UK cities
45+
Direct coverage
West Sussex · On the A23 London to Brighton corridor at the Hickstead / A2300 interchange, roughly 6 miles south of Pease Pottage where the M23 ends, about 33 miles south of central London and around 12 miles north of Brighton.
Car Accident Claims Hickstead | Non-Fault Support, RH17 5
24/7 recovery, secure storage, repairs and like-for-like replacement vehicle support for non-fault drivers in Hickstead (RH17 5), on the London to Brighton corridor. CCTV disclosure filed inside the 14-day retention window.
- West Sussex coverage
- Sussex Police literate
- A23 / M23 corridor
- CCTV disclosure inside 14d
1
Hickstead postcode
24/7
Dispatch
£0
Upfront
24/7
UK response
Recovery dispatch and live claim handlers, 365 days a year.
Response
<60m
First contact SLA
Cost
£0
Upfront to driver
Reviewed: Written & reviewed by: CityGrip Editorial Team (City Grip Ltd)County: West SussexPostcodes: RH17 5Nearest A&E: Princess Royal Hospital, Haywards Heath (RH16 4EX)
On this page
Do you cover non-fault accident claims in Hickstead?
Yes - we coordinate non-fault car and van accident management across Hickstead (RH17 5) on the London to Brighton corridor, in West Sussex. Services include 24/7 recovery to a CCTV-monitored partner yard, secure storage, repair coordination and like-for-like replacement vehicle screening. We file CCTV disclosure with the relevant highway authority inside the typical 14 to 31-day footage retention window, and we coordinate with Sussex Police for collision reporting under the Road Traffic Act 1988.
County
West Sussex
Postcodes
RH17 5
Clean air status
Hickstead sits well outside London and is not covered by the London ULEZ or by any local clean-air charging zone. West Sussex does not operate a charging Clean Air Zone here, so there is no daily emission charge for driving a car or van through Hickstead or along the A23 corridor. Drivers heading north into central London on the same corridor should note that ULEZ applies once inside the Greater London boundary, but that is far from Hickstead and does not affect journeys within the West Sussex section.
Nearest A&E
Princess Royal Hospital, Haywards Heath
Coverage detail
Postcode coverage in Hickstead
Hickstead sits in the RH17 5 postcode sector, part of the wider RH17 district that also covers Bolney, Warninglid, Cuckfield and the villages north of Burgess Hill. Hickstead itself is a small settlement strung along the old London Road (the former A23) within Bolney parish, so many of its addresses share postcodes with neighbouring hamlets rather than forming a dense residential grid. When you give a claim handler your location, the RH17 5 sector, plus the nearest A23 junction or a landmark such as the All England Jumping Course showground, pins the scene down far more precisely than a postcode alone, which is important when a recovery driver is trying to find a vehicle stranded on a fast dual carriageway.
RH17 5
Non-fault accident support in Hickstead
Hickstead is a small West Sussex village in the Mid Sussex district, best known nationally for the All England Jumping Course showground that has drawn horses, crowds and heavy show traffic to the area since 1960. Day to day, though, the place is defined less by the arena than by the road running past it. Hickstead straddles the A23, the historic London to Brighton trunk route, at the point where the A2300 spurs east towards Burgess Hill. It sits a few miles south of Pease Pottage, where the M23 motorway ends and hands traffic over to a high-speed dual carriageway that continues all the way to the A27 at Brighton. For drivers, Hickstead is a fast, open, junction-heavy stretch rather than a slow village high street, and that road environment shapes almost every non-fault collision reported here.
The old A23 through the village, now London Road, once carried the full weight of coast-bound traffic before the dual carriageway bypass took the strain. Today the through route is the modern A23, widened to three lanes in each direction on the Warninglid to Hickstead section, with grade-separated slip roads feeding the A2300 and the local network. That upgrade removed many of the old at-grade turns, but it also raised traffic speeds, and the merges, diverges and weaving movements around the Hickstead interchange are where drivers most often come unstuck. Add the seasonal surges around major showground events, when thousands of visitors and horseboxes arrive and leave within tight windows, and you have a corridor that swings between free-flowing 70 mph running and sudden, heavy congestion.
For a non-fault driver, all of this matters. A collision on a National Highways trunk road involves different recovery, signage and evidence arrangements than a bump on a quiet county lane, and the paperwork trail, from who holds any camera footage to which force takes the report, depends on exactly where the incident happened. CityGrip Accident Claims works with car and van drivers across Hickstead and the surrounding RH17 villages as an accident management company: arranging recovery and secure storage, coordinating engineer inspection and repair, providing a like-for-like replacement car or van where you are not at fault, and handling correspondence with the third party's insurer so you are not left chasing it yourself. Any personal injury enquiry is handled separately and only referred to an authorised legal partner with your own written consent.
