who pays for the crash barrier repairs ?

who pays for the crash barrier repairs ?

Author
Discussion

timmo

Original Poster:

1,786 posts

242 months

Monday 21st January 2008
quotequote all
In Germany I believe if you have an accident and damage the central reservation barriers you have to pay for them
Is this the case in the UK ?
Ive seen so many of these damaged barriers but have often wondered whether the Insurance or Councils pay for them

Burgmeister

2,206 posts

218 months

Monday 21st January 2008
quotequote all
Your insurance co pays i think.

JustinP1

13,330 posts

238 months

Monday 21st January 2008
quotequote all
If you smash it, you pay for it!

Or your insurance company does...

Chrisgr31

13,757 posts

263 months

Monday 21st January 2008
quotequote all
Yes, when I hit the Central Reservation on the M25 I was able to get to the hard shoulder. One of the first things the police did, having being assured I had no passengers which is another story, went to see how much damage I had done to the barrier as my insurance company would need to pay for it.

Mind you this was around 12 years ago and as far as I can recall I was never asked for my insurance details.

mark69sheer

3,906 posts

210 months

Monday 21st January 2008
quotequote all
About seven years ago I was forced into a central reservation barier by a driver who pulled out to overtake without looking.

I would have had a barrier to pay for because even though the police caught the other driver he denied anything and since I swerved to avaiod him only my car was damaged.

However I didn't have to pay for the damage because the week previously the test driver for Jaguar had stuffed a prototype S class into the same barrier and they were allready being chased for the costs...smile

Mg6b

6,649 posts

271 months

Monday 21st January 2008
quotequote all
Crash barrier repairs stand at around £1000 per meter damaged on motorways!

Dwight VanDriver

6,583 posts

252 months

Monday 21st January 2008
quotequote all
Generally its the person that caused the damage who will be invoiced to pay, most probably through Insurance for the vehicle. Plod used to supply LA/HA with such details, presumably they still do.

Otherwise if it is a shunt and run LA/HA will have to foot the bill.

dvd

goskins17

54 posts

218 months

Monday 21st January 2008
quotequote all
Generally, the HATO's/Highways Agency are given details of the driver to contact them for reclaiming the costs, the going rate is about £1000 a lamp post, and about the same for 3 lengths of barrier.

ChrisKKK

43 posts

233 months

Monday 21st January 2008
quotequote all
I think its the same for street furniture. I always wondered what you are supposed to do if you say hit a sign post - do you let the insurance company deal or contact the Local Authority or the Police.

I seam to remember that there is a law that if you cannot establish the owner you have to call the Police but i guess if its street furniture its pretty obvious who owns it.


Sgt Bilko

1,929 posts

223 months

Tuesday 22nd January 2008
quotequote all
From the Highways Agency's Annual Report

In 2006-07 the full cost of infrastructure damage [from collisions/falling debris etc] was £13,030,000 with £12,717,000 recovered, leaving only a deficit of £313,000 [unrecoverable].

flemke

22,948 posts

245 months

Tuesday 22nd January 2008
quotequote all
Mg6b said:
Crash barrier repairs stand at around £1000 per meter damaged on motorways!
If we're talking about barrier with two strips of armco, that's a mere 16 times the charge for barrier replacement at the Nurburgring.

Barrier replacement on a motorway will be more dangerous and more complex, but 16 times as much?

Let's see - private contractor does the work and calculates the charges, but is separated by a government agency from the person who pays.
Person who pays has no choice, cannot look around for a more competitive offer.

And who says there's such a thing as rip-off Britain?

wolf1

3,085 posts

258 months

Tuesday 22nd January 2008
quotequote all
flemke said:
Mg6b said:
Crash barrier repairs stand at around £1000 per meter damaged on motorways!
If we're talking about barrier with two strips of armco, that's a mere 16 times the charge for barrier replacement at the Nurburgring.

Barrier replacement on a motorway will be more dangerous and more complex, but 16 times as much?

Let's see - private contractor does the work and calculates the charges, but is separated by a government agency from the person who pays.
Person who pays has no choice, cannot look around for a more competitive offer.

And who says there's such a thing as rip-off Britain?
I think it's because of the logistics behind closing the motorway and all the extra gear they have to use.
I'm probably wrong but it's just a thought.

Sgt Bilko

1,929 posts

223 months

Tuesday 22nd January 2008
quotequote all
Pretty much so. Plus the barrier on the motorway will be to a higher specification (to withstand artics going at it 56mph at a 10 degree angle etc etc). Also the cost is average. Take into account lampposts, emergency phone's, drainage channels, signals, signs, gantries etc.

flemke

22,948 posts

245 months

Tuesday 22nd January 2008
quotequote all
wolf1 said:
flemke said:
Mg6b said:
Crash barrier repairs stand at around £1000 per meter damaged on motorways!
If we're talking about barrier with two strips of armco, that's a mere 16 times the charge for barrier replacement at the Nurburgring.

Barrier replacement on a motorway will be more dangerous and more complex, but 16 times as much?

Let's see - private contractor does the work and calculates the charges, but is separated by a government agency from the person who pays.
Person who pays has no choice, cannot look around for a more competitive offer.

And who says there's such a thing as rip-off Britain?
I think it's because of the logistics behind closing the motorway and all the extra gear they have to use.
I'm probably wrong but it's just a thought.
How often is the motorway actually closed? I would not have thought it was very often.
Is it not usually a case of coning off a lane?

Wrt the additional cost of lamp posts and phones, I took Mg6b to mean that the cost of the armco replacement alone was a grand a metre.

I must admit, when I wrote my post I was thinking of a tv show last year in which investigative reporters tried to analyse the operations of private contractors who have a deal with the LA to look after roads.
They followed one crew for a day. IIRC, after the lads had clocked in, changed into their working gear, had a cup of coffee, got into the van, stopped at a news agent's, stopped at a bookie's, etc, etc, in the course of a "full" day they had actually spent a total of 57 minutes repairing the road.