Last Saturday I overtook a gritting vehicle on the A11. Although the distance between our cars was quite reasonable (in fact the motorway was two-laned at this point), I got grit allover my (almost new) car. As a result the paint of my bonnet experienced some damage. Unfortunately I didn´t stop to check the licence plate of this vehicle, however I found out the company who is in charge of the motorway maintenance. Shall I contact them to assert a claim? Has anybody experience with this? Thanks for your help.

Well u were lucky then - coz I saw no evidence of any when snow struck today. It took me 5 hrs to get home!! But several pints eased the pain! :thumbsup:

I would tend to think,you will get no joy

I would have thought common sense sould tell that overtaking an operating gritting van is not a very good idea.

Plus I don't think you would be entitled to claim anyway. They are doing us a favour.

If every tom, dick and harry sued the council for chipped paint, windscreen there would be no gritters full stop as the council wouldn't be able to afford them.

Originally posted by Sidla
I would have thought common sense sould tell that overtaking an operating gritting van is not a very good idea.
Hmm, not sure how often you drive on a motorway, but unless you want to go about 40mph then you don't face much choice but to try and overtake them. And yes they cause damage to your car, last time I went past one it created a chip in my windscreen. They are basically the lesser of two evils - i.e. grit damage or skidding on the ice and crashing in to the barriers ;)

Just a minor query, since when has the A11 been a motorway :confused:

We got caught behind a gritter all the way from Nottinghamshire on the A1 and it was gritting all the way hitting the car (no overtaking on there in the snow!) and it caused no damage, you must have been unlucky! (or have crap paint :lol: )

Put in a claim. Also, please refrain from using the term "licence plate". This is the UK, not the USA - please use "registration plate" in future. :D

If we're getting smart then use "number plate" - that's the more common UK term and one that the DVLA seems to use. Or, if you are talking about purely the numbers, then this is called the car's "registration mark". If you going to correct someone, get it right... :P

(j/k)

Shame you didn't get the TAG plate of the vehicle. That happened to me once, not with a grit van but with a garbage truck. Stuff flying off the back of the tail gate. Anyway I thought maybe I could sue the company for the damage to the hood of my car, but it was a no go. They said it was my fault for driving too close to their bumpers, which was a crock of ....
Good luck with your claim and try suing for damages - it may work for you with a big company.


;)

I hope that you get nowhere at all. What a silly ridiculous attitude. Just be thankful that they are there and maybe next time if you're so worried either hang back or get off the road and wait 10 minutes.

Originally posted by Geoff
If we're getting smart then use "number plate" - that's the more common UK term and one that the DVLA seems to use. Or, if you are talking about purely the numbers, then this is called the car's "registration mark". If you going to correct someone, get it right... :P

(j/k)

Actually its called a Registraton Index (sorry to be picky)

Originally posted by Tony
I hope that you get nowhere at all. What a silly ridiculous attitude. Just be thankful that they are there and maybe next time if you're so worried either hang back or get off the road and wait 10 minutes.

Yes lets all be happy and crack open champagne when we get stone chips and cracked windscreens from flying grit.

This sort of thing can happen with every care been taken by the driver of the car.

I'm not saying that you should celebrate - I'm saying that it's just one of those things - like pigeon droppings or stone chips. If you really have a problem, then like I said - hang back or wait 10 minutes to put some distance between you. Otherwise, tough.

Jeez, you will want compensating for not being able to park right outside your door next.

I guess my experience of this sort of thing was a little different.
I was making a journey I couldn't avoid on an icy evening when a gritter came past me going the other way. I was going very slowly and I pulled as far as one could to the side but it was too late. My windscreen had a 10p sized crack in it! It was dark and the gritter had long gone in the other direction.

We all know what a great job the gritters are doing but I do sympathize when people get stung like this.

I do sympathise with you. It's unfortunately just one of those crappy things that sometimes happens.

Instead of overtaking, drive a good distance behind it. That way, you won't get showered with grit and will have the luxury of a freshly gritted raod to drive on!

actually geoff's right, it's a VRM vehicle registration mark.