Traffic and road conditions in Hickstead
The dominant feature is the A23 itself, a National Highways dual carriageway carrying constant London to Brighton traffic at motorway-style speeds. Around Hickstead the key conflict points are the merges and diverges at the A2300 interchange, where vehicles joining from Burgess Hill accelerate into fast-moving lanes and coast-bound traffic tries to leave at the same time. Rear-end shunts in slowing or queuing traffic, sideswipes during lane changes on the widened three-lane sections, and misjudged gaps at slip-road merges are the recurring patterns here, and they are made worse whenever an incident, roadworks or a busy showground day turns free-flowing lanes into stop-start queues without much warning. Just south of the village, the Bolney Interchange where the A23 meets the A272 adds another cluster of turning and merging movements that generates its own share of collisions.
The secondary network tells a different story. The A2300 is a shorter dual link between the A23 and Burgess Hill that has been the subject of dualling and junction improvement work, so lane layouts and priorities there can change and catch unfamiliar drivers out. The old London Road through Hickstead, along with lanes such as those towards Twineham, Sayers Common and Bolney, are lower-speed rural roads with bends, hedgerows, field accesses and limited lighting, where the typical problems are junction pull-outs, overtakes that go wrong and single-vehicle losses of control in poor weather. Show traffic and horseboxes turning to and from the All England Jumping Course add slow, wide, sometimes unexpected movements onto roads otherwise used to faster local traffic, another reason careful evidence-gathering matters when a claim is disputed.
HICKSTEAD
03
Section 3 of the walkthrough.
How we handle Hickstead accident claims
When CityGrip handles a non-fault claim at Hickstead, the first job is matching the incident to the right authority and the right evidence trail. If your collision happened on the A23 trunk dual carriageway, the M23 or the M25 approach, that road is managed by National Highways, and any motorway or trunk-road camera footage and incident logs are pursued through the National Highways route rather than the council. If it happened on the A2300, the old London Road, or a local lane, West Sussex County Council is the highway authority and the point of contact for any council-held CCTV, road-condition records or signage queries. Because roadside and traffic-camera footage is routinely overwritten on a rolling cycle, often within about 14 to 31 days, we move quickly to identify who holds any relevant recording and request it in writing before it is lost, alongside gathering dashcam clips, photographs and witness details while they are fresh.
The police force for the whole area is Sussex Police. For a damage-only, non-injury collision the driver should report it through the Sussex Police online road traffic incident tool, ideally as soon as possible and within 24 hours, keeping the form reference number to pass to insurers; where anyone is injured or the road is blocked, that becomes a 999 matter at the time. On the recovery and storage side, a breakdown on a fast National Highways dual carriageway needs a prompt, safe recovery off the live carriageway, and CityGrip arranges collection and secure storage of your car or van, engineer inspection to assess the damage, and repair coordination, then manages the correspondence with the at-fault insurer so you are not doing it alone. Where you are not at fault we can also put you into a like-for-like replacement car or van to keep you mobile, and any injury element is referred to an authorised legal partner only with your separate written consent.
Major roads and known hazards in Hickstead
The road authority for each route is identified so the right disclosure request (county council, Transport for the region, or National Highways for the M23 / M25 and trunk A23) can be filed inside the typical 14 to 31-day CCTV retention window.
| Reference | Road / corridor | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| A23 | London Road / London to Brighton trunk route | National Highways dual carriageway running past the village, widened to three lanes on the Warninglid to Hickstead section; fast merges and diverges at the interchange are a frequent collision point. |
| A2300 | Hickstead to Burgess Hill link | Short dual carriageway spur off the A23, subject to dualling and junction improvement works, so changing lane layouts can catch out unfamiliar drivers. |
| A272 | Bolney Interchange (A23 / A272) | Busy grade-separated interchange just south of Hickstead where east-west A272 traffic meets the A23, adding turning and merging conflict movements. |
| B2118 | Old London Road / village through-route | The former A23 alignment through Hickstead, a lower-speed local road passing the showground with field accesses and event traffic. |
| Local | Twineham, Sayers Common and Bolney lanes | Rural minor roads with bends, hedgerows and limited lighting where junction pull-outs and wet-weather losses of control are the typical problems. |
Known incident hotspots
- Fast slip-road merges and diverges at the A23 / A2300 Hickstead interchange, where traffic joining from Burgess Hill accelerates into 70 mph lanes.
- Rear-end shunts in sudden queues on the A23 when an incident, roadworks or heavy show-day traffic turns free-flowing lanes into stop-start running.
- Lane-change sideswipes on the widened three-lane A23 sections either side of the village.
- Turning and merging conflicts at the Bolney Interchange where the A23 meets the A272 just south of Hickstead.
- Seasonal surges of visitors and horseboxes to and from the All England Jumping Course, adding slow, wide vehicle movements onto otherwise fast roads.
- Rural lane hazards around Bolney, Twineham and Sayers Common, including blind bends, unlit stretches, field accesses and wet-weather skidding.
