Pothole damage claim

tightasaduck's

I recently submitted a claim to Roads Service for damage sustained to my vehicle after hitting a pothole.

I got a reply back yesterday to say that my claim was repudiated as the site of the incident is not adopted for maintenance by the Department.

It happened in New Forge Lane, Belfast BT9 - a well established road (and bus route) with both private residences and business entreprises at the foot of said thoroughfare. The Department also offered no evidence to indicate ownership of the land in question.

Is this the end of the road for me (pun intended!) and do I just have to take it on the chin and move on?

Any help would be appreciated.

RTNI

Can you ask some of the businesses in NFL who is responsible for the roads to see if they know?

Hope it was not too much damage and £££?

Another thought - would the local MP be able to help in tracking down the land owner?

Decski

Newforge lane is a terrible road, however there is speed bumps down and a speed limit of 15mph (not 100% on this). Also the pot holes are everywhere and not hard to miss. Take this one on the chin and move on.

Edit: The speed limit for this road is 5 mph once you get to the speed bumps.

tightasaduck's

Decski wrote: »

Newforge lane is a terrible road, however there is speed bumps down and a speed limit of 15mph (not 100% on this). Also the pot holes are everywhere and not hard to miss. Take this one on the chin and move on.

Edit: The speed limit for this road is 5 mph once you get to the speed bumps.

They are, especially in the dark and they seem to be breeding! Some of the potholes are also as you come over the speed bumps.

Speed, I can assure you was not a contributory factor in my case, despite your inference, as the traffic had built up at 'closing time'.

I also would like to find out why the road has not yet been adopted and who in fact put down the road markings and the speed bumps.

RTNI

just out of interest, if the road is not adopted does this mean that it is not gritted / salted by the DRD lorries?

Agreed that someone must be responsible for the upkeep of the road - if there are any houses for sale in NFL then can the estate agents find out who is responsible for maintaining the road?

tightasaduck's

RTNI wrote: »

Can you ask some of the businesses in NFL who is responsible for the roads to see if they know?

Hope it was not too much damage and £££?

Another thought - would the local MP be able to help in tracking down the land owner?

Thanks, RTNI. The damage was a punctured tyre (sidewall, so irreparable) buckle on wheel rim and a broken nearside coil suspension spring, so a costly enough unexpected repair bill.

I'd thought of contacting the office of the MP for South Belfast as this is a very busy road and is, quite frankly, in an absolutely disgraceful state and, what's worse, has been for years now with fresh potholes appearing all the time.

tightasaduck's

RTNI wrote: »

just out of interest, if the road is not adopted does this mean that it is not gritted / salted by the DRD lorries?

Agreed that someone must be responsible for the upkeep of the road - if there are any houses for sale in NFL then can the estate agents find out who is responsible for maintaining the road?[/QUOTE]

Good point - another possible avenue to explore.

BigAl94

Sections of the road are adopted, most likely the bits with footpath, in between is private.

spike7451

Good luck on your claim,I hit a pothole coming into Ards from Six Road End, that was part of previous road excavations & had repeatedly been patched,in April,the DoE didn't pay out until end September.

Mistral001

It is unlikely that the Roads Service will offer any help in finding the owners of the road or part of the road where the damage happened and even if they did know who owned it, they probably would not be allowed to give you that information.

Perhaps if you were travelling by appointment to see someone or even a firm, then you could make equiries with them. I would have thought they would be concerned about what happened to your car, while travelling to see them. They would probably be only to pleased to tell you the name of the owners as paying out to people like yourself would put pressure on them to repair their road.