[A12 JEO]

I was well chuffed with the performance of my 147 over the Christmas period....having fully replaced the front suspension, stopping the terrible knocking...spending hours searching for a reasonably priced front down pipe and twin cats section of the exhaust as well as finding a replacement exhaust manifold to replace the slightly cracked one....then whilst travelling home from work on Tuesday at 4 pm I was caused to take a different route to usual! I was travelling carefully at about 20 mph through what appeared to be fresh snow, vehicles passing from the opposite direction to my right when there was an almighty BANG!

An interesting decision by Birmingham City Council to remove the 3 bollards and not replace them with anything and also to not display any sort of signage informing the motorist of the fact that the road ended at a 90 deg. pavement! ...so that's a hole in my sump big enough to fit my hand in caused by the exhaust, which is also ******...thanks BCC! (SEE PICS ATTACHED! (taken the following morning and from google map)) APpears that the same happened to the Citroen the same night... AVOID ARLEY ROAD, SALTLEY, BIRMINGHAM, B8 AT ALL COSTS!

Car's at the local garage and the estimates don't make pleasant reading...has anyone had a similar experience whereby they have been succesful claiming for the damage from the council? Sorry to go on.....Any advice really would be appreciated as as a young driver about to get 5 yrs no claims and with a £650 excess I am considering some drastic actions involving a noose or the kitchen knives, (not really! but I think you know what I'm getting at!)

Mike

 

[10500RPM]

Jesus, that's shocking :wow:

Councils usually pay out for damage caused by potholes without much hassle and I hope you're just as fortunate, there should be some sort of warning sign imo.

 

[Green_Rizla]

I would ............. You have pretty good photo evidence there. Good luck.

Cheers to All
Peter

 

[0of0]

Jeez! - that's well out of order :tut: - I assume you stopped the engine immediately?

 

[Nev]

That's well ****ed-up.

Sometimes I think people who "design" these
type of road junctions etc must be morons.

 

[A12 JEO]

Yeah I turned it off immediately and came to a stop on the left...phoned the insurance who took all the details and then reminded me about the £650 excess and suggested i get it recovered and assessed in case the damage wasn't too bad (wishful thinking) I knew it was bad as oild pouring out from underside, 3 local recovery agencies refused to assist as 'snowed in' to be fair I don't blame them...so it was left there overnight....kind of wish it'd been stolen overnight as god knows where I'm gonna find the cash to repair it prior to any claim being paid out, I prob should claim off insurance but if anyone has some advice as to the best/quickest way of claiming through council it'd be much appreciated.....I did report it to BCC and apparently they're sending me a claim for in the post THANKS FOR THAT, REALLY HELPS!

Take a look at google map and/or google street view, the other end of the road has a sign saying dead-end but RAC, AA route planners say its a through road WTF! (Pls excuse the language!)

 

[rigsby]

that is shocking mate, hope you get a pay out.............get a few people you know to phone up and complain about the lack of warning signs/ and the fact it could cause an accident, that should highlight the situation for when you put in your claim

good luck!

 

[iainfm]

Shouldn't be too bad. I've got a sump if you want that. I've got manifolds and other exhaust parts...but they're all from CF2-engined cars.

Your biggest expense might be new CATs if they've taken a clobbering...

There should (must?)* be a sign warning of the deviation - a 'give way to oncoming vehicles' one...whatever they're called.

(searches for highway code...)

Bottom-left one of page 1 here -> http://www.direct.gov.uk/prod_consu.../@dg/@en/documents/digitalasset/dg_070642.pdf

If the claim fails, sue them!

*EDIT: Unless someone's already crashed into it!

 

[Red_156]

Dreadful ... I've never seen anything like it! I can't wait for this snow to be gone ....

 

[TOX1C]

That looks like a very poor "traffic calming" measure as there appears to be a free lane to the right, the use of bollards that high and of that design, unless I'm mistaken is NOT approved. Regardless if this is the case or not there must be adequate warning given and signage provided. The legislation governing this is the
Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions 2002.

The Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions 2002

Unless the road is not adopted the above legislation MUST be complied with by the responsible authority. TBH the road layout does seem rather odd to say the least, I suspect there may be more to this that meets the eye

Rob

 

[rarebear]

it is maybe a consolation , in Holland the same stupidity cost me a sump some years ago...
the people who dream up these traffic calming devices are nuts... sitting behind a desk and
thinking up crazy schemes.
I did not get any money back because they said: you must have driven too fast... which was not the case !
but how can you prove it ?

 

[156zoo]

I think the best part of your whole scenario is that you have photographic evidence, which is a big must when taking a council to the cleaners, the fact it was covered in ice and snow is a big help too because they should have gritted the area by now. Put in the claim to them, my friend Mehmet did the same thing last winter, they forked out for a whole new suspension assembly and bottom end rebuild the damage was so bad.

Good luck

Dann

 

[Simon_S]

the road layout does seem rather odd to say the least, I suspect there may be more to this than meets the eye

It's not a nice part of town, the bollards will have been smashed by joy-riders/fly tippers and any warning signs stolen
The council should be liable for failing to maintain the road.

Good luck with your claim.

 

[jay w]

my situation was slightly different, but i finally won my case....

Mine was a sleeping policemen that was above regulation height, and it damaged my spider.

Plymouth City Council tried to fight it but with the evidence i had, pics ect, they decided not to allow it to go to court.

you have a lot of evidence there, the only thing i would do it to photograph the entrance junction so as to prove there was not signage stating the road was blocked off, that way you have them by the short and curlies

 

[Stu GTV]

the fact it was covered in ice and snow is a big help too because they should have gritted the area by now.

First, I am not defending councils, but in the current situation I think that major roads are a priority at the moment, and B roads and side roads are not being gritted, in fact, I have never seen side roads gritted anywhere. Good luck to you in a claim, if you don't try you will never know, and regret not trying if you hear someone else got compensation....

 

[alfa-mick]

gutted!!!!!! i went through a pothole yesterday and the bang it made really shocked me...i really thought something had snapped but luckily everything seems ok. hope you get it sorted nice and quickly mate.

 

[A12 JEO]

Thanks

Hey thanks for the replys all, The car's at the local garage where I usually get the work done....Received the claim form today so here begineth the long and drawn out process...Have already taken photo's of the junction to show the lack of signage...also had car on ramp earlier so could take some pics....I can get the Cats for £237 from Cats-Driect on net whish is VERY well priced, re the sump the garage are looking at a second-hand one for £120....I can't afford to get the work done until the long awaited payday on 2th though so its gonna sit there until the works done... I'm not worried about the road not having been gritted its the fact that as many of you have mentioned there is no notification of the 90 deg kerb which I'd imagine is pretty obscured in normal road conditions....tried to attach some pics of the damage but for some reason not working

RAC chap said they're always down there collecting people having done the same....

Mike

 

[Rewe]

Good luck with your claim. Does your insurance provide legal cover? If you are not able to recover your losses I can't see anyone being able to. Even having read your story, I would never have guessed what was under the snow. It even looks like tracks go straight over. Without the signs, lights or bollards I'd imagine this would be just as dangerous in fog or rain at night.

 

[harpersimon]

should defo be some sort of lane narrowing or priority traffic signage there - but I think they are going to wonder why you were not driving down the left or the right. In my experience they will have a reason its not their fault! (are the cars in the snowy pic parked in the middle of the road / abandoned?)

 

[A12 JEO]

Middle of the road?!? - Damaged

'harpersimon'....re the vehicles, the saxo is parked behind mine, I had to leave mine in situ overnight, because of the weather conditions, when I returned to the following day the saxo was parked behind with front end damage also, they're parked against the nearside pavement... I'm not entirely sure how it works, i have informed insurance I don't really want to use my insurance as as mentioned above i'm due to have 5 yrs no-claims, I think I have to complete the claim from received from the council in order to attempt for them to accept public liability, if they refuse I then have to involve insurance, that's why I created the post, to warn drivers of the road defect and also for advice, got some useful stuff so far...(got those pics on, mechanic says no damage to crank, THANK GOD!