Clean air and emissions
Hickstead sits well outside London and is not covered by the London ULEZ or by any local clean-air charging zone. West Sussex does not operate a charging Clean Air Zone here, so there is no daily emission charge for driving a car or van through Hickstead or along the A23 corridor. Drivers heading north into central London on the same corridor should note that ULEZ applies once inside the Greater London boundary, but that is far from Hickstead and does not affect journeys within the West Sussex section. Any replacement vehicle we arrange for you in Hickstead is matched to your needs and to any zone you regularly drive through, so you can keep working and travelling without penalty.
Speed limits
The A23 dual carriageway past Hickstead is a high-speed route with a national speed limit of 70 mph for cars and vans on its dual-carriageway sections, dropping only where signs, slip roads or roadworks require it. The A2300 link to Burgess Hill carries similarly higher limits along its dual sections. Through the village on the old London Road and on the surrounding rural lanes towards Bolney, Twineham and Sayers Common, limits fall to 30 to 50 mph depending on the stretch, and event days at the showground can bring temporary signing and slower running near the access points.
Evidence and disclosure timeline in Hickstead
CCTV, signal data and bus footage from a Hickstead collision are subject to retention windows that typically run between 14 and 31 days. After that the footage is overwritten and unavailable. The first 72 hours are disproportionately important.
- 0hMake the scene safe, exchange details, photograph the road layout, call 999 if anyone is injured. The Road Traffic Act 1988 duty to give details applies at the scene.
- 1hOpen the claim with us. We dispatch recovery to Hickstead and start drafting the disclosure requests to the correct highway authority.
- 24hIf reportable, file with Sussex Police through their online collision reporting service. Quote the reference in all insurer correspondence.
- 72hCCTV disclosure request lodged with the relevant highway authority (A mix of authorities applies at Hickstead. The A23 trunk dual carriageway that runs past the village is managed by National Highways, as are the M23 and M25 sections further north on the London approach. The A2300 link to Burgess Hill, the old A23 (London Road) through the village and the surrounding minor lanes are the responsibility of West Sussex County Council as local highway authority, with Mid Sussex District Council covering the wider district administration.) and, where relevant, National Highways for the M23, M25 or trunk A23.
- 14-31dStandard CCTV retention window. After this, footage is routinely overwritten unless preserved on an open disclosure request. We track the retention window for every claim from intake.
Related accident management services in Hickstead
Accident recovery in Hickstead →
24/7 dispatch to a CCTV-monitored partner yard.
Vehicle storage after a Hickstead accident →Daily-logged secure storage with photographic record.
Like-for-like replacement vehicle (credit hire) →Car or van replacement subject to eligibility.
Repair management for Hickstead drivers →Approved repairer referral and PAS 125 / BSI compliant scope.
Non-fault accident claims overview →End-to-end coordination for non-fault drivers.
Uninsured driver / hit-and-run support →Routing through the Motor Insurers' Bureau.
Frequently asked questions
- Which hospital has the nearest A&E to Hickstead?
- The nearest hospital with a full 24-hour blue-light accident and emergency department is the Princess Royal Hospital on Lewes Road, Haywards Heath, RH16 4EX, part of University Hospitals Sussex. It is the closest full A&E for a serious collision on the A23 corridor around Hickstead. In a life-threatening emergency always call 999 for an ambulance rather than driving yourself.
- How do I report a non-injury accident at Hickstead to the police?
- The force for the area is Sussex Police. For a damage-only collision with no injuries, use the Sussex Police online road traffic incident reporting tool, ideally as soon as possible and within 24 hours of the collision. Save the form reference number to give to your insurer and to CityGrip. If anyone is injured, the road is blocked or there is a danger to other traffic, call 999 at the scene instead.
- Who holds CCTV or camera footage of an A23 collision near Hickstead?
- It depends on exactly where the incident happened. The A23 trunk dual carriageway and the M23 approach are managed by National Highways, so trunk-road and motorway footage is pursued through them. The A2300, the old London Road and local lanes fall to West Sussex County Council. Because footage is often overwritten within roughly 14 to 31 days, CityGrip acts quickly to identify the holder and request the recording in writing before it is lost.
- Is there a ULEZ or clean-air charge for driving through Hickstead?
- No. Hickstead is in West Sussex, well outside Greater London, and is not covered by the London ULEZ or by any local clean-air charging zone. There is no daily emission charge for driving a car or van through the village or along the A23 here. ULEZ only applies once you cross into the Greater London boundary far to the north, which does not affect journeys within the West Sussex section of the corridor.
Important notice
Liability for any road traffic collision remains subject to the at-fault driver's insurer's assessment and the available evidence. Replacement vehicle, credit hire, recovery, storage and repair support are subject to eligibility, the evidential record and reasonable need. We do not provide legal advice. Personal injury enquiries are referred only with your separate written consent to authorised legal or regulated partners. Information on this page about postcode coverage, road authority, clean-air zone applicability and hospital trusts is provided as general guidance and does not constitute legal, regulatory or insurance advice.
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