Pothole Claim Help

mrjermaineh

Dear all,

I was hoping that you may be able to assist me after some pothole damage which occurred on 27th February. I was travelling at approx 30mph through a county lane in Hertfordshire and hit a large pothole. This resulted in damage to alloy wheel, puncture to one tyre and bulge to another.
I reported the pothole on the same day and once all the repairs totalling over £400 were completed including 2 tyres, a new alloy and alignment submitted the claim to Hertfordshire Highways.



They responded with a repudiation letter using Highways section 58 defence.

Thank you for completing the Hertfordshire Highways Incident Report Form and we are sorry that you have had cause to seek compensation. I can confirm we have investigated this matter.

It is not always the case that someone is to blame as a result of a defect being present and does not automatically make the Council, as the relevant Highway Authority for Hertfordshire County Council liable for any damage sustained as a result of it. For a claim to be successful it is necessary to show that the Council has failed in its duty to maintain the highway 

The Highways Act 1980 requires that as the Highway Authority, the County Council maintain all roads under its jurisdiction.  Inspections are therefore carried out at regular intervals, although the frequency depends upon the type of road.  After checking with our highway records we can advise that at this location, inspections are carried out annually.

 All statutory inspections of the location have been undertaken; most recently the inspection undertaken before your incident took place on  the 13 December 2023.

Hertfordshire Highways operates a robust maintenance policy and is responsible for managing and maintaining one of the busiest networks in the country. Should you require any further information in respect of the Highway Maintenance Policy please contact highways.customerservices@hertfordshire.gov.uk.

 In view of the above we consider that the County Council has complied with our statutory duty as laid down in the Highways Act of 1980 (Section 58) and do not consider that there has been a breach of duty.  Given the above, I am unable to offer the compensation that you have requested. 

If you wish to appeal against our decision, please write to our section with your reasons of appeal.  We aim to provide a response to an appeal within 8 weeks.  However, please note that we are only able to review your claim if you provide sufficient grounds for appeal and we refer you to the reverse of this letter for further guidance and information.

The road is inspected annually and I assume this is due to it being a country lane. In the weeks leading up to the incident, there were a number of reported potholes as soon as 14th/21st February. The route is used regularly by road users to bypass heavy traffic on the M1.

My reported pothole was assessed and repaired quickly within a few days. I assume this is due to being a serious defect. They would have seen this pothole having repaired ones nearby so recently and potholes of this size do not appear in a short space of time.

Is there an appear response or other action I can take?

Thanks in advance!

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I don't think so.

Unless the pot-hole was reported weeks before and the council ignored it.

The inspector didn't see the hole, because it wasn't there at the last sheduled inspection. The fact that a contractor had to drive past it on their way to fix their allocated hole is immaterial. The contractor's role is to carry out their orders precisely, immediately and without question, not to go beyond and start scrutinising the road and reporting every hole that they pass by.

You could try a small claim and suggest that the Council are negligent, and therefore liable because any reasonable person would have realised there was a significant deterioration and would have brought the inspection forward when they had to order the repair of a large number of pot-holes in that road over a short period, and that if there is no mechanism currently in place for a large number of repairs since the last inspection to trigger a new inspection there should be- but I wouldn't hold your breath.

Remember, it is just a job to these (underpaid & overworked) people, they do what they are paid to do, no more.

(And initiative is usually punished )

DullGreyGuy

They've said they've done their job, inspected the road inline with their policy and 3 months ago your pothole didnt exist. You seem to say from your map that you are the one that reported it and no one else had earlier so the council wasn't negligent. 

Anything further would be litigation and you dont have a case so its purely a punt on if the council take the commercial decision to settle as a cheaper option than defending the claim but increasingly companies are defending claims even if its not economical to because otherwise they open themselves up to vast numbers of vexatious claims if they get a reputation for just settling everything.