Claiming for pot hole damage

Neiluc

Hi all,

The other day I hit a very large pot hole coming out of bluewater shopping centre. It has damaged the alloy, damaged the tyre, and also there's creaking and knocking coming from underneath the front end, so the car is booked in to my garage for repair tomorrow (Thursday 4th April). How can I claim off the council for repairs? Is it an easy process? I've never done this before so any information at all would be greatly appreciated!

P.s. do I need a photo of the pot hole I hit?

Thanks in advance! Neil

Richard53

Logic says you must have a photo, otherwise why should they believe you at all? I would suggest a few good-quality photos from various angles, including at least one with an indication of the depth - perhaps a straight-edge across the hole with a ruler at 90deg to show how deep it goes. IIRC, most LAs go by the depth of the hole when it comes to deciding which are 'problem' holes and which are not.

Making sure you have a date stamp on the photos will help. I know this isn't a guarantee of the date taken, but it should add a bit of weight.

H&S tip - watch the traffic when you are taking the photos, and wear hi-viz

scotsbob

You put a copy of the days newspaper beside the pot hole and photograph it, that shows the hole must have been made before that date.

TonyMMM

Neiluc wrote: »

Hi all,

The other day I hit a very large pot hole coming out of bluewater shopping centre.

Was it on a council maintained stretch of road, or still within the land owned by Bluewater ?

If council - you may also want to find out if it had been reported previously, which will make a claim much more likely to succeed.

Richard53

And report it to fixmystreet dot com, who have been pretty good round here at chasing the council to get things done.