Stevenage man left with £1k bill after ‘ice’ smashes into car from the sky

29/ 10/ 2021 a las 5:58 | Publicado en Casuística, Daños, Hielo azul, Hielo del fuselaje, Materiales | Comentarios desactivados en Stevenage man left with £1k bill after ‘ice’ smashes into car from the sky

Jaimie Kay 29/10/2021. A Stevenage man was left in «complete shock» after what he believes to be a «chunk of ice» fell onto his car whilst he was driving next to Stansted Airport.

Murray Sale, from Stevenage, was driving on a job from Chelmsford to Stevenage at 3.15pm on Tuesday, September 14 when something struck the bonnet of his car.

There were no adverse weather conditions other than a bit of rain and the roads were clear, but all of a sudden he heard a huge crash.

Something had hit the bonnet of his new Audi A5 coupe with a great deal of force. That something, according to Murray, was a chunk of ice.

He feared that if another second had passed and it had instead collided with his windscreen, the situation could have been a lot worse.

He said: «My first thought was someone has dropped something on me from a bridge.
Promoted Stories

“I was just in complete shock. I broke, looked around to see what had happened.»

It was at this point Murray noticed the dent in his bonnet, along with the «ice». He clocked that Stansted Airport was directly next to him.

He then started to investigate the possibility of ice falling from an overhead plane which, although rare, can happen.

«I managed to get a hold of the National Airport Watch and the lady said it is not that uncommon,» he said.

Mr Sale will require a new bonnet due to the damage caused

Murray’s bonnet was left damaged and he was quoted over £1,000 to replace the bonnet of his car.

He is looking for compensation for the incident, not just for the sake of finance but also because the car holds a lot of sentimental value to him.

He was given the money for the car after his late dad’s passing.

He said: “I have always had company cars, the last car I bought was on a lease deal.

«This time around my inheritance came through and bought a car which is my own, and there is a great deal of sentimental value in it.”

Murray hopes that his story will bring in more awareness of such incidents, and says he will continue to fight for compensation.

He said: “At the end of the day, I just want compensating to get my car fixed and someone has to take responsibility.

“I don’t want to become the victim, I don’t see why I should be the fall guy.”

According to the Civil Aviation Authority(CAA), icefalls are relatively rare. In 2017 there were 2.5 million flights in the UK airspace, with only seven icefall events reported to the CAA.

Some icefalls may occur because ice that has naturally formed on an aircraft at higher altitudes breaks off as it descends into warmer air.

However, it isn’t always planes that cause the issue. There is a phenomenon called megacryometeors which involves fallen ice that dates back to before aircraft even existed.

Scientists are conducting ongoing research into how this happens after unexplained chunks of ice began falling in Spain in the year 2000.

London Stansted Airport issued a statement regarding Murray’s situation, with a spokesperson for the airport saying: “We were contacted by Mr Sale on September 16 to report he believed his car had been struck by some ice while driving on the A120 when passing near Stansted Airport on September 14.

“Based on the time and location details of the incident provided by Mr Sale in his police witness statement we were able to carry out an investigation into any aircraft activity at the time.

«While there were two arriving aircraft within a five-minute window of the time stated by Mr Sale, these were still nearly one mile away from where it was reported the incident took place, so the investigation was unable to corroborate the assertion that this related to any aircraft operating into Stansted.

«We have also not received any reports of any ice falls or aircraft faults from our airlines.

“We confirmed the outcome of our investigation with Mr Sale and referred him to the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) AA as per the standard procedure in such cases.

“The CAA provides more information on its role in such cases and why ice falls, which are extremely rare and may not even relate to aviation, could occur.”

Fuente: Hertfordshire Mercury