out is on the front bumper. Now I am 99% sure that it was the flying grit that has holed the rad. The rad is not at all rusty, just pierced in one spot. There is even still a load of grit stuck in the crevices on the front bumper right next to the cut-out bit. Now I am not generally into this compensation culture stuff but this has incensed me somewhat and is going to cost a good few quid for a new radiator. Do you think I have a valid claim against the council in a similar vain to the people who claim for wheel/tyre damage from potholes? Any advice is welcome.
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Simon, neither do I condone "compensation culture".
You fail to mention what model and age car you were driving at the time, also would be helpfull the mileage and wether the car was on it's original radiator. My guess is that on an older car the rad was already starting to corrode internally and was weakend. If the car was fitted with a brand new rad then it would have been strong enough to withstand the force of the grit. Ok so the grit was the cause of the hole(s) but it's days were numbered anyway. A new rad will be easy enough for someone to fit themselves, but if you don't like getting your hands dirty then you'll have to pay for the privilage. Like all things nowadays - shop around untill you find the best price, they can vary wildly.
Rich.
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I am lead to believe that starting last year, grit was banned by the EU, and they now use a coarse sand and salt? It looks much finer than it used to.
You can try claiming, but I doubt you will get anything as they weren't negligent and you can't prove it was them as there is no lasting evidence like you would get with a fallen streetlamp or collapsed culvert.
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This is surely a valid claim on your insurers, who may be inclined to pursue the council for recovery.
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Simon,
Whilst I sympathise with your situation, I don't think you're going to get a penny from either the council. If you get anything from you're insurance company they, again, won't have any comeback to the council. Lots of people have the misfortune to drive past gritters, and I suspect nearly all of them get bits of grit stuck in their radiator grills. So I'm afraid you can't really prove that the grit did it. It could have been a stone, glass, prat-with-screwdriver-in-carpark, etc.
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I too sympathise with you but to look on the bright side, at least you didn't skid on ice, crash and die.
Always the optimist.
--
Adam
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I mentioned insurers because of an incident a few years ago. I was driving along a newly-surfaced stretch of road on which gravel had been sprayed only that morningn ad was still loose on the surface. There was the usual 20mph speed restriction in consequence, which I was observing. I was overtaken by a BMW travelling, at high speed and which showered the front of my car with flying gravel. A few miles further I noticed the steam from the pierced radiator, but too late to get the idiot's number.
My insurers paid up for all costs including a new rad and cosmetic repairs to the car's front end.
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"gravel had been sprayed" should have read "gravel had been spread" of course. Oh, for that unmentionable button.
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