Forced off the road on M6 into traffic cones - they failed to stop. What are my options?

MrRockliffe

MrRockliffe

MrRockliffe

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Hi all,

On my journey back from Scotland on Sunday, my other half was forced off the road by a silver Mercedes on the M6 around junction 22 in the 50 average speed.


They had been on our 4 o'clock for a few minutes, when they sped up to ~52 MPH, indicated while alongside us and just moved over. We had a lorry right behind us, so to evade further damage she had to drive through cones onto the hard shoulder.


The Mercedes failed to stop, and due to the traffic cones, nobody else was able to either.




We called 999 immediately, hoping they would be able to support, however since we didn't get a number plate, they've closed the case already with no further action to be taken.



Other than contacting insurance, does anybody have any possible routes forward?


Thanks
 
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Is there damage that requires an insurance claim?

There's nothing you can do without proof. In cases like that you're possibly better off holding your ground and blasting the horn.
 
Junction 22 and the 101 operator today said that the motorway team have closed the case, which would indicate it may not be working.


It was right on the junction with multiple cameras so I find it hard to believe.
 
Teknobry said:
In cases like that you're possibly better off holding your ground and blasting the horn.
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sounds surprising didn't brake and bring traffic to a stop rather than going into cones with potential worst outcome like concrete separators / excavations ...

don't most lorries have cctv too - so he would have captured it and send it in out of good will - he might be more distinctive to identify on cctv
 
MrRockliffe said:
I'm not sure who is - is there a way I can find that out?
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I'd try to contact National Highways first

How to find out more
If you’d like any more information about the project, please visit our project webpage at nationalhighways.co.uk/m6-j21a-26
You can sign up to receive weekly email updates about our planned closures by emailing [email protected]
If you have any questions, you can contact us by:
phone on 0300 123 5000 (24-hour Customer Contact Centre)
email at [email protected]
post at M6 junction 21a to 26 Project Team, National Highways,2 Colmore Square, Birmingham, B4 6BN

If you get nowhere there, I think Costain were running that project but I think National Highways prefer third party contacts not to go direct to the contractor, so you might find it difficult to unearth a direct project contact with them.
 
jpaul said:
sounds surprising didn't brake and bring traffic to a stop rather than going into cones with potential worst outcome like concrete separators / excavations ...

don't most lorries have cctv too - so he would have captured it and send it in out of good will - he might be more distinctive to identify on cctv
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The lorry was right behind and closing - guessing he was at 54 on cruise. So out of the two options, driving into cones was probably the right call.


Otherwise it would have been a lorry into the back of us :(
 
Haggisman said:
TBH in that situation I would have preferred contact with the other vehicle - if for nothing other than making sure they don't get away without a bill of their own! :mad:
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Yeah for me this too.
If I had to move over into empty space. I'd move. But into objects? No, I'd rather take them out with me.
 
I assumed from the 'evade further damage' comment that contact with the other vehicle was made, the escape into the cones was to prevent a bigger accident occurring than whatever else actually did.
 
Haggisman said:
TBH in that situation I would have preferred contact with the other vehicle - if for nothing other than making sure they don't get away without a bill of their own! :mad:
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The risk is that they still don’t stop and then I’m left with potentially more damage than has occurred from hitting cones, across more panels.


And if there’s still no evidence it’s caused by the third party, the total cost of repair goes up, and then everyone’s insurance goes up.
 
MrRockliffe said:
The risk is that they still don’t stop and then I’m left with potentially more damage than has occurred from hitting cones, across more panels.


And if there’s still no evidence it’s caused by the third party, the total cost of repair goes up, and then everyone’s insurance goes up.
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True, but does the value of a claim actually directly affect how much your insurance goes up? I've never actually checked tbh :s
 
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