Pot hole damage small claims court

frugalfiz

I got two burst tyres from a 4 inch deep pothole. The road is in Gloucestershire County Council and claim was administered by Amey Gloucestershire and the claim was refused by Gallagher Bassett.

Their defence is very sketchy so I want to take to small claims court. I started a moneyclaim on line, but it states I cannot use MCOL to take a government department to small claims court.

Is Gloucestershire Council a government department?
Is Amey Gloucestershire a government department?
Is it Gloucestershire CC or Amey Gloucestershire I would have to take to court.
If I can't use MCOL, how do I take them to small claims court?

Thanks for any advice.

bod1467

To the last question ... you do it using paper forms. See here for Starting A Claim.

Also https://www.gov.uk/make-court-claim-for-money/overview

AdrianC

How "sketchy" was their reason for refusing your claim?

frugalfiz

I have got all the information from FOI from council with job numbers, etc. The pothole was put in for repair within 28 days and my damage occurred within that time frame. They said they put out uneven road boards and when I asked for evidence of this they said they didn't put one out on this pothole as they only put uneven road boards for potholes deeper than 4mm. When I reminded them the pothole that damaged my vehicle was 4 inches deep (100mm) they produced pictures of uneven road boards on the verge on a job sheet linked to the job number. There were so many potholes on that stretch of road these boards could have been next to any pothole and there definitely wasn't one by the pothole that caused my damage.

AdrianC

So the council were within the timescale for repairing the damage - and there's just an argument over whether this PARTICULAR pothole (out of quite a few along the same stretch) had a sign explicitly relating to it?

Save yourself the paperwork and blood pressure, and put the court fee towards the tyre cost. And look where you're driving next time.