Your thoughts on an incident

You are driving the car ,so it's your responsibility to make sure the way ahead is safe to do so , IMO the o/s of the car was over the centre of the white line 

 It is a simple matter to make a decision by measuring the width of the caravan across the road from a point on one of the markings that the nearside wheel is clearly crossing.   This will show if, and by how much, the caravan is across the centre of the roadway.

In that there are four letters in the word "STOP" (which was not complied with by the driver) and a small space to either side, and that the near side of the caravan was completely missing going over the "S", I would contend that the offside of the caravan was across the centre.

Does the rubbish collecting lorry pass through a single barrier?

 why was you so far over as looks like there is about a 5' gap between your van and the fence/kerb.

From the video I would say it’s your fault. 

Whilst there appears to be plenty of room on the nearside for you to pull through safely what we can't see is what was ahead of you that made you pull over towards the middle of the road. If there was something blocking a clean exit maybe, just maybe you might have a case. From what we can see on the video, and I don't wish to sound unsympathetic as it must of been horrible, but you changing position on the way through the barrier was the cause of it hitting your van. I am a bit surprised you have rushed to court over this, have you actual taken legal advice? To me it seems more of an insurance claim. How did the site react to the problem?

Please let us know how you get on.

David

A helpful lorry driver once helped me out in a tight manouvering situation in my motorhome, adding the advice " Use your rear-view mirrors even when moving forward". Had you done so, you would have been able to avoid the damage. A plastic barrier desiged to break as it did surely didn't cause enough damage to warrant the aggro you're now facing. I hope the court action isn't viewed as being 'vexatious'!

When the barrier started moving you should have stopped!

You wont want to hear this but i agree with the majority of posters. You were too far over and could of easily been closer to the nearside. You have no extension mirror on the nearside so probably didn't have a clear view. You should have been aware of the barrier coming down and taken action. I cant see a court action doing anything but costing you more money. In my view its a simple claim on your insurance.

Have you sent this video to your insurers?

What is their opinion?

Ian, our caravan was damaged in slightly similar circumstances, on the narrow approach to a French campsite through a chicane and entrance and exit barrier.   We had been waved to go through the entrance barrier, which then came down when it shouldn't have between the car and the caravan (undoubtedly the fault of the barrier).  

Unfortunately in our case the barrier didn't snap off but scraped along the caravan.  We never thought to make a court case of it, but simply put it down as an accident, claimed from our insurers (Towergate), they assessed the damage, paid our claim, and our premiums didn't go up as a result.  We didn't have to repair any damage to the barrier as it was still intact, just a bit scratched!  

I think you will find that had you been using towing mirrors which are a legal requirement on almost all UK cars, that you would have seen that there was plenty of room between you and the fence and kept over to your side of the road.  Had you done that the barrier would not have hit your caravan.

Although I have every sympathy, as the design of the entrance arrangements, is an accident waiting to happen. I am afraid I must agree with others, you should have exercised more care and remained on your side of the road. The video shows the side of the van level with the end of the T on STOP. The site in its defence will be able to supply a photo with a tape showing the distance to the fence, which looks considerable. That and the lack of a nearside mirror are likely to reflect badly on your argument.

The barrier was descending as you approached it. If I was the site I would be saying you should have seen it and even been looking out for it if you were moving into the opposite carriageway. It could be argued as unwise in any event, as if it had started descending after you passed, it could have impacted the rear of the caravan. You perhaps have more of a case if the barriers were under manual control, but you don't state this.

Personally I would claim on my insurance for the van and argue that they should pay for the cost of the barrier due to bad design. A fact that had obviously been considered with how easily it detached. History of other vehicles hitting it would aid your arguement. However, I would be reluctant to take even this element to court.