Council Pothole Fob Off!

wallacecorp

My partner recently sustained a burst tyre and damaged alloy wheel to her car after driving down a sunken drain hole at the side of the road. We have applied to the council, with evidence of both the damage, the sunken drain and numerous reports on fixmystreet of the hole, for compensation. The reports are many any whilst there is one report that states the problem was fixed before the incident, there are many others that show that the hole was never properly repaired until some time after our incident. 

After applying to the council with all of this evidence (actually a neighbouring council that deals with our councils insurance claims!!!) they state that whilst the pothole was known to the council as having been repaired before our incident, they had inspected it before our incident and notified their contractor that the work had not been completed satisfactorily. They now state that it is not their responsibility and that we have to claim against THEIR contractor. 

This sounds like passing the buck to me and I do not see why we should chase their contractor who has not fulfilled their obligation to the council. It surely should be the councils responsibility to chase their contractor for any claims of damage? 

Does anyone have any experience of this? 

facade

Sounds like the contractor is liable by virtue of their unsatisfactory work which the council have not signed off, so the council are correct. The contractor will have insurance.

Have the council supplied details of the contractor?

They ought to pass your claim to the contractor, but it will be easier if you claim yourself.

wallacecorp

facade said:

Sounds like the contractor is liable by virtue of their unsatisfactory work which the council have not signed off, so the council are correct. The contractor will have insurance.

Have the council supplied details of the contractor?

They ought to pass your claim to the contractor, but it will be easier if you claim yourself.

Thanks facade, 

Yes, they have supplied details of who the contractor is. I'll try and make an approach to them to see if they are receptive towards the claim. I feel that they won't be but I'll persevere!! Seem odd the council did not pass it on as that might give the claim so further gravitas. 

Grey_Critic

Who owns the road? The Council - Who is reponsible for their sub-contractors - The Council.

EDITED: Just to add -

Should for some reason you were totake this to court you would sue the council.

facade

Grey_Critic said:

Who owns the road? The Council - Who is reponsible for their sub-contractors - The Council.

where a person delegates work to an apparently skilled and competent contractor, he will not be liable for the negligence of that contractor.

Doubly so, as the council inspected it, deemed it unsatisfactory, and notified the contractor.

The council are responsible for ensuring that the contractors appear skilled & competent, and presumably that they are insured.

The council do not appear to be negligent.

If I employ a bona fide builder to build a wall, which then falls down onto someone's car because the builder didn't put any cement in the mortar say, I am not liable, and would simply supply the builder's name and address in my response to any LBA.

(If I employed some cash in hand cowboy then I would be negligent & therefore liable as I couldn't argue that he appeared skilled & competent)

Sandtree

Grey_Critic said:

Who owns the road? The Council - Who is reponsible for their sub-contractors - The Council.

EDITED: Just to add -

Should for some reason you were totake this to court you would sue the council.

Its not a sub-contractor... its a contractor. 

As with any court case you can always sue whoever you like but the council's defence will be that they took all reasonable steps to fulfil their obligations which includes inspect the work done by the contractors and requiring rework to be done within a reasonable timeframe.  Assuming this is all evidence and is inline with their policy the action would fail 

wallacecorp

Thanks everyone for your thoughts on this. I have been trying to get a response from the contractor, so far to no avail. I've got a feeling they will just ignore me and hope I go away!!! 

DB1904

wallacecorp said:

Thanks everyone for your thoughts on this. I have been trying to get a response from the contractor, so far to no avail. I've got a feeling they will just ignore me and hope I go away!!! 

Letter before action.