No Fault RTA

[mettam77]

Good Morning, I hope you fantastic guys can give me some advice please.

My father was driving his car through the town centre, as he passed a building site, a gust of wind blew a sign (freestanding A shape metal signs) that the builders had positioned on the pavement into the road, the sign did not hit my fathers car, however, at the time, he believed it was going to, subsequently, he has braked hard and ended up skidding and running into a concrete bollard causing significant damage to his car and injuring his leg.
My father does not have fully comprehensive insurance for whatever reason and so the insurance company will not pay for the damage to his vehicle so he is unable to have his car fixed due to lack of savings. Would he be able to make a claim against the builders as it was their sign that blew into the road and caused him to swerve and crash.
Thank you in advance for any help.

[islandgirl]

Sorry to hear about your dad's injury. So others can help, is there any proof that this is what caused the accident - dashcam footage, witnesses, photos of the sign etc. I do not doubt you at all but the builders will say it was nothing to do with them, I assume!

[mettam77]

Good Morning, No, my father is a technophobe and won't have a dash cam, he might change his mind now though!! I don't have pictures to hand, however, the sign was a metal triangular sign that you see next to the road in roadworks etc. It was placed on the pavement next to the fence around the building site to warn pedestrians, the pavement was around 3.5 metres wide and adjoined the road directly (no grass verge etc). I spoke to the manager of the site and he said that it is not their fault, yes the sign blew into the road but it didn't strike my fathers car and therefore did not cause the damage, the fact that my father 'panicked' and swerved causing him to skid and crash into the bollard, it was all my fathers fault.
My father is not concerned about his injury, he is more concerned with his car as he only has third party insurance and doesn't have savings to cover the cost of repairs. I know it is vague, i will try and get the pictures and add to the post.

[des8]

Might not have been the direct cause of the damage to your father's car, but was IMO a contributory factor.

I would suggest that whilst you are collecting as much evidence as possible, your father writes to the building company.
Describe the incident on the basis they were negligent in not ensuring the sign was firmly fixed, and that he had to brake sharply to avoid colliding with the sign as it blew into the road.
Don't mention anything about "panicking", nor what he believed was about to happen. It was an instinctive reaction to a situation not of his causing.

Yell them your father expects them to pay for all his losses arising from this incident.
This is not just repair to the vehicle but the necessary cost of additional fares (taxi/bus) and a weekly amount to cover loss of use.
Suggest they pass it to their liability insurers to deal with