Pot Hole damage

Rob_Mogs

Hi all,
My partner recently hit a 'pothole' which was 110mm deep, 500mm wide and 1000mm long, which is no small thing!


The councils defence is that they cannot pay out as they did not know about it.


Is this a suitable defence? because in my eyes whether they knew about it or not it was still caused by their road, which we pay to use.

neilmcl

In order for them to be liable you have to prove them negligent. You'd have to prove that they had prior knowledge of the pot hole and failed to act in a reasonable time in order to get a remedy from them.

Rob_Mogs

This road is constantly under attack from heavily laden lorries from a large quarry at the top of the road.
The council were repairing other sections of this road either side of the crater at the same time period as the incident had occurred.

AdrianC

Rob_Mogs wrote: »

My partner recently hit a 'pothole' which was 110mm deep, 500mm wide and 1000mm long, which is no small thing!

Should have been fairly easily visible, then...

The councils defence is that they cannot pay out as they did not know about it.

Is this a suitable defence?

Very much so. Can you prove that they had been notified, and had failed to fix it within a reasonable period, which varies according to the class of road?

https://www.herefordshire.gov.uk/transport-and-highways/maintenance/potholes
(and expand the "How do you prioritise pothole repairs?" section)

Rob_Mogs

AdrianC wrote: »

Should have been fairly easily visible, then...


Very much so. Can you prove that they had been notified, and had failed to fix it within a reasonable period, which varies according to the class of road?

https://www.herefordshire.gov.uk/transport-and-highways/maintenance/potholes
(and expand the "How do you prioritise pothole repairs?" section)

Easily visible? In the rain? When it's full of water? On a single lane road? There would have been more damage done trying to avoid it.

And we live in Powys not Herefordshire.

neilmcl

Rob_Mogs wrote: »

Easily visible? In the rain? When it's full of water? On a single lane road? There would have been more damage done trying to avoid it.

And we live in Powys not Herefordshire.

If you can't see the surface of the road because of rain then maybe this is the precise circumstance to show a bit of caution.

AdrianC

Rob_Mogs wrote: »

Easily visible? In the rain? When it's full of water? On a single lane road? There would have been more damage done trying to avoid it.

Please explain how "slowing down" causes damage to your car.

And we live in Powys not Herefordshire.

I'm very happy for you. FWIW, that link was purely one that explains the process that applies to all local authorities, and not some piece of (let's be honest, hardly a million miles out) psychic geolocation.

foxy-stoat

Rob_Mogs wrote: »

Is this a suitable defence? because in my eyes whether they knew about it or not it was still caused by their road, which we pay to use.

Yes, problem with your logic is that in the Law's eyes, you can only be held liable if you are negligent, just because its their road which you have to pay to use, you still drove into the hole, which you could of avoided.

If anything you where negligent in driving into a hole 110mm deep, 500mm wide and 1000mm long which happened to be full of water when it was raining.

Nasqueron

Nobody pays to use the road, you pay council tax which goes in part towards road maintenance and the council have procedures in regards to reporting and having to fix pot holes in time. If they weren't notified they have a defence

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/pothole-claims

Rob_Mogs

Nasqueron wrote: »

Nobody pays to use the road, you pay council tax which goes in part towards road maintenance and the council have procedures in regards to reporting and having to fix pot holes in time. If they weren't notified they have a defence

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/pothole-claims

Which means if I pay council tax I pay to use the road..... Therefore I pay to use the road.

Rob_Mogs

neilmcl wrote: »

If you can't see the surface of the road because of rain then maybe this is the precise circumstance to show a bit of caution.

We drive this road almost daily as we have livestock at the other end of it, you cannot do more than about 30mph for the entire length of that stretch which is about 2miles long, so I'm pretty confident in saying speed wasn't a factor in the damage.