Our legal specialist, Lucy Bonham Carter, advises: “There has to be negligence on the part of someone and it has long been held that a tyre blow-out most often occurs as a result of a puncture when the tyre rapidly deflates and strips the tread. If there is "fault” then it lies with "persons unknown". In these circumstances with a "damage-only" case it would be standard practice to refuse the claim and the third party insurer could claim that the damage was your fault as you should have been driving with sufficient distance to avoid the hazard. In some cases where there is an injury it is possible to make a claim using the MIB "untraced drivers" scheme if it can be shown that the debris that burst the tyre had resulted from negligence such as a "shedload" (for example of tin tacks) but untraced driver claims are only available in injury cases and do not apply to damage only.”