private road - public liability

G_M

If someone (taxi) drives down a poorly maintained private road, and their car is damaged by a pothole, can they make a valid claim against the owners of the road?

boliston

Most private roads you would have an expectation of a terrible surface compared with a public road and drive at an appropriate speed so you could avoid potholes surely?

davidmcn

Doubt it. Generally up to driver to look out for obvious hazards like that. Such claims only usually work for public roads because there's a statutory duty to maintain them (and even then they don't need to guarantee that roads will be pothole-free, just that they have reasonable methods of monitoring condition, prioritising repairs etc).

Can still be occupiers' liability claims against the land owners though so it's wise to have insurance in case there's a big claim.

Mickygg

I've lived on private roads and it's never cropped up in conversation with neighbours. One road in particular was terrible and if you drove too fast you would scrape the bottom of the car! We had no claims as far as I'm aware against us.
We have had public liability insurance though.
There would have to be proof also the damage was caused on the private road.

Chanes

Maybe - if they weren't warned about the condition of the road and the pothole was such an obvious hazard that it could damage a vehicle; was the incident foreseeable by a reasonable person?

Councils pay out for pothole damage to cars, why would a private road owned by whoever no be equally liable?

G_M

That's pretty much what I thought. Taxi driver is claiming £1000 damage to his car. Claims to have photos and a witness.

It's pretty clear as you exit the highway into the private cul de sac that the road surface is poor and any reasonable person would realise a) that this was not a properly surfaced council road, b) extra care needed and c) (I'd have thought) that you enter at your own risk.

There is public liability insurance in place but that would be a fall-back option if the claim proceeded.

ellie27

I live on a private road.

I would think it's a 'enter at your own risk' - noone should be on the private road anyway.

We have no public liability insurance for our road.

bouicca21

One end of my road is unadopted. When the road was first constructed each property was made liable to maintain it (but with no clear arrangements about how this was to be done). The potholes get filled in occasionally but many of the residents (there are several hundred of them) refuse to contribute to the cost. Under the circumstances I very much doubt there is a public liability policy in place. The road is so bad that avoiding one pothole would tip you into another. Most drivers just avoid it but a pedestrian could easily break a limb if walking up there at night despite there being streetlights.

It is commonly said that the property owners would be liable for damage to cars and/or persons. Urban myth perhaps, but it is a deeply held belief.

davidmcn

Chanes wrote: »

Councils pay out for pothole damage to cars, why would a private road owned by whoever no be equally liable?

Like I said above - because the public roads authorities have statutory duties to maintain their roads, and the rest of us don't.

In fact, there's an article on the little-known website MoneySavingExpert.com explaining all about such claims:

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

davidmcn

ellie27 wrote: »

We have no public liability insurance for our road.

May well be covered by your home insurance (in the same way that it covers for e.g. slips on your garden path).

EachPenny

G_M wrote: »

There is public liability insurance in place but that would be a fall-back option if the claim proceeded.

Section 58 of the Highways Act gives the Highway Authority a 'special defence' - in essence so long as they can show they have taken reasonable steps to maintain to the standard expected for that kind of road then they can use the special defence in an action against them. One of the factors considered necessary to claim the special defence is usually that a programme of inspections is in place to make sure defects are identified and dealt with. It is a fascinating area of law.

'Pothole payouts' usually occur because the size of the claim is small relative to the cost of investigating and defending an action, and often are covered by self-insurance.

Sub-section 58(2) deals with the kind of points you make, however I'm not aware that there is anything like S58 applying to private roads. PLI may be the only option, unless you can find anything else. You may find it relatively easy because of the wealth of books and published cases dealing with highway maintenance. Even though S58 doesn't apply, other parts of the Highways Act do apply to private roads and streets.

I don't suppose the private road in question also has a public footpath or bridleway running along it does it?