Pothole claims guide discussion

TF03

Hit a pothole in February on an A road.

Blew out one tyre. Took photos of everything, sent off the claim form to Highways England and waited.....
Letter arrived today offering partial settlement of £84 (claim was for £110) for new tyre. Accepted happily as didn't expect to get anything without more of a fight.

Thanks for the advice on this page!

timscratcherd

This isn’t about no win no fee. The fact is potholes are dangerous and unless fixed can cause injury or death. Please everyone persevere with your claims so that those responsible learn that it is cheaper to fix them rather than trying to avoid payment. I hit a pothole in S!!!!horpe in January and eventually had to threaten legal action to get paid. Suggest we all do that.

getwinrej

Hi everyone, I think this may have been asked a long time ago but not sure there was a definitive answer. Where do I stand when my local council claims it is thier contractor that is liable? In brief (!)...

- Wife hit severe pothole on main road into Winchester in Feb. Right in wheels!!!8217; path and near unavoidable given the driving conditions. Many other cars also affected and stopped a few hundred meters down the road with blown out tyres.
- Reported the pothole and took plenty of photos.
- Placed !!!8216;fast!!!8217; claim via Winchester CC website after getting new tyre and wheel alignment check the next day.
- Claimed a very modest £135 which represented the cost of tyre and check. I don!!!8217;t beleive in a !!!8216;claim!!!8217; culture but also feel that costs should be borne by those responsible and given I pay my road taxes I expect adequately-maintained roads.
- Council claim stated 3-month response time. Two days before deadline I am told the claim was being referred to Skanska (contractor) and they would be in touch.
For the last two months I have been politely reminding the council that my claim is still unresolved but nothing is forthcoming.

Is it worth my time to chase this £135? Absolutely not. But this has become a matter of principle. I can!!!8217;t see how I shoukd have to chase a council!!!8217;s contractor and the council have failed to respond to my claim one way or another within the promised 3-month period.

Any advice? Thanks!

Steverally

Just a quick question for the legally trained amongst you! I’ve trod that well worn path with regard to a claim, photos, telephone transcripts, FOI requests etc and have the Carriageway Safety Inspection Records. Is the fact that it states that they should be inspected monthly and they haven’t ( nothing between 21/02 and14/05, our incident 07/04) enough for them to hide behind a Section 58 defence? To be fair their FOI department has been really good and now I’m on first name terms with my man! On the other hand the bloke in the finance/insurance department is just a pain, I’ve done my research pretty well and presented it on several occasions but he just trots out the Section 58 defence every time without really addressing the points I’ve made. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

donmatteo71

I have tried the quick claim and full claim approach against Hertfordshire County council and had no success at all. I requested a copy of their road inspection sheets and it clearly showed they didn’t highlight the pothole that caused damage my run flat tyre costing me £210 to replace on a brand new BMW.

I took photos, with a tape measure, road signs and the pothole was not marked with spray paint either, It was more than 60mm deep, yet according to Hertfordshire County council they haven’t shown negligence.

They in my eyes are one of the worst at maintaining roads, my street alone has got potholes that have been there since December and still not fixed.

Is it even worth going to a small claims court?

shielster

advice required, where do i go with this or give up?

unknown to me at the time id smashed both my alloys and bulged both front tyres on a brand new car by hiting a pothole on the motorway, i even think i hit it a couple of times on different journeys, It was a week or two later due to funny noises that i put the car in for warranty work and was hit with a quote of 2500 for replacement wheels. I was forced to claim on my insurance with 450 xcess. Ive tried to claim from the highways but have been refused on the grounds ive claimed insurance and also because i cant tell them the exact minute it happened. I also couldnt get through to them that I was unable to take photos. I think theyve now filled it in and i asked them to look at the logs. Ive been dismissed on all grounds. Is there anywhere I can go with this or put it down to a loss.

j3ffrey

I made a claim to Derbyshire County Council in April 2018, as I hit a large pot hole The pot hole burst and ruined my tyre, and damaged the alloy wheel.
I made a claim to Derbyshire County Council by completing a ten page claim, with photographs, copies of MOT certificate, insurance documents etc, and when I contact them, they say that they haven't looked at my claim yet, as they are too busy !
Are all other councils a shambles like Derbyshire County Council ?

moneysavingamateur13

Hi guys, looking for some advice if possible.

I hit a pothole in January which caused severe damage to my exhaust system and had to be replaced.

Long story short, after making a claim which was initially rejected by the local (Scottish) council, they have now accepted liability.

The problem I have now is they are only offering me less than 1/3 of the repair costs, as I cannot prove how old the exhaust system was when the incident happened, and they are adamant that the claim will take into consideration general wear and tear of what was damaged?

Exhaust back box wasn't even one year old as had been replaced. The car has since been sold and I binned all documents/receipts for old work done, and the garage doesn't have a copy in their records any more.

Shouldn't they be paying me the full cost of repairs (which I sent them a copy of), or am I missing something?

Thanks in advance!

Esemgee

After having my car tyre damaged and a windscreen crack because of a pothole, I did the responsible thing and reported it to TFL who were responsible for the upkeep of a very major road (A21). The correct thing to do right? Wrong, as soon as you report it to the authority I believe your chances of recovery are limited. They repaired the road the following day (to show how caring they are) and after submitting my claim which cost in total £1,800, they then prove that they survey the road every 5 days??? Nonsense. This pothole was 20 inches (50 cm) long by 14 inches wide (35cm) and a tyre crunching 4 inches (11cm) deep, this could not possibly have got to this extreme size in the time they said. If I had not reported it and just evidenced its severity and waited 3 weeks to go back and check whether it had been repaired as a result of their 'weekly survey' I could have proved that their survey data was flawed and although someone drives down the road and ticks some boxes, this is apparently adequate proof that the pothole had only just occurred and you cannot claim!!!

So in my opinion although dangerous, don't report it. Thoughts?

Rog1411

JUST HAD A WIN!!!!

Damaged tyre and wheel back in April and submitted a claim using the claim pack from Gloucester County Council. Their information states a response time of 90 days!

Close to this date had a reply saying it wasn't in their jurisdiction and to contact Wiltshire council. At the time of submitting my claim I had contacted Wiltshire and they said it was Gloucester. Contacted Wiltshire again and withing 24 hours they had responded with a map showing it was Gloucester.

Sent this to Gloucester and said I was pursuing my claim, heard nothing back.

Started proceedings in small claims court.

Heard back yesterday that Gloucester would settle the claim in full, including court fees.

Morale - persevere, take lots of pictures at the time, persevere. Use small claims court if there's no response but make sure you follow the council procedure.