Why is it at this time of year your wonderful local council 
decides to resurface various roads with loose chippings ? Then after cars have swept them into a neat pile on the racing correct line they just leave the buggers there ? Would it be too difficult for the council to send a road sweeper round after a few days to remove the excess chippings.
Thats a blinkin good ideaā¦I dont think that the Councils do good ideas?
Maybe if we all send them a bill for paintwork from the loose stones then they may do something about it. But then againā¦
Iām not sure when this all started as it seems to becoming a regular sight on our roads recently. Its bo**ox and a way of councils being lazy and tight with our road tax that we all pay way too much for.
Local councils donāt get a penny of your road tax. (Well they sort of might but the explanation is too long and boring.)
I work for an L.A. and we used to have highways Clerks of Works on Honda step-throughs checking that Contractors doing road works did them properly and cleaned up the works, once finished.
They all got ālet goā because the Contractor would do it anyway as ā¦āit was in their Contract.ā
Now tell me, are you going to trust an unsupervised Contractor?
And the loose chippings vilain isā¦?
Iāve noticed it recently, too. Figured I was just imagining it. Loose debris is definitely on the increase!
Purely theoretically, would legal action succeed if a road surface - not necessarily badly maintained but containing loose chippings or gravel - caused a spill?
possibly but you would probably needs fotoās etc to prove they were excessive, would be like potholes worth a go.
If you have an accident due to loose debris from road works, you have the start of a case against the responsible highway authority. Obviously evidence is important so the usual photographs, witnesses, etc are vital.
From something I was reading a few months back, the highways authorities use a predictable assortment of ploys. E.G. Prove it was us, your case is against the person that left it there, it was your riding/driving that was to blame, and so on.
Same source. Highway authorities almost never contest court actions (except hugh injury ones) taken by plaintiffs as the cost is higher than the court awarded compensation.
The bottom line advised by the writer was āonce they start giving you the run around, give them a minimum of 14 days notice and then start a small claims court action.ā
Result. Mostly a grovelling letter of appology and the claim and costs paid in full.
ooh thats not good, did that happen on loose chippings then ? If so thats my point I think they are just as dangerous as deisol spills because after a day or 2 they take away the signs saying slow down, and for us country bumpkins the first you notice at night is sliding off chosen line.
Iām currently in that process, have evidence and witness staements from a few very helpful people plus councils opinion that they are at fault, no road signs etc, very small personal injury claim, excess on bike insurance, leathers and helmet etc but the Council are arguing about it, denying liability. If they paid up now the legal costs would be relatively small. Once it goes to court, even if it never actually gets to court, the legal costs will rocket to way more than Iām claiming. Madness.
Sneaky, that was exactly what i was thinking about when i read this post. On that particular day i thought the āchippingsā were excesive and it didnāt surprise me that someone had a āmomentā. I would have been straight onto the local council there and complaining like hell.
Wouldnāt loose chippings this fall into the same category as pot-holes?
ie. Call 999 and report that the road is unsafe. The Police then have the responsibility to pressure the local council into sorting it.
I was told about reporting pot-holes on a Bike-Safe course, literally from the horses mouth.
I did think they were excessive that day - but it was also the fact that it had been like that for more than two weeks that annoyed meā¦ too be fair there were signs on the road, but still, the chippings were pretty deepā¦
In london whats getting to me is when they start painting the lanes with the red for bus lanes or white in some cases or green or whatever - the other day in the city by gracechurch st, I seen a fella come off his bike after going over one of these areas there were no signs, I was in angel the other day and theyād just been painting the ground there and the ammount of shite that was on the roads was unbelieveableā¦
Iād be suprised if the council would pay up if you came off your bike in such an area - has anyone had a result from them in the past for this type of case?
Literally? They had a horse on Bikesafe? Weirdā¦ :DOn the original subject, most of the B158 Hertford-Brookmans Park road has recently been resurfaced in that grey gravelly stuff, which is drifting into piles along the middle of each side of road where the car tyres send it. The back end of the Banana was squirming around all over the place all the way along, one or two interesting slides even at very sensible speeds (honest!). There are āLoose Chippings 10mphā signs every 50 yards or so, so I guess if you came off anywhere along there you wouldnāt have a leg to stand on. Hopefully NOT literallyā¦
the reason they ātop-dressā the roads is to extend the life of the road surface, the chippings are applied with hot bitumin, and are then forced into the road surface by the action of the car tyres passing over them,to give better traction for all road users, the reason they are left there for days is partly to allow this process to take place and partly cost-cutting . In our area they have recently started using trucks that āre-faceā the existing road surface with-out top-dressing and the resultant chips, so maybe this is a better way to go? the problem with doing neither is that the surface becomes polished and people start falling off due to slides, damned if you do,damned if you donāt?
Sausage, beans and Chippings?
Working in and around the council flavor i can tell you that the highways dept would not contact to street cleaning dept to let them know so the only time they would do a clear up is when that road was due a clean even then it would only be a mechanical sweeper costing Ā£100,000 and useless. some boroughs donāt even check/clean central res thats why we all get punctures when filtering
If only we had some sort of big device, possibly reminiscent of those steam-driven jobbies, with a kind of big, heavy roller on the front. Dunno what youād call it, but itād make the whole process of pushing the chippings into the road so much more even, more quick - and more safe!
I had some great Sausages and Mash at lunchā¦ yum yumā¦