Pot hole rejection letter

Avvers83

Hi,
Can anyone give any advice with regards to the letter attached?
Is this really it and I cant claim my money back? Seems dreadfully unfair and the pot hole is still there not filled. My accident happened on 14th Feb on the M25.

Any advice will be appreciated. 
TIA

Ectophile

They are saying that they do not intend to pay you because they consider the hole too small to be classified as a pothole.  You don't run a business by handing money to everybody who asks for it.

It's now up to you what you want to do - give up or take them to court.  But just because your car was damaged, it doesn't necessarily mean that you are owed compensation.

AdrianC

They had had no report of any pothole before your incident. This means they are not liable, no matter how deep.

If the pothole is <50mm deep, they have to make it safe within 2hrs of it being confirmed, and permanently repair it within 24hrs.
If the pothole is 40-50mm deep, they have to make it safe within 24hrs and repair within 28 days.
If they miss those targets, then anybody hitting it after those times from it having been reported would have a valid claim.

If the pothole is <40mm deep, they do not have to repair it.

They don't give measurements, but if it hasn't been repaired, then it seems safe to assumed it's <40mm deep.

I presume you did a tyre and maybe a wheel rim on it? What size are your tyres? Very low profile?

KimJongUn88

They’re seeking to rely upon their statutory defence in the form of a reasonable system of inspection Of the carriageway and a reasonable system of works which kicks in if someone reports a defect to them.

This all depends on how far you wish to take the claim. 

The next step would be to request disclosure of those written records pertaining to inspection, records of defects reported and repairs. Claimant solicitors are this as a great money spinner as the documents aren’t usually disclosed swiftly so they make a formal Pre Action Disclosure application with the Court and claim their costs. 

Once you have this information, you need to view them with a view to deciding whether their systems and records will stand up to scrutiny in a court as a Defence. Then you need to decide whether you want to issue Court proceedings on the back of that.

It all depends on how far you want to go.

Clive_Woody

They are claiming they are not legally required to repair potholes that are not considered a risk to safety, but your claim is not related to safety, but down to their negligence in maintaining the road surface causing damage. Essentially they are claiming the road surface is not a risk to safety, and you are not disputing that, but you are making a claim for damage to your car caused by lack of action from them. 

I guess the question is, are they simply only required to maintain the road surface to ensure it is safe, or are they also responsible for ensuring it maintained to a standard that doesn't cause damage to vehicles. To me, these are not the same thing.

AdrianC

A car won't get damaged on a safe surface.

Conrad3000

As someone's already pointed out, those who maintain the roads should have been notified about the pothole *before* the incident took place (by other drivers, pedestrians etc..).

Since they weren't, sadly it looks as if the OP has no recourse.

AdrianC

Conrad3000 said:

As someone's already pointed out, those who maintain the roads should have been notified about the pothole *before* the incident took place (by other drivers, pedestrians etc..).

And, on a motorway, by their own daily surveys. But if the pothole was <40mm, it's all irrelevant, since it's too small for them to worry about. We still don't know what size tyres the OP had - but my guess would be very low profile, 45 or less.

mattyprice4004

Go on, what's the sidewall profile of the tyres concerned? 
I've had 19" alloys with 35 profiles, and after 2 damaged by potholes I went back to some 17" wheels with a much more generous sidewall. 

It's pretty much a fact that all of these incredibly thin tyres that are the 'in thing' just aren't suitable for our roads, which is a poor state of affairs but just how it seems to be.

[Deleted User]

Obviously you just need to go drive over the same hole again and put in a new claim for damage, citing the last one as proof that they knew about it and didn't act.

Take a pick axe with you in case it's less than 40mm deep.