Pothole claim to council rejected

shortysky

Hello just wondering if this is worth fighting, I was giving a summery of the pot hole in question. I just don’t understand it all. Has this been looked after. And was there any neglect on their side. The pot hole was10 cm deep and over a meter long. It blew my wheel instantly and I nearly crashed the car. It was scary. Please let me know if you can zoom into the screen shot. As can’t upload the full file. Thank you. 

swingaloo

Be helpful if you could highlight the relevant part.

elsien

There’s only a potential claim if you could show the council was aware of the pothole is being a hazard and didn’t do anything about it in a reasonable timescale.
Is there anything on there that shows your particular pothole was reported before you damaged your tyre? 

shortysky

This is what their solicitor said? Our client was notified of the defect on 25/01/2024 during the routine inspection and a repair was ordered. The defect was repaired on 02/02/2024. The repair works were carried out in a reasonable timescale. So does that mean I have no case. But on that paper it looks like someone else reported it on the 25th and it wasn’t a routine inspection. 

shortysky

swingaloo said:

Be helpful if you could highlight the relevant part.

I’m not sure what is the relevant part? That’s why I’m confused, I can just see on the first page it says this about someone else reporting it on the 25th. I’m not sure when they did the routine inspection. Solicitors say the 25th they did but that’s when someone else reported it. 

elsien

So when did you report it? Because if the first report was on the 25th and they did the repair within a week that seems fairly prompt as councils go. 

shortysky

elsien said:

So when did you report it? Because if the first report was on the 25th and they did the repair within a week that seems fairly prompt as councils go. 

I reported it on the 27th 

Ectophile

You should assume that every council will reject every pothole claim.  They can't afford to pay these claims.  So they throw a bunch of paperwork at you, that you don't understand.  Then use that as the reason to reject your claim.

If you want to win a claim, it's up to you to show that they failed in their dury to maintain the road, because either:

• They never inspect the road in question, or
• They knew there was a pothole, but didn't fill it within a reasonable time.
  

Mildly_Miffed

If the pothole was so deep and long, why didn't you see it before hitting it?

From the council's inspection reports, they don't seem to have done anything wrong. They have time to repair once noted, based on the classification of road. And that's unclassified, so no rush.

Looks like a mess of patches, but not actually that bad back in the summer, so I'm guessing it's rapidly deteriorated over the winter - when the weather means they can't do much in the way of repairs anyway.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/CXHeoTT8xipBoAee9

shortysky

Mildly_Miffed said:

If the pothole was so deep and long, why didn't you see it before hitting it?

From the council's inspection reports, they don't seem to have done anything wrong. They have time to repair once noted, based on the classification of road. And that's unclassified, so no rush.

Looks like a mess of patches, but not actually that bad back in the summer, so I'm guessing it's rapidly deteriorated over the winter - when the weather means they can't do much in the way of repairs anyway.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/CXHeoTT8xipBoAee9

It was a dark county lane and I chad to turn my full beams off for oncoming cars. So when I got close to it I noticed it but I couldn’t avoid it as cars were on the other side of the road. And I was going 45ish so it was go over it or sharp break which wasn’t worth the risk with my kids in the car. 

So is not worth fighting just I’m 175 pounds out of pocket now and feel it’s unfair to go through my insurance and loose my no claims.