Pothole claims guide discussion

Aylesbury_Duck

Usernamealreadyinuse wrote: »

Hi, I hope someone can give me some advice, my husband hit a pothole, damaged his wheel and tyre, he put a claim in to the council with photos and quotes etc and got refused on the grounds that they knew about it 3 days earlier and had assessed it as a category 1 and say they did not have to fix it for 5 days and as he hit it within those 5 days they!!!8217;re not liable. This makes no sense to me, they knew about it and just left it and thats ok? It was on a heavily used B road which is usually well maintained and gritted.

I'm not sure what advice to give because it seems quite clear. The council are responding in a reasonable timeframe and your husband has been unlucky.

Usernamealreadyinuse

Thank you. I guess its just my sense of fairness, how can they inspect it, say its dangerous or possibly dangerous but then leave it for the unsuspecting public to use, it could have caused a serious accident, if there is a danger and they can not fix it straight away there should be signs or it coned off or something surely they can not be resolved if all responsibility, can they?

Crabman

Usernamealreadyinuse wrote: »

Thank you. I guess its just my sense of fairness, how can they inspect it, say its dangerous or possibly dangerous but then leave it for the unsuspecting public to use, it could have caused a serious accident, if there is a danger and they can not fix it straight away there should be signs or it coned off or something surely they can not be resolved if all responsibility, can they?

I'd take further advice as it sounds like they've admitted being aware of the hazard but did not take steps to repair it. My local council will cone it off and immediately request a repair from contractors which is done within 1 working day.

Bobe

Hi,
I am pursuing a pothole claim which keeps getting knocked back.
I went over 2 deep potholes, in the dark, and burst one offside tyre and damaged the other beyond repair.
The local Council has rejected the claim saying that they inspected the road within the frequency period set out by the Highways Act 1980 and the potholes must have deteriorated between inspections.
I put in the claim to say they were negligent in not assessing that the frequency of inspections was adequate since they were, clearly, not and allowed serious potholes to develop in between the inspections frequency. The following day aftyer the accident the potholes were repaired but the repair was pathetic and still showed deep potholes. I supplied all the evidence and photos and are now waiting for their latest response.

Aylesbury_Duck

Bobe wrote: »

Hi,
I am pursuing a pothole claim which keeps getting knocked back.
I went over 2 deep potholes, in the dark, and burst one offside tyre and damaged the other beyond repair.
The local Council has rejected the claim saying that they inspected the road within the frequency period set out by the Highways Act 1980 and the potholes must have deteriorated between inspections.
I put in the claim to say they were negligent in not assessing that the frequency of inspections was adequate since they were, clearly, not and allowed serious potholes to develop in between the inspections frequency. The following day aftyer the accident the potholes were repaired but the repair was pathetic and still showed deep potholes. I supplied all the evidence and photos and are now waiting for their latest response.

Interesting.

anthonydevz

Hi guys so I have tried to put a claim through which I was first told NO to by Hamersmith & Fulham, it then followed the steps requesting FOI and have also now been told no to that. Please see the info below that was sent back to me on the 26th March which is past the 20day period they were supposed to send it. I cannot make heads or tails of what they are trying to say.

Thank you for your request for information received on 26 February 2018.
Your request
I am writing to request information under the Freedom of Information Act relating to a road
your authority is responsible for maintaining.
Specifically, my query relates to the Landridge Road SW6.
Please can you send me:
1) A copy of your current road maintenance policy relating to that road. Please send me the
full policy, but this should include details of the intended frequency of road safety
inspections, how these inspections should be conducted and the maximum time between
identification of a defect and repairs being carried out.
2) A copy of the road repair history for that road over the past year. Again, please send me
the full road repair history, but this should include:
- dates of all safety inspections between 25th Oct - 27th Dec (60 day time period)
- details of how safety inspections were undertaken (walked or driven, the speed of
inspection vehicle etc)
- details of all carriageway defects identified, with description, date and time
- details of how the authority handled these defects, what repairs were undertaken and the
time between the identification of each defect and a repair being carried out.
Our response
This request is being handled under the Freedom of Information Act 2000

Our response
This request is being handled under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
I can confirm that LB Hammersmith and Fulham holds the information you requested.
However, we are withholding that information since we consider that the following
exemptions apply to it.
We consider that the qualified exemption set out in Section 30 (Investigations) subsection
(2) (a) applies to the information requested. Therefore, we have decided to withhold the
information.

In applying this exemption, we have had to balance the public interest in withholding the
information against the interest in favour of disclosure.
Factors in favour of disclosure
To disclose the information would increase transparency in relation to information held by
the Council.
Factors in favour of withholding
There is an ongoing claim concerning this property that is being managed under the Joint
Mitigation Protocol (JMP) and you are acting on behalf of the claimant in this matter. At the
conclusion of the LBHF liability investigation, the relevant information will be disclosed in
accordance with the JMP. At this stage of the claim, such a request for extensive
documentation is unwarranted. The FoI Act is not designed to subsume other legal access
rights, nor to give alternative routes of access where existing regimes are already available,
such as the JMP or the Pre-Action Protocols. Most of the information requested can be
provided by the Insurance Team if the claimant responds to the claim repudiation.
In all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption
outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.
If you are dissatisfied with the handling of your request for information, please contact the
h&f InTouch team within 40 working days of receiving this response. They will consider the
matters raised and decide whether they are referred to the Council's Information Manager
for an internal review.

