Sped bumps damaging car!! Can I claim???
Sped bumps damaging car!! Can I claim???
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rash_decision

Original Poster:

1,415 posts

203 months

Saturday 21st November 2009
quotequote all
Hi. Has anyone any experience of succesful claims against a local authority for damage caused by a speed bump?? I drove across one really slowly this afternoon, but the car still grounded on it, damaging my sill and taking the side skirt off my car, and crushing one of the coolant pipes!!!

Surely I'm not the first to have experienced this??? I'm mega pi55ed off as this will cost me a few hundred quid to repair!!! Any info would be helpful!! Oh and I'm in Glasgow if this helps with anyone's experiences.

peterguk M500

2,615 posts

243 months

Saturday 21st November 2009
quotequote all
You may have a chance if:

a) Your car is a standard, unmodified production car

b) The speed hump is more than 100mm high

I'm sure other more knowledgable members will be able to give more detail...

Edited by peterguk M500 on Saturday 21st November 17:09

Tunku

7,703 posts

254 months

Saturday 21st November 2009
quotequote all
rash_decision said:
Hi. Has anyone any experience of succesful claims against a local authority for damage caused by a speed bump?? I drove across one really slowly this afternoon, but the car still grounded on it, damaging my sill and taking the side skirt off my car, and crushing one of the coolant pipes!!!

Surely I'm not the first to have experienced this??? I'm mega pi55ed off as this will cost me a few hundred quid to repair!!! Any info would be helpful!! Oh and I'm in Glasgow if this helps with anyone's experiences.
Do you have a location for this speed cliff, sorry, speed bump?

Dwight VanDriver

6,583 posts

270 months

Saturday 21st November 2009
quotequote all
To be succesful in any claim you will have to prove that the dimensions are beyond what is laid down by Statute.

Here is a useful item which contains the relevant legislation.

http://tinyurl.com/ye7ymzd

dvd

p1esk

4,914 posts

222 months

Saturday 21st November 2009
quotequote all
As of this morning my car is in dock awaiting the fitting of a pair of new front coil springs, having broken the left front one this morning while driving up Westwood, Scarborough, at about 20-25 mph. Fortunately there appears to be very little ancillary damage, but the entire incident is a complete PITA. This particular road alongside Tesco has been in bad condition for several years, with no sign of any repair work being attempted, let alone carried out to a decent standard.

Obviously I can not prove that the failure was directly caused by the bad state of the roads in the Scarborough area, but what does seem clear is that vehicles in general are suffering increased wear and tear as a result of the very poor standard of roads maintenance, on top of which we still have rumble strips, speed humps and speed cushions to contend with.

This point was given considerable publicity in the local press a few weeks ago, but I don't suppose the council can afford to do anything to improve matters: they've spent all our money on unwanted traffic lights and other measures to create added congestion. mad

Best wishes all,
Dave.

Robert060379

15,754 posts

209 months

Saturday 21st November 2009
quotequote all
You need a lot of photos of the ramps and the damage caused to your vehicle. My friends car was ground out on a speed ramp in Corby and blocked the road for two hours. When the car was eventually lifted off the Cat' was brocken and the sump pan had a gauge through it. The council tried to claim the ramp was up to spec and her car (a Nissan Micra) was either lowered or overloaded. When the photos were presented as well as a full mechanics report (stating the car was completely standard) and a petition from local residents the council paid up for the repairs and cut two inches off of the ramp in question. All the others remain the same and some have snow on them all year round.

peterguk M500

2,615 posts

243 months

Saturday 21st November 2009
quotequote all
Robert060379 said:
You need a lot of photos of the ramps and the damage caused to your vehicle. My friends car was ground out on a speed ramp in Corby and blocked the road for two hours. When the car was eventually lifted off the Cat' was brocken and the sump pan had a gauge through it. The council tried to claim the ramp was up to spec and her car (a Nissan Micra) was either lowered or overloaded. When the photos were presented as well as a full mechanics report (stating the car was completely standard) and a petition from local residents the council paid up for the repairs and cut two inches off of the ramp in question.


