Motorway Blowout. 2 Tyres wrecked. Evergreens Fitted, Oh dear.

[Jockdooshbag]

Had a bit of an situation on Friday last week. Had the day off as a holiday as we had several things to sort out before we all headed down from Aberdeen to Edinburgh to see my parents and my sister and her family.

The VRS was fully loaded. Me and missus in front, 10 month old wee girl in back and big dog in the boot. Other rear seat jammed full of bags all secured with seatbelt and the roofbox on top fully loaded with baby paraphanalia.

Left Aberdeen at 1.30pm ish, had cruise engaged at an indicated 75mph and got to about 5-10 miles north of Brechin without incident before it all happened.........

Went to overtake a slower car in front so checked the mirrors and indicated before pulling out. As soon as the manouvere was started i noticed at the last minute adodgy looking patch of road where the white lines were i.e at the join the the road surfacing between the two lanes. It was too late to do anything and both wheels on my side hit the bad patch.

Result was instant blow out on front drivers side wheel. Surprisingly the car kept pretty stable considering the impact so i managed to just cruise to a halt and luckily there was a small turn off from the dual carrigeway. It was the marykirk and montrose turn off.

Got out the car and checked it all over. Noticed the reardrivers side tyre also had an egg in it but amazingly there was no alloy wheel damage. Lukily i specified a spare wheel so duly fitted that to the blown out tyre on the front. Meanwhile baby was screaming as she had been sleeping at the moment of impact so the missues was desparately trying to calm her down.

Checked all tyre pressures as i carry a digital compressor and then headed off to Brechin as the missus had located a garage there called Angus Tyres. Arrived at Angus Tyres where i was attended to immediately but unfortunately the only tyre they had that matrched my OE Continentals were evergreens. I didnt really have too many options so i got them fitted. £180 all in for 2 tyres.

So here we come to the main point of my thread where i am looking for some advise from you guys.

1. How on earth do i start a claim to recover my costs? Angus tyres have kept the damaged tyres and i have photos of them also. I dont have photos of the pothole as i didnt fancy leaving the family and jogging several hundred yards back up thew side of a dual carrigeway.
   
2. Evergreens!!!!!!!! - I was reluctant to have them but who knows how long the rear tyre with the egg in it would have lasted. Main issue is i decided to get the garage to put my remaining good conti from the front onto the rear i.e a diagonal swap. Tyres had only down 4500 miles so hopefully the tread difference would be minimal. My main logic was that i now have the evergreens on the front as i figured that if they were dodgy id rather loose the front end than the rear plus i can burn through them quicker and get different tyres more quickly. Thoughts?
   

In conclusion i feel very lucky as the whole incident could have been a lot worse. I do however feel pretty angry that a main road could be maintained so poorly especially considering the speeds people travel on it and a pothole in the middle of the road is far more dangerous tha one lurking at the verge IMO and why on earth should i have to foot the bill to replace two virtually new tyres expecially considering i pay my road tax. Im sure the roads department or whoever it is will try and wriggle out of it but i fully intend hamming it up when i complain as the consequences of an entire family going off the road is not pleasant.

Any help on point 1) is greatly appreciated as i have no clue where to start.

Cheers

Edited 15 April, 2013 by Jockdooshbag

[wilsy7]

Glad your ok, it's good that the car was stable and easy to hold. That's one of my worst fears when doing a bit of speed. Poor child didnt know what hit it :(

[Blackline Stu]

The main thing is you, your wife and kid are ok. As far as claiming for the tyres I have never done it but even if you don't have a photo of the pothole that done the damage i susspect that you can fight them with the defence of you did not want to be wondering round on the dual carrageway with cars and lorries whizzing past you. If I was you I would have kept the tyres if you had space in the car for them (sounds as if it was pretty full) and then you could use them as evidence to say that when travelling at 70mph on a 70mph road you should never encounter a pothole big enough to smash up 1 tyre never mind 2 of them.

Out of interest was the pothole on the concreate stretch of A90? I haven't been down there for about 9 months but the last time I was it was in a shocking state with potholes everywhere (I hit some of them myself in my old car but didn't damage any of my tyres but I think that was because it had 205/55/16's on it so the sidewalls were more forgiving)

[Moist Von Lipwig]

Glad all are okay.

This site may offer some advice on claiming for it

http://potholes.co.uk/

First thing to probably do is to find out who is the responsible party for the road as I seem to recall that Trunk roads are not covered by local councils. Best of luck.

[domhnall]

If you do try using that potholes site, it has some good advice but just be aware that if you have to go down the formal route all of the advice there relates to England only. The principles all hold good but don't go quoting the Highways Act and the Freedom of Information Avt as they suggest, they don't apply. There will be Scottish equivalents (such as the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act or FOISA).

Also in the first instance you need to work out whether you're claiming against Bear or Amey - not sure who maintains the A90 - or against the Scottish Government as they are responsible for trunk roads.

[john999boy]

Sometimes you can only do a same side swap and not a diagonal one. Check to make sure the tyre isn't side aware.

