Urgh.

 

Driving home yesterday afternoon, round the bend appears a van towing a trailer with metal fencing stacked on the trailer.  As the van drives round the bend the metal fencing flies off the back off his trailer, peppering three cars, including mine, on the other side of the road.

 

Could have been much much worst, if I was 2-3 metres further along it would have crashed through the windscreen.  My car came off worst!

 

It's with the insurance companies now, I'm expecting to get something gutless as a courtesy car, as they usually pick these based on engine size!

 

 

Picture doesn't do it justice, almost every panel, bar the right passenger door, has been hit or scrapped by the fencing on the right.  Front light is smashed, bumper, wing, drivers door, skirt and a huge metre gorge at the rear just below the petrol cap spanning two panels.

 

Will be a hefty repair bill for his insurance company!

Looks bad mate take him for everything ive seen this before but I was lucky.

ouch, as ever it could have been worse and itll get repaired, "just a piece of metal sir" a copper once said to me

as for the hire car, i got a 1.0 festa titanium and to be honest it was fantastic, a bit gutless but it was a hoot to drive, as clarkson says, the fastest cars in the world are rentals

I can understand how you feel about this. :( Were the police called to the accident?

I can understand how you feel about this. :( Were the police called to the accident?

No, but I wish they were, as his trailer load was clearly insufficiently secured to say the least.

Bad luck on that.

 

Make sure it's noted about the insecure load on the trailer on the insurance report.

he has committed an offence if his load wasn't properly secured....

I'm assuming you have his registration and details for insurance? you need to report this to your local force ASAP, preferably within 24hours of the accident taking place.

As Sharkrider says, he has committed an offence.

3 points and a £60 fine for insecure load these days.

Might right it off with all panels damaged

What is damaged, is it Front, Front wing, Door, rear door, replaced and sprayed, even at a hyped insurance claim,

Courtesy car etc £3000 max.

Rear Quarter panel does raise that near £4000, or some Estimator might try to get that as the acceptable figure..

(Private customer paying a good repairer, more like £2500 max.)

 

Should be as new after repair.

Register free with the Skoda Ensure or what ever its called.)

No problem getting the parts, back order etc.

Writing Off would be some messing about between a loss adjuster and repairer & taking the Mick.

 

george

You should be able to get a comparative car while yours is being fixed as its their insurance is covering it not yours. It will probably be a normal hire car which will be added to the bill for the paying insurance company (generally if its your insurance then it will be the bodyshop who supply the 'free' car)

Go to the police. As above its an offence.

Your insurer may insist on it so they can recover from the driver

Courtesy car being delivered tomorrow, Mini Countryman 2L diesel auto, not too shabby

No word yet on Fabia pickup for repair.

he has committed an offence if his load wasn't properly secured....

 

 

3 points and a £60 fine for insecure load these days.

 

True.

Where is the proof though.

No video, no police prescence.

 

Seen so many insurance claims to know how easy they turn into a game of "yes, you did" and "no, I didn't".

I'd report it to the police however with no injuries and the police not being able to attend the scene due to no one calling them don't be surprised if they are unable to prosecute.

Looks bad mate take him for everything ive seen this before but I was lucky.

How can you 'take him for everything'? The Insurrance company will fix the car and charge his Insurrance. No more no less.

There are 3 independent witnesses to the event, all with damaged cars. That should be enough for the police to take action.

I'm not so sure informing the police would have helped.  If anything it might slow down the process as they work through the police bureaucracy.

Playing devils advocate there. If the driver of the van says the items were tied down but some straps broke would you have any hard evidence to counter this?

Playing devils advocate there. If the driver of the van says the items were tied down but some straps broke would you have any hard evidence to counter this?

 

From the pictures I've got of the trailer, it is clear they were either not adequately tied down or not at all and just resting on top.

From the pictures I've got of the trailer, it is clear they were either not adequately tied down or not at all and just resting on top.

But unless he coughs up and admits it straight out and accepts a fixed penalty it would need to go to court. No one has been injured, he'll suffer through higher Insurrance premiums and will hopefully learn his lesson and you'll have learned to get the police to attend scene if you think there's offences to be dealt with, I'd just let the Insurrance companies sort it out and leave it there.

Also in reply to another post, the police won't slow anything down unless they seize the car for evidence ie fatal.

If he says the fencing was tied down with straps but they broke, he still wont have a defence. The response would be that the straps weren't fit for purpose, or that he did not fasten them appropriately. I work in liability insurance, and the liability firmly points towards the van driver. His motor insurer will spot that easily

True.

Where is the proof though.

No video, no police prescence.

 

Seen so many insurance claims to know how easy they turn into a game of "yes, you did" and "no, I didn't".

 

Four witnesses, who also had their cars damaged?

Four witnesses, who also had their cars damaged?

 

There were three cars, including mine, with damage.  I have images, as do the other affected drivers, of the scene immediately after the incident, showing metal fencing all over the road, the driver + his passenger desperately trying to load them back on to the trailer.

If he says the fencing was tied down with straps but they broke, he still wont have a defence. The response would be that the straps weren't fit for purpose, or that he did not fasten them appropriately. I work in liability insurance, and the liability firmly points towards the van driver. His motor insurer will spot that easily

But they were not talking about liability, they were talking about criminal law, hence a higher burden of proof. Time elapsed without interviewing witnesses, police not attending would make a successful prosecution unlikely, unless of course he pleaded guilty.