Damage to car from inspection/manhole cover in road

mikeyranson

I had ran into a sunken depression in the road which was directly in front of a thames water manhole/inspection cover. The car's wheel had dipped into the depression then immediately hits the flat metal edge of the manhole surrond causing the car to receive a huge wallop when it made contact with the manhole cover. I stopped and took a number of photos of the scene but when i went to drive away from the scene, i had warning lights on my car telling me to stop the engine and pull over immediately. To cut a long story short, i googled the fault and found that it was suspension related and nothing to prevent the car from driving, as it was a compressor fault that prevents the car tilting or rolling on bends.

I had this repair made that cost £1100 in total. The fault only emerged immediately after hitting the manhole.

I contacted wandsworth council who then put the blame to thames water as it was their manhole. Wandsworth also sent me info on other claims of people who had made a claim/report for the same manhole for the last 12 months, so i am was not the only one.

Thames water declined my claim as they say it is the fault of wandsworth council as thames water had been applying for permission to make a permenant repair for 12 months and due to wandsworth council's red tape, it is not the fault of thames water but wandsworth for their delays.

I intend to fight this as i have since found out that my tracking is also out from that belt as my tyres are now worm on the outer edge.

can anyone advise? I would like to take this direct to small claims but there will be something that wandsworth council or thames water can hide behind to hav emy claim thrown out.

thanks

Johno100

Issue your claim and name them both as defendants, then it will be up them/the court to sort out who owes you the money.

AdrianC

mikeyranson said:

Thames water declined my claim as they say it is the fault of wandsworth council as thames water had been applying for permission to make a permenant repair for 12 months and due to wandsworth council's red tape, it is not the fault of thames water but wandsworth for their delays.

That doesn't necessarily remove the responsibility from Thames Water to make temporary repairs.