[Ootohere]

It is BEAR that is responsible for the A90 there.

Had you just come through the 50 mph speed camera limit @ Laurencekirk and reached and gone passed the next 70 mph camera.

That is still in Aberdeenshire.

http://www.scotland....933/0085567.pdf

Angus starts at North Water Bridge.

Glad you are alright.

george

[Jabozuma]

Glad you OK and congrats on your driving skills keeping the car stable, not many people can do that!

Good you didn't take the photos as that could be construed as being dangerous etc, etc... It is enough to know where it happened as the pothole is not going to dissapear. Others already adviced on how get started on your claims.

Did you notice a marked difference in grip levels/handling with new budget tyres on?

[Jockdooshbag]

Just sent an email to angus council. Not sure if they are the right ones to contact but i did ask if they could point me in the right direction if it wasnt them. Gave them the full story in my email. Kept it poilte and factual but stated i would pursue this claim vigorously due to the potential safety consequences. I also stated i wanted the costs for my continentals reimbursed rather than the cost of the evergreens as i think this is fair.

Will need to check the tyres to make sure they are not directional. SWMBO has my car at the moment as her RAV is getting MOT'd so i have the shogun at work.

I was trying to remeber if it was south of the 50mph section or not but i cant remember. The only details i recall where it was the marykirk / montrose junction on the south bound carrigeway of the A90. Im hoping Angus council will advise accordingly.

[BossFox]

Result was instant blow out on front drivers side wheel. Surprisingly the car kept pretty stable considering the impact so i managed to just cruise to a halt and luckily there was a small turn off from the dual carrigeway. It was the marykirk and montrose turn off.

Sounds like a good advert for ESP. One of the reasons I won't have a daily road car without it.

Glad everyone is OK.

[Ootohere]

If you want to make a claim i can go and get pictures today, just PM me the exact place..

They have been repairing the Pot Holes as they open all winter on that stretch and due to the change in weather last week, its pretty hard to hold them responsible.

I will happily get the pictures tho.

george

EDIT.

PS

Just read your post about Emailing Angus Council.

Angus has some of the Worst Pot Holes any place off of the Trunk Roads which BEAR are Responsible for the up keep of.

I do Feel that you were still in Aberdeenshire and Bear are answerable to Aberdeenshire for that stretch.

george

[Jockdooshbag]

Glad you OK and congrats on your driving skills keeping the car stable, not many people can do that!

Good you didn't take the photos as that could be construed as being dangerous etc, etc... It is enough to know where it happened as the pothole is not going to dissapear. Others already adviced on how get started on your claims.

Did you notice a marked difference in grip levels/handling with new budget tyres on?

In fairness i didnt have to really do anything to maintain control that i can remember anyway. Was a loud bang and obvioulsy a fair jump as the car hit but i just eased of the throttle and coasted to a slow speed. Luckily the junction was only a few hundred yards beyond the pothole so i just pulled off there. The tyre held up surprisingly well considering it blew out. I presume this is becuase the are reinforced. I have had a puncture once before at 70mph years ago on a crappy car and it was all over the place. I could feel the tyre had instantly gone but the car felt totally controlable.

What never happened though was the tyre sensor never activated but i suspect this because i never set it before. Once i got my replacement tyres fitted i pressed the tyre sensor button in and held it untill it beeped. I presume that this is it now set properly? No way of knowing i suspose but i never did this before so probably my fault. Would have been a bit redundant anyway as it was pretty obvious the tyre had gone so a beep and a light on the dash wouldnt have helped in this scenario.

[Ootohere]

PPS,

if you came through the 50 mph Camera you would have had to come off of Cruise Control.

The next 70 MPH camera is at the Woods 1 mile South of the 50 MPH area with LIghts that says 'Slow Down if you are above 50 mph'

george

[Aspman]

You can FOI Angus and Bear for inspection schedules and inspection reports. You'll only be successful in your claim if either can be shown to be at fault by either not checking frequently enough or not repairing a reported damaged road quickly enough. Plus the fault would have to actually be classed as a defect too, i.e. deep enough, wide enough, long enough, in a certain part of the road.

Last time I saw the figures about 1 in 100 claims were successful so good luck. Claims will probably be handled by the Council/Bear's insurers.

[Jockdooshbag]

If you want to make a claim i can go and get pictures today, just PM me the exact place..

They have been repairing the Pot Holes as they open all winter on that stretch and due to the change in weather last week, its pretty hard to hold them responsible.

I will happily get the pictures tho.

george

EDIT.

PS

Just read your post about Emailing Angus Council.

Angus has some of the Worst Pot Holes any place off of the Trunk Roads which BEAR are Responsible for the up keep of.

I do Feel that you were still in Aberdeenshire and Bear are answerable to Aberdeenshire for that stretch.

george

Think i might do a google maps search to try and pinpoint the exact location. I prsume i can post up an image of google maps??

[Ootohere]

http://www.trafficsc...etrafficcameras

'Grampian' Laurencekirk North & Laurencekirk South is in the 50 mph speed limit on the A90.

