Network claims

The Network Claims team processes claims made against the company in relation to damage or injury caused by alleged negligence to the road network. They also claim against individuals and third parties where they have allegedly damaged the road network.

National Highways manages England’s motorways and principal A roads, known as the strategic road network (SRN), and must comply with The Highways Act 1980, which is the UK's main legislation for road management and operation.

Types of claim

If you’re seeking to claim financial compensation from us for alleged damage or injury incurred while on the SRN, this is known as a 'Red Claim'.

This kind of claim would be made where you allege that the injury or damage resulted from our failure to maintain the SRN properly. To defend such a claim, we’d need to prove that all reasonable measures were taken to ensure the highway was not dangerous to traffic or pedestrians.

The rules regarding the defence of Red Claims are set out in Section 58 of the Highways Act 1980.

There are also occasions where National Highways seeks to recover monies from a third party in respect of damage caused to the SRN. These are known as 'Green Claims'.

In order to maintain the SRN to ensure the safety of all road users, it’s essential that we act quickly to remedy or repair defects and damage that may be hazardous. Where this damage has been caused by a third party, it may lead to a Green Claim.

Our duty to maintain the SRN is outlined in Section 41 of the Highways Act 1980.

Claiming for damage to your vehicle

You may be able to claim compensation if your vehicle has been damaged by a road.

You cannot claim compensation if debris from another vehicle caused the damage. Contact your insurer instead.

Please see below for common claim queries:

We regularly inspect the motorway and trunk road network for debris and make every effort to keep the carriageways clear of obstructions.

The liability for any damage caused by debris lies with the third party that dropped it or allowed it to be dropped from their vehicle. Insurance companies are unlikely to be able to proceed with a claim unless you can identify this third party.

When there is a risk of snow and ice we deploy winter maintenance vehicles to enable traffic to continue safely and to flow smoothly.

We have a legal requirement under section 111 of the Railways & Transport Safety Act 2003, to ‘ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that safe passage along a highway is not endangered by snow and ice’.

All vehicle owners have responsibility for protecting their vehicle during periods of snow and ice. To make any claims, you must prove that we have neglected our duty as stated in the Act referenced above.

Undertaking maintenance on the roads provides benefits for the whole community within that area. We have no legal obligation to compensate business owners for loss of trade when works are properly undertaken under our statutory powers.

Business owners may be entitled to claim if we have done something improperly, such as blocking an access without authority.

The work we do to maintain and improve the highways within our network is considered a statutory duty on behalf of the Secretary of State for Transport under section 41 of the Highways Act 1980.

Therefore, we are not obliged or required to pay compensation for any disruption, inconvenience, costs or loss of business caused by the work we undertake.

The Network Claims team are responsible for managing both Green Claims and Red Claims on behalf of National Highways.

Please click on the relevant button to find out more about Red and Green Claims:

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