Pot hole claim rejected now what?

pinkshoes

keithmth said:

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.

There may have been a significant pot hole, but if no one reported it then how can the council fix it?

You reported it after you hit it and it got fixed. This is not a coincidence. It is how it works.

You would need to prove the council negligent to make a successful claim e.g. someone had already reported it and nothing had been done (normally the put a white circle round then to highlight them before fixing).

Was this the first time you had ever driven down this road?

Aylesbury_Duck

keithmth said:

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?

Not necessarily, but I would say it was likely.  

keithmth said:

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?

You can ask.

keithmth said:

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?

Isn't that irrelevant to your claim?  If it was fixed six month later, for example, how does that add weight to your case?

keithmth

Aylesbury_Duck said:

keithmth said:

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?

Isn't that irrelevant to your claim?  If it was fixed six month later, for example, how does that add weight to your case?

Firstly, from some initial research, I found a statement that said part of the Council,’s Duty of Care is to fix major potholes I think a certain number of days, I’ve since checked and they took 2 months. That’ll get clarified when they supply me a copy of their policy.
Secondly, the existence of the white lines around the hole indicates to me that they ALREADY knew about the pothole.  Also, these white lines were aged in a way to be consistent with them identifying it during the August inspection run, even though they said that run identified nothing.  I plan to ask for a detailed report about the August inspection.

Aylesbury_Duck

keithmth said:

Aylesbury_Duck said:

keithmth said:

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?

Isn't that irrelevant to your claim?  If it was fixed six month later, for example, how does that add weight to your case?

Firstly, from some initial research, I found a statement that said part of the Council,’s Duty of Care is to fix major potholes I think a certain number of days, I’ve since checked and they took 2 months. That’ll get clarified when they supply me a copy of their policy.
Secondly, the existence of the white lines around the hole indicates to me that they ALREADY knew about the pothole.  Also, these white lines were aged in a way to be consistent with them identifying it during the August inspection run, even though they said that run identified nothing.  I plan to ask for a detailed report about the August inspection.

But so what if they took two months to fix it after your claim?  That makes no difference to your claim, which hinges on whether they knew of the hole before you hit it, had time to assess it and having done so, judged it to be needing a repair and then carried out that repair promptly.

I'd focus on the things that add weight to your claim.  What happened in the months afterwards has no bearing on it whatsoever.

I do think it likely that the markings are the council's, but there is the possibility that it was reported, inspected and judged to not need an immediate repair.

In my local area, the council doesn't deem action necessary until a hole has a depth of at least 40mm.  It's difficult to judge from photos but the hole you hit doesn't appear to be that deep at all, which makes me think that they perhaps did pick it up in an earlier inspection, marked it for future reference/checking and moved on.  It certainly doesn't look like a hole that could cause £1500 of damage.

burlingtonfl6

keithmth said:

Aylesbury_Duck said:

keithmth said:

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?

Isn't that irrelevant to your claim?  If it was fixed six month later, for example, how does that add weight to your case?

Firstly, from some initial research, I found a statement that said part of the Council,’s Duty of Care is to fix major potholes I think a certain number of days, I’ve since checked and they took 2 months. That’ll get clarified when they supply me a copy of their policy.
Secondly, the existence of the white lines around the hole indicates to me that they ALREADY knew about the pothole.  Also, these white lines were aged in a way to be consistent with them identifying it during the August inspection run, even though they said that run identified nothing.  I plan to ask for a detailed report about the August inspection.

That wouldn't cause any damage.

pinkshoes

keithmth said:

How on earth that cause £1500 of damage!?!? That's not a pot hole! That's a rough bit of road! I can see why this was not a priority on their pothole fixing list! Where I live there are so many rough bits of road like this. The council only fill the actual pot holes and these get done last. 

Councils have to take "reasonable steps" to keep the roads safe, and given how shallow this is, then a white line around it was reasonable.

What is the speed limit on the road? How deep is this "hole"? What car were you driving?

boobyd

keithmth said:

Aylesbury_Duck said:

keithmth said:

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?

Isn't that irrelevant to your claim?  If it was fixed six month later, for example, how does that add weight to your case?

Firstly, from some initial research, I found a statement that said part of the Council,’s Duty of Care is to fix major potholes I think a certain number of days, I’ve since checked and they took 2 months. That’ll get clarified when they supply me a copy of their policy.
Secondly, the existence of the white lines around the hole indicates to me that they ALREADY knew about the pothole.  Also, these white lines were aged in a way to be consistent with them identifying it during the August inspection run, even though they said that run identified nothing.  I plan to ask for a detailed report about the August inspection.

The white lines don't look aged or old,if they were more of the tarmac would have been displaced,the whole would have got larger.?

68ComebackSpecial

I know there is only the plant life as a reference but the pothole pictured certainly doesn't look to be 3m x 1m x 75mm.

mattyprice4004

That’s nowhere near 3m long! 

keithmth

I was I was kind of hoping to get some help and advice from this Forum, not a bunch of people questioning my evidence and size of claim.

For the doubters amongst you I’ve added some more photos where I’ve placed a metal meter rule.
As to the cost of replacing the 2 Tesla alloys which Tesla said were unrepairable, please direct your comments to Elon Musk.

No need to reply, I’m outta here! 👿