Robert060379 said:
All the others remain the same and some have snow on them all year round.
B;imey, didn't realise Corby was that high in altitude. Must be freezing there!

rash_decision

Original Poster:

1,415 posts

203 months

Saturday 21st November 2009
quotequote all
Tunku said:
rash_decision said:
Hi. Has anyone any experience of succesful claims against a local authority for damage caused by a speed bump?? I drove across one really slowly this afternoon, but the car still grounded on it, damaging my sill and taking the side skirt off my car, and crushing one of the coolant pipes!!!Surely I'm not the first to have experienced this??? I'm mega pi55ed off as this will cost me a few hundred quid to repair!!! Any info would be helpful!! Oh and I'm in Glasgow if this helps with anyone's experiences.
Do you have a location for this speed cliff, sorry, speed bump?
The offending speed bump is located in Knightswood. My car is standard, albeit quite low anyway, but should be able to go over speed bumps I would reckon. Although surely any road legal car should not be impeded by speed bumps?? It's getting so bad around the residential areas in Glasgow that I might need to sell my car soon!! The front bumper lower trim is shagged with scraping on the full width bumps that I can't slowly pass between, it's getting beyond a joke!! I'm all for slowing down in built up areas but surely tese bumps/mountains need not be so high!!!!

peterguk M500

2,615 posts

243 months

Saturday 21st November 2009
quotequote all
rash_decision said:
The offending speed bump is located in Knightswood. My car is standard, albeit quite low anyway, but should be able to go over speed bumps I would reckon. Although surely any road legal car should not be impeded by speed bumps?? It's getting so bad around the residential areas in Glasgow that I might need to sell my car soon!! The front bumper lower trim is shagged with scraping on the full width bumps that I can't slowly pass between, it's getting beyond a joke!! I'm all for slowing down in built up areas but surely tese bumps/mountains need not be so high!!!!
What car do you drive? Can't think of many standard production cars lower than my Noble which rarely encounters problems.

Maybe your humps are higher than 100mm?

jeffreyarcher

675 posts

274 months

Saturday 21st November 2009
quotequote all
Glasgow's full of illegal humps (and illegal road signs, and illegal booby traps (euphemistically known as traffic calming)).
They even have longditudinal ones yikes , which aren't allowed, either.

It's different regulations too, to those in England & Wales, albeit that they are very similiar.
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si1998/19981448.htm
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/SI/si1999/19991000.htm

I'd be thunderstruck if there's a hump in Glasgow that is completely compliant.

A couple of obvious things to look out for;
1) 100mm. max. height (as already stated).
2) 6mm. max. vertical face.
3) Prescribed warning signs.

Edited by jeffreyarcher on Saturday 21st November 22:18

peterguk M500

2,615 posts

243 months

Saturday 21st November 2009
quotequote all
jeffreyarcher said:
stuff worth taking notice of
He da man bow

Hi Ian. Nice to see you around these parts.

Robert060379

15,754 posts

209 months

Saturday 21st November 2009
quotequote all
peterguk M500 said:
Robert060379 said:
All the others remain the same and some have snow on them all year round.
B;imey, didn't realise Corby was that high in altitude. Must be freezing there!
A jovial reference to the height of the ramps. My Subaru scraped the sumpguard on one there; it's raised 60mm and has high profile tyres.

peterguk M500

2,615 posts

243 months

Saturday 21st November 2009
quotequote all
Robert060379 said:
peterguk M500 said:
Robert060379 said:
All the others remain the same and some have snow on them all year round.
B;imey, didn't realise Corby was that high in altitude. Must be freezing there!
A jovial reference to the height of the ramps. My Subaru scraped the sumpguard on one there; it's raised 60mm and has high profile tyres.