SRSport

By where I live there is some construction work going on. Upon driving down the road in the evening my front left wheel hit one of their rocks. It made a very loud bang which made me stop and investigate. Everything appeared ok but I took a photo of it just in case and threw it back into the construction site.

Since then my the front left wheel makes an intermittent metallic knocking noise when turning up or down an incline that makes the wheel move disproportionately to the rest of the car.

I wrote to them explaining the issue and they have replied that I can not prove that the rock was theirs. That is not really in question so they have now said that a kid could have come onto the site and thrown it onto the road. Is this a valid argument? It seems rather weak to me but not sure where I stand so need advice before pursuing.

steve ex vauxhall

iTrader: (5)

In my opinion you need a few more photos,,or maybe video of vehicles leaving the site in question.
Is there a wheel wash on this site?
Are the vehicles using the wheel,wash?
Are the vehicles leaving/entering the site sheeted over the loads that they are carrying?

As far as I'm aware any vehicle that loses its load on the road is liable as there should be measures to stop this, however small it should not happen.

Tidgy

if it went as far as court i think they would have a hard time of it. Any site entrance or exit should be kept clear and tidy, there is alot of mudd on the pic which prob means they are failign to do that.

SRSport

The road was a mess. There are heavy plants everywhere, rocks everywhere by the side of the road (behind fencing though), in fact I avoid that area all the time because of something like this. This time though I had to go in that direction and the inevitable happened. There are site entrances the length of the road as they are building 95 houses.

steve ex vauxhall

iTrader: (5)

They have a duty of care to members of the public, and should not be spreading crap all over the road.

I've just had something similar with a local farmer, he thought he could leave mud and crap all over the road as long as he just put up signs saying that there was a skid risk.

2 local cars crashed and he's now going to court for a couple of offences.

DYK

I would of thought its the companies or construction sites responsibility to keep the site secure etc,saying a kid could of got on the site and threw that rock sounds a bit weak to me.So are they saying the site is not properly secure.

DCI Gene Hunt

The site, assuming its hazardous, should be secured so that "kids" can't get access to it. Cant believe they've just insinuated that they're not compliant with statutory requirements.

SRSport

Exactly my thought but they have covered themselves as far as legally required. For example, they have secured with fences the area and hired a security firm.

Here is the picture from a different angle. You can make out the pile of rocks it came from.




Here is an overview of the road. Heavy plant crossing is frequent and they often block the toad for long periods of time. They've been covering my car with dust all year and I have been more than tolerant but this is something that I really feel is their responsibility.

DCI Gene Hunt

That's just cruel

steve ex vauxhall

iTrader: (5)

Omg, that's looks like a bloody nightmare of a place to live at the moment!
If I were you, I would take all these photos to a solicitor, most will give you half an hour for free.
There will be clauses in the original planning permission about effects on residents already living there prior/during and after the work, I would be trying to get a copy of that too.

Really feel for ya mate, that would drive me round the twist!

SRSport

Thanks, thats the sort of advice I am after. At the moment the car isn't behaving in a way that will make me think that a mechanic will find anything wrong but the bang and the intermittent noises suggest otherwise. I have written to them to file the complaint incase it develops into something more serious later on that needs sorting out.

SRSport

I spoke to the site manager yesterday and told him that I hit the rock on Saturday. His reply was, "the road was fully cleaned then so it couldnt have been us. If it was on any other day then I would hold my hands up and take full responsibility as we would have no answer".

It wasn't until I looked at the photo on the computer and noticed the road conditions that I realised this couldn't have been the case. I checked the date it was taken and it was last Thursday (I got the dates mixed up as I was thinking about football being on). When I approached him he then changed his tune to "it could have been kids so its not our responsibility".

steve ex vauxhall

iTrader: (5)

Pointless talking to the site manager mate, he will do his utmost to wriggle out of everything.
Get yourself to a solicitor with all the pictures,

RobsyUK

iTrader: (2)

I had a council slab sticking out of the road - in all fairness it was hanging out for months. It hit my exhaust and did minimal damage - I emailed the council saying they owed me a new exhaust. Got a letter back saying its up to me to watch where I am driving!

They replaced the slab the next day! but I didn't follow it through.

A lady I know had a horrific crash after sliding on some mud on the exit of a building site and she won £000's in compensation..

