Possible pot hole claim

babinaba

Hi, I was wondering if anyone has any advice regarding my pot hole claim.

Large pot hole was in the middle of the road - happened at night, road doesn't have streetlights. It caused a puncture and the car had to get towed home. New tyre fitted the next day.

I asked the council for the info on inspection times etc. On the paperwork they sent back it seems as though the pothole was reported by someone else who also suffered a puncture in Dec 2022 (my incident was in March 2023). They apparently inspected the pothole in January 2023. The road should have inspections monthly - they have inspections listed in January and March but none in February. The pothole was listed as medium risk which means it had to be fixed within 3 months. It was fixed mid-April. 

Few questions - 1. is the fix date from the date that someone initially told them (Dec) or when they inspected it (Jan)? 2. If someone had already reported that it caused a puncture and therefore was financially impacted, should it have been categorised as a medium risk? 3. If they didn't check the road throught Feb like they should have, the pothole could have deteriorated further - can this be cause to claim?

Thanks.

DullGreyGuy

With these things you are basically marking them against their own standards and so you need to know exactly what their policies are and exactly the dates.

Could have been inspected 31 Jan and then again 1 March and if their policy is to inspect every 30 days then they have met the requirement despite no inspection in February. 

babinaba

DullGreyGuy said:

With these things you are basically marking them against their own standards and so you need to know exactly what their policies are and exactly the dates.

Could have been inspected 31 Jan and then again 1 March and if their policy is to inspect every 30 days then they have met the requirement despite no inspection in February. 

Thanks, I'll check the exact wording and dates for this point 

greyteam1959

Don't waste your time.
Pothole claims are very rarely successful I am afraid.
If you do make a claim make sure that you notify your car insurance company.
Then be prepared to accept a possible premium increase.

Grey_Critic

I wonder why it is WE who need to report these things? Councils employ lots of people driving around in Council Vehicles who must see these potholes - why are they not reporting back.

They are quick enough to report things that we do

DullGreyGuy

Grey_Critic said:

I wonder why it is WE who need to report these things? Councils employ lots of people driving around in Council Vehicles who must see these potholes - why are they not reporting back.

They are quick enough to report things that we do

WE don't but the council's policy may be to inspect minor unclassified roads once every 3 months for example and so WE have nothing to complain about if WE say nothing after we notice once and then 2 months later hit it and break an alloy as long as it was clear when they inspected it 3 months ago.