Pavement Outside has Sunk Causing Damage To My Drive

fleetingmind

Over the last month or so the pavement (block paved) outside my house has sunken in places. Today while clearing the snow off my drive the end bit of the drive where it meets the pavement has become 'hollow' when you tap it and shortly i'm sure will crack.

My drive is an old tarmac drive but still in good condition and obviously the end cracking will ensure it needs fixing.

Who would be responsible for fixing my drive and the pavement and how do i prove it was the pavement that caused the damage and not the other way round?

keystone

fleetingmind wrote: »

Over the last month or so the pavement (block paved) outside my house has sunken in places. Today while clearing the snow off my drive the end bit of the drive where it meets the pavement has become 'hollow' when you tap it and shortly i'm sure will crack.

My drive is an old tarmac drive but still in good condition and obviously the end cracking will ensure it needs fixing.

Who would be responsible for fixing my drive and the pavement and how do i prove it was the pavement that caused the damage and not the other way round?

The block paving has dropped because the ground underneath has shrunk - is it clay?. The reason your driveway sounds hollow is that the ground underneath has shrunk but unlike the pavement is a solid mass so the ground has shrunk away from it. The pavement dropping has not damaged your driveway nor has your driveway caused the pavement to drop as pavement sinking and hollow sounding drive are but symptoms of the same problem which has affected them both. (What a horrid word salad - but I hope you understand what I mean)

I would suggest that you are responsible for your driveway and the council for the pavement (if its an adopted roadway).

Cheers

olias

Agree with the above, but not neccassarily clay shrinkage, could also be ground water running under the drive and pavement slowly eroding the substrate away. There is always a possibility this could be due to a leaking water pipe either on your land or the councils. Council or waterboard might be able to confirm whether this is the case through checking any drop in pressure?

Olias