JBR_Skegness

in Feb this year i hit a pothole in my family car BMW and so far i have call the council 3-4 times and all they say is we will post the claim form out i have even said email it but still no form what can i do?
the hole was reported by me the same week within 3 days of hitting the hole and it had already got nine reports and near 2 months later it is still the same i often drive by and take pictures of the hole

pphillips

anthonydevz wrote: »

Hi guys so I have tried to put a claim through which I was first told NO to by Hamersmith & Fulham, it then followed the steps requesting FOI and have also now been told no to that. Please see the info below that was sent back to me on the 26th March which is past the 20day period they were supposed to send it. I cannot make heads or tails of what they are trying to say.

Thank you for your request for information received on 26 February 2018.
Your request
I am writing to request information under the Freedom of Information Act relating to a road
your authority is responsible for maintaining.
Specifically, my query relates to the Landridge Road SW6.
Please can you send me:
1) A copy of your current road maintenance policy relating to that road. Please send me the
full policy, but this should include details of the intended frequency of road safety
inspections, how these inspections should be conducted and the maximum time between
identification of a defect and repairs being carried out.
2) A copy of the road repair history for that road over the past year. Again, please send me
the full road repair history, but this should include:
- dates of all safety inspections between 25th Oct - 27th Dec (60 day time period)
- details of how safety inspections were undertaken (walked or driven, the speed of
inspection vehicle etc)
- details of all carriageway defects identified, with description, date and time
- details of how the authority handled these defects, what repairs were undertaken and the
time between the identification of each defect and a repair being carried out.
Our response
This request is being handled under the Freedom of Information Act 2000

Our response
This request is being handled under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
I can confirm that LB Hammersmith and Fulham holds the information you requested.
However, we are withholding that information since we consider that the following
exemptions apply to it.
We consider that the qualified exemption set out in Section 30 (Investigations) subsection
(2) (a) applies to the information requested. Therefore, we have decided to withhold the
information.

In applying this exemption, we have had to balance the public interest in withholding the
information against the interest in favour of disclosure.
Factors in favour of disclosure
To disclose the information would increase transparency in relation to information held by
the Council.
Factors in favour of withholding
There is an ongoing claim concerning this property that is being managed under the Joint
Mitigation Protocol (JMP) and you are acting on behalf of the claimant in this matter. At the
conclusion of the LBHF liability investigation, the relevant information will be disclosed in
accordance with the JMP. At this stage of the claim, such a request for extensive
documentation is unwarranted. The FoI Act is not designed to subsume other legal access
rights, nor to give alternative routes of access where existing regimes are already available,
such as the JMP or the Pre-Action Protocols. Most of the information requested can be
provided by the Insurance Team if the claimant responds to the claim repudiation.
In all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption
outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.
If you are dissatisfied with the handling of your request for information, please contact the
h&f InTouch team within 40 working days of receiving this response. They will consider the
matters raised and decide whether they are referred to the Council's Information Manager
for an internal review.

Simple - they are saying what you are asking for falls outside the scope of the Freedom of Information Act because it was not designed to provide assistance to litigants in bringing a claim against public authorities.

Samdaman

Thought I would post this in order to assist, but also, provide a caveat for anyone considering pursuing a pothole claim. Brief summary of situation below.

* Hit a pothole when on my bicycle, on way back from work, in May 2017.

*Sustained minor injuries, and damage to my bike.

*Claimed for damage to my bike only from the council, using their online form.

*Council denied liability via their insurers.

* I submitted a FOI in November 2017, to see if they had been repairing the road as per their legal obligation.

* Council ignored my FOI request, and warnings from the Information Commissioners Office to comply.

* I started small claim court action against the council, in March 2018.

* Council then, perhaps miraculously, sent me all of the information I asked for in my FOI request (as per the guidance on MSE).

* Council have hired a City of London law firm to defend the claim, who are sending me letters. Content of some of the letters feels quite intimidating. I was obligated to respond to letters from the law firm with long, detailed and heavily researched answers.

* Court date is now impending for this claim.

In summary, if your situation is similar to mine, and you end up going to the small claim court, my suggestion is that it is not for the faint-hearted. I have had to trawl through lots of relevant legislation, as well as the council's detailed maintenance plans. I have used the services of a solicitor (online) to assist me, which has reduced my concerns somewhat. I highly recommend reading all relevant legislation and guidance directly at source (i.e. the government's Ministry of Justice, website which contains all legislation), before beginning any action.

I will post an update here after my case. Wish me luck!

Kieron26

I have just created a post about mine at https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5847771/pothole-claim-rejected-section-58