[Closed] So i have just reversed into a skip...

How on eath did you not see it?

anyway o.3 seconds with google gives this. You do need some sort of hi vis stuff on the skip and maybe cones depending on areas

http://www.valueskiphire.co.uk/regulations/skip-permit.asp

So what you're saying is that you'd also have reversed over a 3 foot high child?

Help I'm shit at parking and want to make it somebody else's fault. 🙂

Only teasing. I think it needs flashing lights. And chevrons, no?

It is your fault.

I have sympathy, you must be gutted... but I hate this blame culture. You could also have reversed into a small sports car like a caterham...

You weren't wearing headphones, perchance...?

DOH!! its a stationary object so your fault, now if the skip was on wheels thats a different matter althogether!!

They should have lanterns around the skip if there on a road, so I would say its illegal. Check with your council though!

lanterns only after dark I think.

Some guidance in my link but its local authority specific

You need some of [url= http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=3194&C=Froogle&U=3194&T=Module ]These[/url] 😆

[img] [/img]

I know how you feel. Like a total numpty, I reversed into a large industrial wheelie bin a few years ago. I saw it, but was so used to the rear reversing "beepers" on my main car that I just kept reversing until I hit it (I was in a car without parking sensors). Dentmaster and Chipsaway sorted it.

There should be a name on it, and phone number as well as a flashing beacon after dark.

You obviously hadnt ordered the optional mirrors pack for the BMW had you 😯

Was it on the public highway?

Yes it was on my road, although they had placed about 2inches on the pavement. It does have some reflector cheverons on the side, i have just been out to photo it.

Yes i am trying to blame someone else and yes in someways it is my fault however why do you think there are cones / barriers around excavations , you wouldnt say well if it was a child in the road...

And its a golf by the way

I reversed into a tree outside my own house a few years ago. Now I come to think of it, I'm going to complain to the council - it was a really low-viz brown colour one.

I know the very annoyed-with-yourself, stupid, angry feeling all to well though, as anyone who read my post on Sunday will be aware. Not much you can do really other than chalk it up to experience.

It's your fault full stop not some way, you hit a stationary object.

yes in someways it is my fault

Only in some ways?

thanks for all your sympathy people

I reversed into a skip once. Put a nice crease in the bumper. Never occurred to me to blame someone else. It's a big enough, stationary object. I didn't see it the blame was entirely mine.

MTFU and admit you made a mistake.

We will have to put cones round parked cars soon!!!!! Your fault just deal with it.

Yep, you are a numpty - but If you make a claim on your insurance I'm sure you're insurance company will want to know whether all legal procedures had been followed for it to be on the road. They won't want to cover the cost of your repairs if they don't have to!

I never said i wasnt a numpty. But i do work in insurance so maybe thats why i am trying to make a recovery. Right time to phone the insurance company me thinks.

In my job I have a lot of contact with skip operators. I'd love to hear the phone call you make to them after you try and blame it on them.

Learn to drive properly you moron!!

so cones that are lower than the height of the skip and it would have been seen? not convinced, myself. 🙄

thanks for all your sympathy people

Do you really not realise you don't deserve any? If you don't then I'm afraid we can't help!

But i do work in insurance

Aaaaaah! We come to the root of the problem! 😀

Get real. Its a skip. You ran into it. Your fault.
Now if it had been on a blind bend at night with no flashing lights then you might have a case.

I ran into a bollard at cadbury world a few years ago (just over two feet high, in my blind spot, reveresed straight into it). It taught me to drive more carefully, never dreamed of claiming.

Yes, OP is a numpty, yes, it's their fault.

However,

If the skip owners haven't followed legal requirements, they're probably liable.

In the words of James Hetfield, "Sad But True."

I agree with the overall tone of this thread so far.

It's nothing personal.

in someways it is my fault however....

you reversed into a large piece of static pointy metal.

The reason they put cones around holes is that holes tend to be flush with the ground. In fact, one of the few things that are both flush to the ground and hazardous.