I'd say go all the way !!!

dpb

That rock does look somewhat planted, can't see you getting anywhere but who knows

About 20 years ago I slammed into a wire gate on the bike, the builders had forgot to close it last thing and was unlit also, would have got something had I been wearing my specs at the time

SRSport

Who do I approach? Whats the best way of finding a solicitor thats honest and reliable and can I actually use one with my car still working?

My main aim was to have a record of this should a serious problem develop.

SRSport

I know what you mean. If it came down to it there is nothing to ay that I didnt put it there. This is why I made it clear that I was not after anything now as there is nothing obviously wrong at the moment. This hopefully shows that I have not planted it in an attempt to get them to pay for something that may be faulty already.

DCI Gene Hunt

What about contacting your local highways/council department and seeing if they can help?

or

Contact your car insurance and again see if they can help?

Just a thought - cost of a quick phone call....

steve ex vauxhall

iTrader: (5)

Best bet is to ring round a couple in your area, most will give you half an hour for free, and you can tell them the basics over the phone first.

You already have a noise coming from your car, that to me says its been damaged, therefor you need financial compensation to repair what has been damaged, and to make sure this wont happen again.

Have you spoken to any neighbours?

Anyone else have problems?

If so it's always better in numbers if you know what I mean

SRSport

I phoned the council who werent interested.
I do not want to phone the insurance co. as they'll probably try to use this as an excuse to do all sorts of price hiking come renewal time. I dont think its in my best interest to speak to them unless its something that will cost £££ to fix.

SRSport

A neighbours had their car driven into by a plant. They had a courtesy car while they fixed it for a couple of days. they have also washed some cars but they suggested as mine wasnt a beaten up pile of @$*% I had better decline. Someone else ha tried to put in a claim for damage caused to their car but they are not interested - although it does sound like they are jumping on the band wagon, which doesnt help my cause.

stevebt

iTrader: (8)

Ask them if they had a wagon out to wash the roads at the end of the day and if they jcb scraped the roads where they where entering and leaving the site? If they don't have a proper road sweeper booked in then thy must at last have the fitment to attacthh to th forks to clean the roads within an hour of the time they finish.

SRSport

There was no road sweeping for that day. The site manager reminded me that I had said Saturday when he first asked me which was the day they did sweep the road. However I dont think they can cling to that as the picture clearly shows the roads unswept plus my computer recorded the date I took the photo.

stevebt

iTrader: (8)

to be honest i would take pictures of the roads being a mess during the day over a period of time as I work on housing sites so I know what they are like. The fact that they didn't employ a road sweeper that day is in your favour. I would go to a solictor with a no win fee as it may be all the housing firm will understand.

SRSport

Thanks. I think I will try and find one. Should I reply to the email from the property developers saying that this is not their responsibility or is it ok to ignore them, take pics for a week and contact a solicitor then. I move house next week so cant realy take any more pics after that.

Bean1984

iTrader: (3)

At my old work place they had 4 different skip sites, 1 concrete firm and 2 mud sites. For me it was great fun in tje scoob but every vehicle that left or entered they had a road sweeper machine drive n clean just after. Never had no trouble so id pursue it mate

Aaron1978

iTrader: (12)

Who is the house builder?

Have you sent the photo to head office?

What that looks like is a wagon driver not checking his wheels for trapped stone between the tyres before leaving the site, it happens all the time. What I would do is get a few more photos and even a video of wagons leaving as it WILL happen again.

When you contact the council you need to speak to the Highways dept, ask for a Highways inspector to come and visit you. Take photos of all potential hazards, damage to paths, grass verges and dirty cars etc.

Write another letter/email to head office stating that you're going to be talking it further via your solicitor and the HSE, explaining you have photographic evidence of bad practice involving site deliveries and site cleanliness and also as told by the site manager that there are children getting onto site and throwing materials onto the road.

Aaron

steve ex vauxhall

iTrader: (5)

This^^^^^

Is bang on

SRSport

Thanks. Ive not seen any wagons carrying the stones as most of it happens when Im at work. They dont work on Sundays and Im often out on Saturday. I also dont know what is bad practice and what is reasonable. I have sent the photos to head office via email and they are the ones saying they are not interested.

Ill see if there are any other days when the road is left like this again in the evening and maybe take a video. I think its unreasonable to hold the kids accountable as it is their building material either left on the road or left in a position where kids can get to them, end of.

hodgy0_2

Personally, I would move on and put my time to something more productive and positive

Just me though

Good luck