Highways England sued for a flooded road

Highways England sued for a flooded road

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stinkyspanner

Original Poster:

832 posts

84 months

Friday 13th January 2023
quotequote all
https://www.bucksfreepress.co.uk/news/23246938.par...

This is obviously tragic for the friends and relatives of the deceased, but I'm not sure this sounds right

Hammersia

1,564 posts

22 months

Friday 13th January 2023
quotequote all
stinkyspanner said:
https://www.bucksfreepress.co.uk/news/23246938.par...

This is obviously tragic for the friends and relatives of the deceased, but I'm not sure this sounds right
Not only sued but the Claimant won. Can't see any evidence of Highways England learning from this and improving their performance, never seen the main roads around Essex as flooded (and clearly not draining) as they have been the past few weeks.

Of course it's not their money so what the heck.

Dingu

4,363 posts

37 months

Friday 13th January 2023
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I’m surprised as I would expect a driver to have to take care.

This said the article doesn’t really give too much detail and I have to assume since liability was accepted the facts of the case must mean the driver was reasonable in how they were driving. E.g. perhaps the gully was blocked to an extent that the road conditions gave no indication of the possibility of standing water.

Before someone says it I’m aware that one should drive expecting hazards and to have to stop or avoid them but failing to do so doesn’t necessarily absolve anyone else of responsibility I guess.

Pica-Pica

14,468 posts

91 months

Friday 13th January 2023
quotequote all
Dingu said:
I’m surprised as I would expect a driver to have to take care.

This said the article doesn’t really give too much detail and I have to assume since liability was accepted the facts of the case must mean the driver was reasonable in how they were driving. E.g. perhaps the gully was blocked to an extent that the road conditions gave no indication of the possibility of standing water.

Before someone says it I’m aware that one should drive expecting hazards and to have to stop or avoid them but failing to do so doesn’t necessarily absolve anyone else of responsibility I guess.
The article does give details. The article says that gulleys were blocked and that inspection and maintenance was too hurried to assess and resolve that.

stinkyspanner

Original Poster:

832 posts

84 months

Friday 13th January 2023
quotequote all
My first thought was that yesterday I drove through loads of standing water and flooded roads because it had been bucketing down. That was hardly the highways agency fault, its climate change innit?
I suppose this must have been an unexpected flood or something, I can't imagine it simply being that it had rained hard and there were some big puddles

Hammersia

1,564 posts

22 months

Friday 13th January 2023
quotequote all
stinkyspanner said:
My first thought was that yesterday I drove through loads of standing water and flooded roads because it had been bucketing down. That was hardly the highways agency fault, its climate change innit?
I suppose this must have been an unexpected flood or something, I can't imagine it simply being that it had rained hard and there were some big puddles
Did your roads drain quickly and efficiently when it did stop raining? If not, it's the Highway Agencies fault.

7mike

3,093 posts

200 months

Friday 13th January 2023
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Lancashire county council is responsible for the Eastern end of the M65 motorway. A few years ago they changed the central reservation to a solid concrete barrier. Since then the standing water gets so bad that the police have often closed the motorway. There again a few years ago, after heavy overnight snow it was still untreated by mid-day the following day.

Wonder if it'll take a claim like this one for them to remember the county extends East beyond Preston!

coppice

8,909 posts

151 months

Tuesday 17th January 2023
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Hammersia said:
Did your roads drain quickly and efficiently when it did stop raining? If not, it's the Highway Agencies fault.
Excuse the pedantry but Highways England (formerly the Highways Agency and Highways England ) is only responsible for what used to be called trunk roads -Motorways and most A Roads. Councils are responsible for the rest - typically County, rather than District Councils , in more rural areas like North Yorkshire . I could go on but I risk boring even myself now ...

LivLL

11,132 posts

204 months

Tuesday 17th January 2023
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Hammersia said:
stinkyspanner said:
My first thought was that yesterday I drove through loads of standing water and flooded roads because it had been bucketing down. That was hardly the highways agency fault, its climate change innit?
I suppose this must have been an unexpected flood or something, I can't imagine it simply being that it had rained hard and there were some big puddles
Did your roads drain quickly and efficiently when it did stop raining? If not, it's the Highway Agencies fault.
Drains blocked, inspected by driving past now and again at high speed.

Two women dead because of poor inspection standards and lack of maintenance. The sums involved are the only thing these agencies understand and respond to. Shouldn't take two women being killed to have a drain cleaned.

vikingaero

11,221 posts

176 months

Tuesday 17th January 2023
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I wonder if the 2018 CEO of HE received a bonus? tumbleweed

Hammersia

1,564 posts

22 months

Tuesday 17th January 2023
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vikingaero said:
I wonder if the 2018 CEO of HE received a bonus? tumbleweed
But as I say, it's NOT their money. It's taxpayer money. It's not like suing a private company. It will make no difference, as will have been obvious to anyone trying to use the M25 in a rain shower in Kent this year.

coppice

8,909 posts

151 months

Tuesday 17th January 2023
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Well , you always could privatise highway maintenance , following the shining example of the odd piece of PFI provided road. Or the world beating precedent of privatising the water industry .