Pot hole claim rejected now what?

Akpatel94

Hi,

I hit a pothole at 1am on the 21st November 2019, i submitted a claim to the council with all evidence attached. The pot hole was about 44mm and the council reject the claim stating:

The existence of a defect does not automatically render the County Council liable for payment of damages arising from the defect. It is normally held in law that the County Council, as Highway Authority, is only liable for compensation if it has not acted reasonably.

It is accepted in a court of law that we cannot keep the thousands of miles of roads in Derbyshire free of defects at all times and, providing that we adhere to our inspection regime, we cannot be considered guilty of negligence.

The road in question is inspected four times a year and, prior to your accident, was last inspected on 2nd October 2019 when no actionable defects were found at the location specified in your claim.

A job was raised during an inspection on 4th December 2019 and the defect was filled.

Now the council has filled the hole 2 weeks after my report.

I don't know what to do next i have all the evidence regarding the matter even a statement from the garage stating damage was caused by a pot hole.

I am seeking the repair costs only with amount to £130.

Shaun_of_the_Dead

If they've complied with their inspection and repair policy there's nothing you can do.

Barny1979

Shaun_of_the_Dead wrote: »

If they've complied with their inspection and repair policy there's nothing you can do.

Exactly as Shaun states, if they have been in line with the Policy, they are covered.

Caz3121

you would need evidence that the council were fully aware of the pothole in advance and took no steps to repair in a reasonable time.
It appears that the pothole appeared after their inspection on 2nd October and prior to 21st November but nobody reported it before you/their 4th December inspection.
It is not reasonable to expect them to inspect all roads on a daily / hourly basis....unfortunately these things happen.
I live in a city with terrible roads, and have had to have the garage replace springs on more than one occasion (at my cost) with the garage confirming that it is a common job for them due to the poor state of the roads.

pinkshoes

Unless someone else reported the pothole as being an issue prior to you hitting it, then the council were not negligent.

These claims are only successful if a pothole has been reported and the council do not fill it within a reasonable time frame.

Our council draw white rings around potholes once they are reported, then they get filled shortly after.

davidmcn

As above, their statement of the legal position is accurate. You would need either to argue that they ought to have inspected that road more frequently (eg busier/faster roads need more inspections than quieter side roads) or that they actually already knew about the defect and had had an opportunity to fix it.

Fosterdog

This is exactly why more people need to regularly report potholes and other defects the council are responsible for, if they had been told about it but failed to fix it they would be liable but if they have not been informed then they have not been negligent.

It takes just a couple of minutes to fill out a report on fix my street and everyone can look to see what others have reported (although the reporter is anonymous to other users). I've done it several times and every time the pot hole (and in one case a fallen tree) have been fixed within the week.

LilElvis

Fosterdog wrote: »

This is exactly why more people need to regularly report potholes and other defects the council are responsible for, if they had been told about it but failed to fix it they would be liable but if they have not been informed then they have not been negligent.

It takes just a couple of minutes to fill out a report on fix my street and everyone can look to see what others have reported (although the reporter is anonymous to other users). I've done it several times and every time the pot hole (and in one case a fallen tree) have been fixed within the week.

Myself, and my neighbours, did this for well over a year as our road fell to pieces - particularly drain covers which dropped, rocked and protruded by many inches. They ended up resurfacing the whole road.

montyrebel

claim off your car insurance?

Manxman_in_exile

Fosterdog wrote: »

This is exactly why more people need to regularly report potholes and other defects the council are responsible for, if they had been told about it but failed to fix it they would be liable but if they have not been informed then they have not been negligent.

It takes just a couple of minutes to fill out a report on fix my street and everyone can look to see what others have reported (although the reporter is anonymous to other users). I've done it several times and every time the pot hole (and in one case a fallen tree) have been fixed within the week.

Agreed. Our council repaired a pothole within a week of my reporting it.


I suppose the OP needs to check Derbyshire's system to see if it's been previously reported: "...and everyone can look to see what others have reported..."

keithmth

I hit a pothole in September 2020 which caused £1500 to my 3 month old car.  After 7 months of chasing I have finally received a rejection of my claim as they state that their inspection in the August showed no pothole and their next inspection (conveniently and suspiciously just 2 days after my incident) identified the pothole then.  So here are my questions if anyone can help...

1) the evidence I provided included photos of the hole which measured 3 metres long by 1 metre wide and 75mm deep and the edges were highlighted with white paint.  Does this paint not prove that the council were aware of it?

2) a few weeks later, a friend spotted a Jaguar just after the same pothole, being attended to by an AA van for what looked like a puncture(s).  Can I find out from the council how many claims it received and the dates of those?  Also, I know you can report pothole warnings in the Waze navigation app, I’m wondering if I can access past reports from them?

3) in my opinion, this was a significant pothole yet I don’t believe it was repaired until much later, possibly months later.  I assume I can ask the council when it was fixed?

4) what else should I be asking the Council to supply me to help with my appeal, and would I need to do that under a Freedom of Information Request?

Sincere thanks for any help you can offer, at £1500 I’m not giving up.