cheechy Posted February 16, 2005 Report Share Posted February 16, 2005 Going home last night on the motorway, the front of my car was bombarded with rock salt which had been left in a heap in the outside lane by what I'm assuming would have been a gritter. No serious damage to the car but quite a few stonechip marks that I'm not very happy about. Is it worth pursuing this with the council for compensation and/or would this be relatively cheap to put right by CHips Away etc? Opinions? Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TP27 Posted February 16, 2005 Report Share Posted February 16, 2005 Pursue Council for compensation.....wait for reply... wait for reply...... wait for reply...... Buy a stone chip kit and fix them yourself!! Might be worth looking at www.fareclacarcare.com if the stone chips are bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheechy Posted February 16, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 16, 2005 Okay cheers will do - when its not under construction of course Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarMad Posted February 16, 2005 Report Share Posted February 16, 2005 The council have a tough job of keeping people happy, who is the first to complain when they don't grit ?? Us the motorist and its expensive to do. They have far less funding from central government for roads than they did 10 years ago and with more things to fix. This is made worse by more and more people taking them to court because they can't keep up with repairs. They try their best with the most limited resources possible believe me. Lets not become an American litiginous like state. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheechy Posted February 16, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 16, 2005 I agree the roads need to be gritted but it is negligence to 'dump' a load of grit onto the road in one spot and not do anything about it. Why should I have to pay for this negligence? (although it looks like I'm going to anyhow) Same as potholes in the road - we pay taxes so the roads should be well maintained. I agree litigation can go too far - unfortunately the litiginous state is already here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarMad Posted February 16, 2005 Report Share Posted February 16, 2005 How much was on the road ? Some machines carry on pumping out if they stop in once spot, unavoidably putting a little more down in one place. Not sure that is negligent as such ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big_Dan Posted February 16, 2005 Report Share Posted February 16, 2005 The council aren't responsible - it's the highways agency. I hate passing a gritter - try to keep as far away as possible and shoot past asap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheechy Posted February 16, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 16, 2005 [ QUOTE ] How much was on the road ? Some machines carry on pumping out if they stop in once spot, unavoidably putting a little more down in one place. Not sure that is negligent as such ? [/ QUOTE ] To be honest I'm not sure how the gritters actually work - I'd however assume there was a way for the driver to stop the flow of salt onto the road? Does anyone know? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarMad Posted February 16, 2005 Report Share Posted February 16, 2005 A belt at the bottom of the grit hopper moves the grit to the rear and down onto the spinning disks that send the grit across the road. They do stop when the truck stops but its easy for chunks to fall out the back and onto the floor as the disks also don't spin at this point. You can see this at traffic lights on occasions. Know what you mean about the grit comming out of the back but I would rather have that than driving on sheet ice that seems to happen more and more to cut costs. It can be £10,000 - 20,000 a night to grit roads depending on the size of the authority. Expensive when you think about it but so is the loss of life if they don't. And it is the council that do most roads, Highways agency only do Motorways etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheechy Posted February 16, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 16, 2005 The problem here mate is that this wasn't on a junction it was on a motorway! The car in front went over the 'pile' of salt doing 70mph. This wasn't the odd block of salt incidentally - there was about a one to two foot overing right across the outside lane which was about 1-2 inches I thick. I do pass gritters on the road and while I'm not happy about them spreading salt onto the bonnet of the car I accept this is a necessary evil. I obviously now accept that this would most probably be the highways agency and not the council. I've re-read the initial post and see I didn't maybe cover exactly what the situation was and hopefully I've now done that on this post - ie gritter lorry deposits large quantity of grit onto road and disappears cars come on behind at high speed spitting rock salt into the air at high velocity - cars behind get bombarded. Okay - think I'm bored of this now I'll probably try and tackle this myself but until I see the full damage once I see the car clean and in daylight I'm not sure. Cheers for the info and feedback Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarMad Posted February 16, 2005 Report Share Posted February 16, 2005 Ok Fella, hope things aren't too bad with the motor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TP27 Posted February 16, 2005 Report Share Posted February 16, 2005 [ QUOTE ] Council's have far less funding from Central Government for roads than they did 10 years ago. They try their best with the most limited resources possible believe me. [/ QUOTE ] Very true, Council's are short on cash but they do seem to have a terrible habit of wasting money left right and centre! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dannymacca Posted February 16, 2005 Report Share Posted February 16, 2005 Lets presume he turned the grit flow off while stood stationary in traffic while the motorway was busy and didn't turn it back on until he had travelled a few metres... you hit the ice that formed as a result, would you want compensation for this as well? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rustynuts Posted February 16, 2005 Report Share Posted February 16, 2005 If they don't grit the roads, it's a different issue! The issue here is that they did grit the road and failed to do it to a reasonable standard. If they carry out a job and are negligent in the process, they will be liable for compensation. The trouble is, you will have to prove negligence and that will be nearly impossible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian_C Posted February 17, 2005 Report Share Posted February 17, 2005 Go and persue! One of my work colleagues hit debris in the road in Jan whilst in his new (2004 '04') hatch. A very weighty tree branch lying across his lane of the dual carriageway. Was pitch black night at the time, he didn't spot it until too late, could not swerve / change lanes as he was overtaking at the time. An upward branch off said 'log' destroyed his front splitter / bumper, the rhs wheel arch liner and many mounting points underneath. The dealer reckon if the upward 'prong' had been much bigger it would have fouled the driveshaft - and snapped it. He has started correspondance with the council after being informed the bill was going to be into four figures. Being a young driver, claiming on insurance is something to be avoided if at all possible. Get pen on paper Cheechy! Ian C Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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