fallen tree damage, up to council?

[whitz]

hmm not sure on this but i was a passenger seat of my sisters car going down a local duel carriage way when suddenly a tree falls into the road, couldn't stop in time and couldn't avoid it as a car was in outer lane.

is it upto the council to fell these trees before this happens ?

And this was my sisters car which she has only had for 3 days now

its destroyed both front fogs, badly cracked number plate and front splitter partly ripped off, havent had a change to look under the car yet.


the piece that runs parallel to the road for scale wise is 4 1/2 foot long as i picked it up

is there anything i can do about this ? the other car did not stop but i would be able to find it

Ash

 

[dronenrs]

well the council is in charge of maintaining the verges so i suppose any dangers that are produced by the verge would by entirely the councils fault.

 

[custard]

I believe its down to them showing due diligence on maintaining the trees
eg they cannot check every tree every day
so its down to whether they have kept a proper schedule of chcks and maintenence

 

[T14086]

Interesting....I have 3 huge (60-65ft?) trees at end of my garden (other side of fence) and the tops must easily overhang 15-20ft into my garden. If a branch breaks and crushes one of the sheds or me I take it the council are responsible (they do trim the lower branches but never the higher ones every year.

 

[dombooth]

Interesting....I have 3 huge (60-65ft?) trees at end of my garden (other side of fence) and the tops must easily overhang 15-20ft into my garden. If a branch breaks and crushes one of the sheds or me I take it the council are responsible (they do trim the lower branches but never the higher ones every year.

I wonder if the 'cut up to the boundary line and put on their land' comes into play here..

Dom

 

[dronenrs]

yes it would. they will say anything that overhangs is his responsibility

 

[dombooth]

yes it would. they will say anything that overhangs is his responsibility

Then chop it off and put it in a neat pile on the pavement.

Dom

 

[sledge]

If the council own and are responsible for the tree you would have to prove in a court that they have been negligent in their duty of care to stand any chance of compo.....This is very unlikely in today's "where there is blame there is a claim" society. They will be well aware of their responsibilities and will have inspection and maintenance policies and procedures in place that will limit their liabilities. Its impossible to inspect every tree everyday and their chosen methods have only to be deemed "reasonable" to been seen as acceptable. Chances are they will have a stack of paperwork going back years that details when the trees were inspected and what the outcome was on each occasion. Any case against them will hinge on if the judge/magistrates deems their actions as reasonable or not. A check every 4 weeks may be seen as acceptable, a check every 12 months might not.

Any claims will have to pass through their legal depth first and they will have forgotten more about issues like this than the average person will ever know. If they believe the case will not stand up in a court your letter will go straight in the bin regardless of what it contains or how its worded.

Probably best to try to haggle a deal and ask (in a very polite manner) for a part settlement without prejudice........start at 75% but be prepared to accept a lower figure, particularly if the car is of low value as it may result in "betterment" and you cannot expect to be put in better position than you were before the incident.

Alternatively you could request a copy of their inspection policies under the FOI act and take it to a solicitor, if the solicitor considers it unreasonable in the circumstances they might take up the case on your behalf but as there is no apparent injuries or losses other than damage to the car the most you could reasonably expect would be what the car itself is worth......and whats a N reg Clio worth??

 

[sledge]

Interesting....I have 3 huge (60-65ft?) trees at end of my garden (other side of fence) and the tops must easily overhang 15-20ft into my garden. If a branch breaks and crushes one of the sheds or me I take it the council are responsible (they do trim the lower branches but never the higher ones every year.

See here....... http://www.gardenlaw.co.uk/

 

[whitz]

i wont be up in arms about the damage to the clio, would of been that or my panda at the time

Its just that blooming dangerous with trees falling, cant say Ive ever seen them "inspected" only the grass cut every so often, last time they had work done on this road was to change the light bulbs which look over a month to do


this town just about all over is starting to fall to bits

Ash

 

[HitomiLee]

possible the council would pay out, but dependant on how good your council is, they could accept liability or they could just avoid it, its very easy for councils to do as often they dont find themselves answering to anyone.

your best bet is to get in contact with anyone who may have seen.
Make sure you send copies of the photos to the council and images of the damage, provide them with as much information as you can.

 

[DaveMcT]

Interesting....I have 3 huge (60-65ft?) trees at end of my garden (other side of fence) and the tops must easily overhang 15-20ft into my garden. If a branch breaks and crushes one of the sheds or me I take it the council are responsible (they do trim the lower branches but never the higher ones every year.

How about offering to buy the land/verge the trees grow on. Then council dont have to maintain the trees. £500 should do it. OK haggle but you never know.

 

[sledge]

Its just that blooming dangerous with trees falling, cant say Ive ever seen them "inspected"
Ash

Well lets be honest here, the fact you have never seen them inspected is not an indication that it doesn't happen....... I for instance have never seen a bear sh** in the wood but apparently they do

 

[whitz]

Well lets be honest here, the fact you have never seen them inspected is not an indication that it doesn't happen....... I for instance have never seen a bear sh** in the wood but apparently they do

i said IVE never seen them not that they dont inspect them

just went down the road again all the main lights are out to save energy and someone else either has hit the main section or moved it off the road completely

Ash

 

[DaveMcT]

A village where I used to live had five or 6 majestic horse chestnut trees. Fantastic they were. One day a county council bloke came along and painted a big red X on every tree.

Nothing had been said about them being a danger and there was no sign of decay. And - there had been no warning they were to be condemned. The Parish council got on the case and after much arguing - "its too late now" etc - the trees were let off. One was taken down leaving a gap, but we always thought that was more to save face than give any real safety benefit.

10 years later, those trees are still there and still healthy. Do we really want every tree chopped down just because the local authority want to protect their back sides from every ill-considered potential risk.

Country roads will always have hazards. We cant sanitise the whole world or find someone to blame for everything. Sometimes its just bad luck and we have to deal with it and move on.

Street lights are ok in town but elsewhere(?); we have headlights on cars. Dont we?

 

[Andy Monty]

i said IVE never seen them not that they dont inspect them

just went down the road again all the main lights are out to save energy and someone else either has hit the main section or moved it off the road completely

Ash

did your sister not think to report this to the police?

Ok her car was damaged but by leaving it unreported is a bit silly as that lot on the road could have caused a huge pile up not only that you would have a log number ((no im not taking the micky)) to help in any claims and proof it has actually happened at a later date.

The police would then send out a patrol to warn traffic along with turn on any matrix boards and deal with the local authority / highways agency (depending on who maintains that stretch of road)to make sure the road is clear........ rung the local police non emergency number in the past and was told i should have dialed 999 or used the SOS phone as lives were potentially at risk when i came across a HGV tire in between 2 lanes on the local motorway

 

[ChrisUK]

As said you'll only get compensated if the Council have been negligent. Judging by the general state of it in that photo they haven't.

Time to claim on insurance although I bet it's only third party?

 

[whitz]

cars fully comp, but she has already had 2 accidents in over a year so cheaper to fix without the insurance

i would say it was an obstruction before the car plowed though it, now just got to find where this new oil leaking is from!

it was also reported to the council but its a bank holiday and a sunday so yea

Ash

 

[oldskoolmk1unoturbo]

you could try suing mother nature?

car looks old and cheap anyway why even bother fixing it?

 

[ChrisUK]

:yeahthat: Or bodge / self repair FTW!.