Quote:
Originally Posted by TMP
Final question, this happened near a big building site, and I also noticed one of those street cleaners going back and forth. Do you think I have grounds to claim this rod came from this site and get them to pay up? 
Thanks. |
Sorry to hear about this. I think I can advise on liability though.
If this road is public highway, then the main responsibility for keeping it clean rests with the local authority highways department, OR the highways agency if it's a 'trunk road'.
It's an offence for anyone to leave debris on the highway, so if the contractor has done this, then he is in the wrong.
Planning permissions often require contractors to agree a scheme for the control of mud and other deposits on the highway (sweepers and wheel washes etc) to mitigate any impact from construction operations.
However, you don't know how the re-inforcement bar (thats what i is) got onto the highway. If you had seen it fall from a vehicle then you could pursue the owners of that vehicle and they could in turn claim from their insurers (just like a normal traffic accident).
Although the re-bar could have come from the building site, since this is a public road it could also have come from any of the vehicles that use it.
Arguably, even if it did fall from (say) a skip lorry taking waste from the site, the incident happened in a public place, outside of the site boundary. So the skip contractor is liable NOT the building contractor.
If you want to take a shot at this, find out which director at the construction company has responsibility for this site (don't bother with the site management team they will file this in the bin). Write him a letter and see if he is feeling helpful. He probably won't be, but this is worth a shot.
You could also make life hard for the builders by complaining to the planning department that they are leaving debris on the road. This probably won't get you any money, but some builders will chuck you a few quid to keep the local authority happy.