But yes. You gotta be aware of these things.

I had a near miss on the motorway a while back. The Passat (like many modern cars I think) has windowsills quite a bit higher than cars used to. I can't comfortably put my elbows on it anyway. I found a nice driving position quite low in the car too. So in dusk one evening with loads of traffic moving at 50 and loads of lights (so visibility wasn't great) I signalled to pull back into the inside lane (slowly and carefully as I always do just in case), when there's a beep. I looked again, and there's a Honda S2000 right next to me with its top down completely below the window line of my car. Only the driver and the windscreen were visible.

My fault for not checking properly in difficult light. But consequently, I now look out for low cars, and I also sit higher in the car for visibility.

I suspect you'll look more carefully into parking spaces from now on!

I work in insurance, and given the pathetically low levels of blame motorists routinely will accept, and having to dish out hard truths to them every day, I am disappointed to see you reflect a frankly growing problem.

These days, people will argue anything, and claim for anything.

How was the skip at fault in your view? What did it do so wrong whilst you operated your 3/4 ton of motor vehicle, which can so easilly kill and maim, carelessly, and without any regards for your surroundings. Is a skip, on the side of roads, so unusual that it was not forseeable?

No sympathy from me, but I have had a very bad day at work, including a call from a motorist who has run over a child on a bike, asking why we're not going to chase the badly injured childs parents for his excess. And I get this crap most days, whereas at least a decade ago, people were less self-centric.

Nice story molgrips. Echoes my point entirely.

[i] yes in someways it is my fault however [/i]

'cos you're a shit driver?

These days, people will argue anything, and claim for anything.

If insurance companies weren't so quick to take your money and so reluctant to give it back, I'd have more sympathy.

How was the skip at fault in your view?

There will be legal requirements for its placing. If these aren't adhered to, it's at least partially at fault.

Do I agree with that? Maybe not. Point is, whether it's 'right' or not is irrelevant, what you're looking at here is 'is it legal?'

well i work in subsidence so i am normally chasing people for not cutting their trees down. Yes it is my fault but i just wanted to get out of paying £450 excess

So lets all be honest here, would you?...

a) Admit you're a numpty and cover all repair costs yourself.

or

b) Admit you're a numpty, but try not to hand over hundreds of pounds from your own pocket and at least have a stab recovering some of your expenses.

But the reason we have health and safety is so numpties like me do kill ourselves and each other.

Exactly my point muffin man. Bearing in mind when some little tea leaves broke into my car to try and nick it and got caught i had to pay £250 excess and they got a caution!

How much damage did the car take? A fair bit more than a scratched bumper to get up to £450... perhaps now I'm a bit glad my reverse parallel parking is so slow and awkward!

Cracked rear light cover , but dent on the rear quarter and rear bumper. so thats two pannels that near work. Made even worse by the fact that i am about to sell the car and have just spent £400 earlier this month.

I hope you informed the skip company of any damage caused 🙂

I watched someone reverse into a parked motorcycle in a similar situation last week.

The same applies. YOU ARE AT FAULT*

*and a muppet

On the off chance you don't get the insurance, my top tip would be to check ebay for the parts you need.

Having quite ridiculously scraped both sides of my car in the same stupid incident (who knew a 406 was that wide?), sourced all the bits I needed to make car good as new for £35. Then last night someone keyed the side of it. Bonus.

c) Admit I'm a numpty and amire the latest in the collection of scratches, bumps and knocks. I drive a shed for a reason 8)

When i was doing driving lessons a long while ago, in the dark, i decided to do the 3 point turn under a lampost, and reversed into the lampost, the light cover fell off just as the instructor got out to look at the damage,he seemed to be in a state of shock ,being just missed by a large plastic cover on the light almost hitting him and a damaged bumper.

If insurance companies weren't so quick to take your money and so reluctant to give it back, I'd have more sympathy.

