wood fell off lorry & hit my merc

[MCFastybloke]

Do you have to return the wood?

Good result tho.

 

[gaz_l]

Many years ago (in the late 80's) I got hit by a piece of wood that fell off a lorry. Was heading up the M11 on a nice day, minding my own business, clear day with good visibility when all of a sudden there is a *massive* piece of wood in mid-air directly in front of me, which I proceed to hit.

I tried to duck under the dash instinctively and turned the car towards the central reservation (and the somewhat unforgiving armco), fortunately my passenger had seen the wood separate from the truck and fly across to our lane, grabbed the wheel and steered us away from it.

After a second's disorientation, I regained control and steered over to the hard shoulder and stopped. Car had the roof partially caved in, bonnet dented and windscreen had multiple cracks but hadn't failed. We were somewhat shaken (obviously) but otherwise OK. We set off after the truck and managed to chase it down and flag it over. The driver was very ****y at first, it was an artic with a 40 foot flatbed trailer with no load on and he was adamant that it was nothing to do with him. When we looked at the trailer, indeed it was empty and all the sheets etc were properly roped down, but there was a suspicious gap on the trailer bed where one of the wooden planks of the bed used to be..

The missing piece was about 6"x3" and 20 foot long, a pretty solid thing to hit at 70 MPH. My estimate of the humble Ford Sierra - pretty low prior to this - went up by quite a bit.

After swapping details with the lorry driver, we decided sod it and carried on our way. We did get some fairly strange looks at the gate when we turned up at our customers though..

Cheers,

Gaz

 

[BernardB]

Sorry to hear about the bad experience and glad it's been resolved. The incident reminded me of a joke from many years ago:

A Cornish lorry driver is assigned to deliver a load of wood to London.

He stops in Exeter and asks someone: "Is this London?"

On being told no, he drives on and stops in Taunton to ask someone: "Is this London?"

This goes on for several other towns and cities along the route until he finally arrives in London.

He stops and asks a passer-by: "Is this London?"

"Yes" is the reply.

"Right", says the driver. "Where do you want the wood?"

 

[Andopose]

Had this happen last November. New Merc (one month old) and a Timber bearer about 1m long was kicked up into the air right in front of me, by an artic. I swerved a little but was doing 70 mph and it made a loud bang where it hit the car.
When i pulled in at the services 5 miles on, i could see no damage. I couldn't believe that was possible so stopped again at the next services to double check.
I still was unable to see damage.
Then in January i noticed a dent by the roof trim. (low sun highlighted the dent on a white car). £80.00 to pdr what a pain !
Debris on the motorway seems to be more common these days.
At least it didn't come through the windscreen and take my head off !

 

[meeeb]

Welll done for being so honest!! The company will only be too willing to send you the cheque!!

At least you're not trying to claim for old scratches/damage on bonnet and bumper, a day off work, taxi to and from garage etc etc to bump up the claim!!

We've had people trying to claim all sort!!

Maybe honesty is the best policy then. A philosophy many others would do well to follow.

It says something when honesty is congratulated. It should be the norm. Not trying to detract from the above comments, though.

 

[Smatt]

I guess if the OP had gone through your insurance it would have cost the company a lot more, hence their willingness to pay up a modest sum.

 

[evdok]

Slightly of topic but i once had a deliver driver pi55 on my bonnet at 2am & then the passenger decided to do the same, stupid muppets didn't realise they were been filmed, friend in the trade made a bill for wash/polish which cost them £30 each, funny thing is i never spoke to them as delivery times were through the night

 

[ShaunB]

I was on the way home from work today behind a big lorry with a tall trailor & it had rubbish piled up above the trailor. A large piece of wood came flying out & hit my merc, scratching/scuffing my front bumper, smashing the bumper grill & the plastic trim infront of the grill.
i got the time, road name, company name & registration number. Where do i stand?

Something similar happened to me years ago.
I tried to get the driver to stop - he woudn't - said he didn't see or hear me!

Contacted the police (in person in my local station), gave them the registration details and explained what happened.
They looked at the car (brand new Impreza STI as it happened to be then)
They contacted the fleet owner and all was sorted in the end and I was not out of pocket.

 

[tonyc280]

Good on the company in paying you out!!!

 

[kinaero]

I guess if the OP had gone through your insurance it would have cost the company a lot more, hence their willingness to pay up a modest sum.

Thats true, a company excess runs into thousands, so its better to pay rather going thru insurance!

I once had a van ran into the back of my then Citroen Xantia many years ago, the company rung me for the repair cost and sent me a cheque,it was around a grand!

 

[219]

I was on the way home from work today behind a big lorry with a tall trailor & it had rubbish piled up above the trailor. A large piece of wood came flying out & hit my merc, scratching/scuffing my front bumper, smashing the bumper grill & the plastic trim infront of the grill.
i got the time, road name, company name & registration number. Where do i stand?

I am glad that you were able to recover damages from the company .

This , however , is an excellent example of why one should always stay well back at a safe distance behind vehicles of this type .

Recovering damages is all well and good , but it is preferable to avoid such damage in the first place where it can be easily anticipated .

 

[Meldrew2]

…….one should always stay well back at a safe distance behind vehicles of this type…....

Or put your foot down and get in front…….

 

[219]

Or put your foot down and get in front…….

If you can do so safely , whilst giving said vehicle a suitably wide berth , then absolutely .