Go to the map on the site and see if you can Spot the place but i pass it most days or at least several times in a week and have not been having to avoid anything very noticeable in the way of holes,

there have been road crews around.

Could it be right at the white line?

[Jockdooshbag]

I think this is the link. From looking at street view on google maps its the junction where between A90 and B974. The pothole would be a few hundred yards north of here right on the white lines. Think i may add this to my email to Angus council.

http://maps.google.c...ingdom&t=m&z=14

Just tried the link and the map is a tad bit off but you can scroll it up to the A90 and you can see the junction. Might try streetview to see if i can see them. They probably only have street view at the junction though.

Edited 15 April, 2013 by Jockdooshbag

[Jockdooshbag]

Have forwarded my email to aberden council roads department so hopefully someone will respond. Still dont fancy my chances much but im going to keep harrassing them anyway.

Finger crossed these evergreens work out ok. At least we should be into better weather now so they might do the job. Will try and wear them out before winter comes around.

[Ootohere]

I will go have a run through the 50 mph Limit and back towards Brechin & see if i can Spot or Take a picture of anything.

Hi Viz and Flashing Beacon. LOL not.

george

[domhnall]

guys, there is absolutely no point in chasing councils whether Angus or Aberdeenshire, they are not responsible for trunk roads. You need to speak to Transport Scotland.

[Jockdooshbag]

Got a reply from Angus council saying its BEAR i need to speak to. They gave me an email sddress so i have contacted them. Im sure i'll get in touch with the right people eventually.

[Jockdooshbag]

I will go have a run through the 50 mph Limit and back towards Brechin & see if i can Spot or Take a picture of anything.

Hi Viz and Flashing Beacon. LOL not.

george

Cheers for this. Scouring my memory am sure when heading south the was a big bank of trees on the left hand side and the pothole was around where these trees started. The junction was shortly after. The pothiole looked like the top layer or 2 layers of tar had disapeared and the damaged area was quite long. Very roughly i would guess 2-3 meteres long and varying in width but around 400-500mm wide. The line of the damaged tar followed the central white lines so it was obvioulsy the joint in the tar breaking up. I would imagine it would be hard to quickly patch it due to its location.

I heard stories before that there has to be at least one complaint already registered as they are allowed a reasonable time to rectify the damage. Seems a bit unfair as why should i be doing road inspections for them and if no-one else has complained about it then why should i not get re-imbursed. Road maintenance and inspection is the councils responsiblity so if they try and avoid paying out due to the pot hole not being previously registered i wont be happy.

Not sure how i would escalate a claim if they dont play ball. You have trading standards for consumers but who stands up against councils etc??

[Jabozuma]

Can such a thing be claimed from your regular car insurance at all?

[Ootohere]

Jock, you are so lucky.

I have the pictures leading up to the holes on one of the best road surfaces anyplace,

The police are 1/2 mile south doing Speed Camera checks and sould be onto BEAR about the Condition of the road only 1/2 a mile south.

Too dangerous to get pictures of the worst holes that have opened up over the weekend in the Torrential rain.

*They are a serious of Temporary repairs On each carraigeway and near the Centre White Line that

are getting worse as drivers take differerent lines to miss them and them get caught out by another bigger hole.

Some are deep and sharp. just before the Fixed 70 mph Speed camera.*

People are trying to dodge the worst of them and by tonight in the dark they will be deadly.

Please Call Aberdeenshire Council & BEAR.

I will Email the Pictures, please pass these on.

I will be surprised if major damage or serious accidents do not happen if BEAR do not take action today.

I will go load the Pictures, please PM your Email to me.

george

The first of the road breaking up is after the pictures with the tractor in front.

Worst of the holes not caught on camera, too bright as you round the corner in the bad holes.

[Jockdooshbag]

Jock, you are so lucky.

I have the pictures leading up to the holes on one of the best road surfaces anyplace,

The police are 1/2 mile south doing Speed Camera checks and sould be onto BEAR about the Condition of the road only 1/2 a mile south.

Too dangerous to get pictures of the worst holes that have opened up over the weekend in the Torrential rain.

*They are a serious of Temporary repairs On each carraigeway and near the Centre White Line that

are getting worse as drivers take differerent lines to miss them and them get caught out by another bigger hole.

Some are deep and sharp. just before the Fixed 70 mph Speed camera.*

People are trying to dodge the worst of them and by tonight in the dark they will be deadly.

Please Call Aberdeenshire Council & BEAR.

I will Email the Pictures, please pass these on.

I will be surprised if major damage or serious accidents do not happen if BEAR do not take action today.

I will go load the Pictures, please PM your Email to me.

george

The first of the road breaking up is after the pictures with the tractor in front.

Worst of the holes not caught on camera, too bright as you round the corner in the bad holes.

Great work. Cant thank you enough for this. You are definately in the right area. There should be a really bad bit in that area somewhere but you can see from the photos similar areas of damage which will only end up deteriorating to the same level as the one i hit.

Wonder if i should email a link to this thread in another email to BEAR?? They might not care but im thinking the more evidence i can put in front of them the better.