collapsed drain damage

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steve333

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As per title whilst travelling home from relatives last night went over a collapsed drain on seven hills road Weybridge causing a double nearside blowout & damaging both nearside alloys(the airmatic suspension doesn't seem right either).Contacted mercedes breakdown who will take the car to mb brooklands on a low loader tommorrow for inspection/damage report.I have returned to the location of the collapsed drain in daylight a while ago to take photos/pinpoint the location(i had already contacted surrey police who in turn contacted highways agency last night & also e-mailed surrey council & uploaded photos).My question is are the council responsible for the repirs to my car(once i know exactly what damage has been done)and do i need to inform my insurers or are they unlikely to help?
 
We did the same once on Sandy Lane but due to the lack of photographic proof Elmbridge didn't want to know. In your case I would be surprised if they didn't play ball. Out of interest where on 7 hills was it?
 
We did the same once on Sandy Lane but due to the lack of photographic proof Elmbridge didn't want to know. In your case I would be surprised if they didn't play ball. Out of interest where on 7 hills was it?
Hi Stumpy1,it was opposite oakwood house(about half a mile up the hill towards Walton from the cobham end),i took about 6 photos earlier(you can clearly see the patch around the drain where a bad recent repair was done-they even painted over the drain with a white roadline),with all the recent heavy rain the manhole cover has sunk on one side & a pothole has appeared done to the metal edge of the drain where the road surface has crumbled & washed away-sorry to hear you never had any joy without photographic evidence which is why i was so keen to return to the site in daylight earlier to take photos.
 
Hope you used a suitable ruler in your shots to give a suitable sense of scale - always helps even if you include measurements in any report you submit as part of a claim. If memory serves correctly there's something about claims from the council may only be entertained if the council knew about the fault and failed to act previous to the incident and was thus negligent ??? :dk: May turn out to be an insurance job- especially if the suspension units are involved.
 
Hope you used a suitable ruler in your shots to give a suitable sense of scale - always helps even if you include measurements in any report you submit as part of a claim. If memory serves correctly there's something about claims from the council may only be entertained if the council knew about the fault and failed to act previous to the incident and was thus negligent ??? :dk: May turn out to be an insurance job- especially if the suspension units are involved.
Thanks for your input-council offices closed until tommorrow so i await they're response(didn't take a ruler/measuring tape but photos are very clear & the previous repair is shoddy at best)-is it worth informing my insurance in case the council won't play ball?
 
I hope you get this settled but I have a feeling they won't payout. Reason is that unless they were aware before the incident how could they have repaired the hole. Also with all the bad weather this could be seen as an act if god.

Fingers crossed.

As for insurance - in reality all incidents should be reported. But if it was me I'd wait until I knew the cost to see if I wanted to claim or pay it myself.
 
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I hope you get this settled but I have a feeling they won't payout. Reason is that unless they were aware before the incident how could they have repaired the hole. Also with all the bad weather this could be seen as an act if god.

Fingers crossed.
Can't see how i could prove they we're aware of the new hole but the photos i took clearly show the recent patchwork around the manhole cover/drain so they are/we're at least aware of a problem with it in the past?
 
Unless the council were already aware of the fault i am afraid it is highly unlikely you will get any joy from them. I wish you every success though.
 
Had a very similar thing happen to me near Knockholt. Car went down a large pothole and damaged the rim and tyre badly. This happened at about 7pm. Phoned the council the next morning to tell them. To be fair, they did send a repair team out very quickly that morning. But as far as claiming from the council. No chance. As has been said, you need to prove negligence - which is a very grey area. You could end up spending more on a legal claim than the cost of the damage.
I would stitck my neck out and say that unless a personal injury that required an ambulance and/or the police were involved, then the chances of making a successful claim is slim to zero.

Sorry - but good luck.
 
Contacted mercedes breakdown who will take the car to mb brooklands on a low loader tommorrow for inspection/damage report.

Who has to pay for that?

Might it be worth just getting 2 new tyres locally rather than risking a big bill?

Can't see the suspension getting damaged from just a pothole.
 
Unless the council were already aware of the fault i am afraid it is highly unlikely you will get any joy from them. I wish you every success though.
As i mentioned in post 7 the council we're at least aware there was a problem as they had done a not very good patched up repair that was evident(and i took photos of)earlier today......
 
Who has to pay for that?

Might it be worth just getting 2 new tyres locally rather than risking a big bill?

Can't see the suspension getting damaged from just a pothole.
The recovery will be part of the mb mobilo service(which i am covered by),if i knew it was just 2 tyres that needed replacing then i would of course source them locally but i won't know the extent of the damage until the car is on a ramp & inspected properly(both nearside alloys have visible damage but i'm worried the suspension/steering/alignment/geometry could be damaged).
 
Had a very similar thing happen to me near Knockholt. Car went down a large pothole and damaged the rim and tyre badly. This happened at about 7pm. Phoned the council the next morning to tell them. To be fair, they did send a repair team out very quickly that morning. But as far as claiming from the council. No chance. As has been said, you need to prove negligence - which is a very grey area. You could end up spending more on a legal claim than the cost of the damage.
I would stitck my neck out and say that unless a personal injury that required an ambulance and/or the police were involved, then the chances of making a successful claim is slim to zero.

Sorry - but good luck.
I'm going to ring my insurance in the morning in case i get nowhere with the council but not sure if the insurers will want to get involved/are legally obliged to?
 
Who has to pay for that?

Might it be worth just getting 2 new tyres locally rather than risking a big bill?

Can't see the suspension getting damaged from just a pothole.
The road was a 40mph limit which i was traveling at when i hit the collapsed manhole(the resulting bang was loud/hard & the steering wheel was almost wrenched from my hands)which is what concerns me about the air suspension possibly being damaged.
 
Sorry to hear about that Steve. Coincidentally, I hit a large hole coming back from Amersham the other day. It was heavy rain and dark and the hole was covered in standing water. Bang! In the O/S wheel went and my heart sank... But, so far (touch wood!) no damage seems to have occurred..

Good luck with the claim, if you make one.
 
Something similar happened to me once and I was told that unless the council could have foreseen the drain failure they were not liable. They are required to regularly inspect ( try proving that !) and that once a year was adequate for that.
All costs were therefore down to me - which is one reason we have car insurance !
 
Sorry to hear about that Steve. Coincidentally, I hit a large hole coming back from Amersham the other day. It was heavy rain and dark and the hole was covered in standing water. Bang! In the O/S wheel went and my heart sank... But, so far (touch wood!) no damage seems to have occurred..

Good luck with the claim, if you make one.
Sounds like you we're lucky Barry,worst ways i will claim through my insurers after mb brooklands have inspected my car in the morning(minimum is going to be a front & rear tyre & both amg alloys re-furbed so £700+ minimum but i have £250 voluntary excess so it's going to cost me if i have to go down the insurance route),annoyingly i ghad 2 new front tyres fitted last month for £566!
 

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