The reason they are reluctant to give it back is because of people trying it on all the time. Catch 22. Take the moral high ground mate, it's better in the end. In other words, stop making up excuses for your behaviour.

b) Admit you're a numpty, but try not to hand over hundreds of pounds from your own pocket and at least have a stab recovering some of your expenses.

So use someone else's money instead of your own? Lovely.

I'd choose a) without a second thought.

It definatly needs lights, but no cones iirc.
if its on the highway it needs permission too!

however, 3 ft high caterhams dont need extra lights, nor do children, bins, mopeds... etc

parking fail
you lose, your car is now "more parisian"

(poor/lazy parking is my biggest pet hate)

is the skip ok? - have you checked?

y'know those little trolleys in a busy ASDA carpark? you know those poor blokes pushing them round the car park? are you one of the ****s that reverses into them, just cos they didn't see the little trolleys a coming? ooh! I didn't see you, the trolleys are so low! etc. Most people look, you are the odd one that doesn't!

So lets all be honest here, would you?...

a) Admit you're a numpty and cover all repair costs yourself.

Yup. By claiming on *my* insurance if necessary or cash out of pocket if affordable.

Your lucky that skips cant get whiplash. 😉

I've reversed in to hundreds of skips and never tried to make a claim.
But then, I was driving a skip lorry at the time.

Ermmm, if you reversed into it does that mean you drove past it first, and missed it? I hope that isn't the case, because that would be really, really unfortunate, but if it is the case, I hope you get to a point where you can't afford drive really soon. For all our sakes!

Has anyone ever seen a skip with a light on it?

(No c1980's skoda jokes please)

Skip with light on? Yes, usually in a very battered holder hooked onto one of the lifting points.
Hardly ever though, and not sure I ever saw one at night, lit up.

there is a skip plonked on the side of the road in a totally unlit, narrowish 40mph road near me, with the tiniest light on it. It's scary! but I use my eyes, so I avoid it!

By all means try and exploit the situation to save yourself some cash (I'm sure we're all fine with ever increasing insurance premiums...) but don't look for sympathy

Classic bit of blame culture, you should have seen it / taken more care but are now trying to find a legal loophole to worm your way out of the resulting financial downside of your stupidity.

If the OP didn't notice a great big yellow metal skip, how would he have ever noticed a few chevrons or small flashing lights around it?

We all make mistakes, you have to put it down to experience and move on. I know we all want to save money but trying to pass some of the blame of this onto a skip company seems a bit harsh to me. Accept you've cocked up and that it's going to cost you and move on. Hopefully this will now mean you won't ever do the same thing in your new car......

If I wasn't at work right now, I'd definitely be making a B-movie style "ATTACK OF THE STEALTH SKIPS!" poster.

I agree that on the surface it was you fault. But you pay insurance precisely to cover such numptiness on your part. If the insuarance company refuse to pay out because it is 'legally' someone else's fault then that is their decision. Ultimately you bought a policy to save having to pay out in such circumstances, so you shouldn't have to pay. Whether it is your insurance company or that of the skip company (or their insurance company) doesn't really matter. Good luck with it.

If I wasn't at work right now, I'd definitely be making a B-movie style "ATTACK OF THE STEALTH SKIPS!" poster.

I for one want to see that. Please make in happen 🙂

Also, this is the risk you took when you opted to gamble with a £450 excess.

I'm sure it lowed your premium at the time, but you always knew you would have to pay it if you had an accident.

You work in insurance, you know all this already! 😉

If I wasn't at work right now, I'd definitely be making a B-movie style "ATTACK OF THE STEALTH SKIPS!" poster.

Do it and "Attack of the Killer High Rolllers!"

The excess is just the start of it tho. Premiums will sky-rocket.

was it this?

[img] [/img]

seems to have lights... 😆

I'd get a quote for trading the car in without it being fixed.

I traded my Golf in and it had a few dents and scrapes, but the dealer offered a decent price anyway saying that Golfs were easy to sell. I guess they can fix it up a lot cheaper than i can.