Car damaged on private business park
Today I have damaged my exhaust pipe going over a speed bump on a business park (haven't seen the exact damage but from past experience the tiniest of scrapes can cause a hole, and this was a loud bang). I work for one of the companies on the business park so I have the permission to go over the speed bumps. The bump is made of bricks- it doesn't go up gradually like one you would see on a normal public road. I have taken some pictures of it but didn't have time to measure it etc as I needed to get into work. At the end of my shift I plan to take more pictures of the surrounding area to show that there are no warnings. I was travelling less than 5mph as I know the potential damage they can cause. Are the business park liable?
Many thanks to any that advise.
You may have a claim against
You may have a claim against the business park but this will depend on a number of factors. First, you would need to establish that the road on which the speed bumps are located is owned privately by the owner of the business park and is not a public road adopted by the local authority. From the description that you have given it does sound likely that the road is privately owned.
Secondly, you would need to establish that the owners of the road have been negligent in some way, either by not maintaing the speed bumps or failing to put up sufficient warnings about driving carefully etc.
It is therefore possible that you have the basis for a successful claim but I would need some more specific information to advise you further, i.e. the extent of the damage caused to your car and sight of the photographs of the speed bumps to ascertain whether they had been maintained correctly.
If you would like any further advice please feel free to reply on the forum or email me direct, my email address is gdavis@s-law.co.uk
I am a Legal Advisor employed by Sarginsons Law and specialise in Civil Litigation matters. I deal with disputes between individuals and businesses including Landlord and Tenant issues, debt recovery and property disputes.
Telephone 02476 553181
Hi Gerard thanks for the
Hi Gerard thanks for the reply. I took more photos which I will upload shortly. When I am working on Monday I am going to measure the bump. I have been reading up on speed bumps and found this;
The maximum legal height of a speed hump is 100mm, but the Department for Transport say:
I'm certain that this is a privately owned road- it is one way , so if it was the council's responsibility there would be "1 way" signs and priority arrows etc, whereas this road has nothing. The only sign I can see on the business park is a 10mph sign. I was definitely going slower than 10mph, I shudder to think of the damage I would have caused going that fast. So it looks at though there has been some negligence as this is an insufficient and misleading warning.
Currently sitting LPC examinations and tearing my hair out at the ambiguously phrased Multiple Choice Questions!
If you upload the photographs
If you upload the photographs that would allow me to advise you further. Have you found out what the total cost of repairing the damage caused to your car will be?This will have a bearing on whether it is worth pursuing a claim and also what type of claim you may have.
I am a Legal Advisor employed by Sarginsons Law and specialise in Civil Litigation matters. I deal with disputes between individuals and businesses including Landlord and Tenant issues, debt recovery and property disputes.
Telephone 02476 553181