A few weeks ago driving down a lane I use most days, I drove into what turned out to be a 2 foot flood. Now when you drive along there on a normal day it looks pretty flat with a very small dip and on this occasion, we had a large amount of rain.

I stopped the car immediately and realised I was in trouble. The water poured in via the footwells and I was forced to get out of the car as I feared I was in danger of the car getting swept over the bank. I waded through the water which was over my knees and went to the neighbouring farmhouse whose owners I knew. I rang another famer who came along in his tractor to tow me out. By this time the water was so deep, I could no attach the towline as I would have had to go under water to find the hook, so he pushed me out from the rear.

While my car was still in the water we used a shovel to try and lower the bank and found a large drain, which was blocked with large stones, which we removed to one side to try to lower the water level. None of the drainage ditches had been cleared for months, a fact confimed by the owners of the farmhouse, despite their complaining to the council that this was a high-risk flooding area.

As I was arranging to leave my car at the side of the road higher up, the postlady appeared and told me she had written a Roayl Mail van off in that exact same spot 2 years previously and it was impossible to know that the water would be so high at that place.

I decided not to claim on my insurance but have been advised to claim compensation for my car repairs from the council for a) neglecting to keep the drainage ditches cleared and b) failing to put a sign up warning of flooding in bad weather.

I now have a bill from my local mechanic totalling £438 (no doubt it would have been £1,000s had I used a big garage). Fortunately my car survived but as I only receive carers allowance, can I claim from the council? After all if I fell over a crooked paving stone I would be due loads if I injured myself

Any advice would be much appreciated. The postlady and farmhouse owners will back me.

theres a lot of factors to consider. are there warning signs of flooding. council do pay out but only for neglect. they,ll most likely blame the blockage on recent high rain fall. they could say the drain was clear the day before.. could you prove otherwise

No, no signs warning of flooding at all, despite the people living in the neighbouring farmhouse complaining previously. Mine is the 3rd car (that I know of) to have been caught out. And the drainage ditch was most definitely blocked - with 3 boulders!! And the farmer who helped me out of the flood would vouch for it and they cleared them all the way up the lane a few days later. The councils are supposed to keep these drains un-blocked but their work is very infrequent. As landowners we are supposed to clean up any hedgetrimmings when the hedges get cut annually which we do, so why can't they keep to their work?

Although you may have a case for a claim, it is highly likely that at best you will probably only be entitled to 50% of the costs, as you have a proportion of the liability for driving into the water in the first place without ensuring it was safe to do so. Nobody made you drive into the water, that was a decision you made. Im not blaming you for the damage, im just pointing out that your actions also contributed to the event, which reduces your award.

Mr Government thats a load of b******t if you were getting out of your car to check how deep

the water was in the rain because you could see water on the road you would never get anywere its upto

the highway authority make sure the water can leave the road

To be fair the road looks level on a normal day - you just wouldn't have expected it to have got as deep as that. It just looked like a shallow puddle that was low enough for the car to clear - And the Post lady agrees with me! I'm not someone that takes those sort of chances in a car - I cna't afford to!

A few weeks ago driving down a lane I use most days, I drove into what turned out to be a 2 foot flood. Now when you drive along there on a normal day it looks pretty flat with a very small dip and on this occasion, we had a large amount of rain.

 

I stopped the car immediately and realised I was in trouble. The water poured in via the footwells and I was forced to get out of the car as I feared I was in danger of the car getting swept over the bank. I waded through the water which was over my knees and went to the neighbouring farmhouse whose owners I knew. I rang another famer who came along in his tractor to tow me out. By this time the water was so deep, I could no attach the towline as I would have had to go under water to find the hook, so he pushed me out from the rear.

 

While my car was still in the water we used a shovel to try and lower the bank and found a large drain, which was blocked with large stones, which we removed to one side to try to lower the water level. None of the drainage ditches had been cleared for months, a fact confimed by the owners of the farmhouse, despite their complaining to the council that this was a high-risk flooding area.

 

As I was arranging to leave my car at the side of the road higher up, the postlady appeared and told me she had written a Roayl Mail van off in that exact same spot 2 years previously and it was impossible to know that the water would be so high at that place.

 

I decided not to claim on my insurance but have been advised to claim compensation for my car repairs from the council for a) neglecting to keep the drainage ditches cleared and b) failing to put a sign up warning of flooding in bad weather.

 

I now have a bill from my local mechanic totalling £438 (no doubt it would have been £1,000s had I used a big garage). Fortunately my car survived but as I only receive carers allowance, can I claim from the council? After all if I fell over a crooked paving stone I would be due loads if I injured myself

 

Any advice would be much appreciated. The postlady and farmhouse owners will back me.

Having had my house flood a few years ago, I have discovered that the issue of who is responsible for water, drains, ditches, surface water etc can be a very complex issue. You'd need to thoroughly research to find out if it's the district council, county council, water board, environment agency or even possibly the farmer responsible.

There's a ditch running between 2 roads near us, and the householders each side are all vicariously responsible for their own little portion of it - not that any of them knew until they were landed with whacking great bills off the water board!! Surface water is even more of an issue as no-one seems to be responsible.

How about claiming on your insurance and letting them sort the issue. If it's not your fault it may not affect your no claims bonus.

The council cleared all the drainage ditches a couple of days later and seem to be doing them all suddenly round here which is unusual.

Mr Government thats a load of b******t if you were getting out of your car to check how deep

the water was in the rain because you could see water on the road you would never get anywere its upto

the highway authority make sure the water can leave the road

Thats a fairly harsh statement, maybe you could back it up with something more substantial based upon actual facts/experience.

My statement was based upon 8 years experience of defending such claims in court for a local authority. And in my actual experience in court, a proportion of liability can be attributed to the claiment. Regardless of the highways authorites duties to maintain the highway.