Pothole claim Council rejected

flopsy1973

Hi my car has been driven along a damaged section of road about 500mts of very badly potholed road start of this year for about 4 months. I reported this to the council as my car started making noises after going over these continuously. I had a report from the garage saying the front drop links were damaged and this would have been caused by potholes. I put in claim to the council and had this response back

We note from your original report to the Council that you were unable to identify the exact defect and the date that has caused the damage to your vehicle.

The defect is on copy of garage quote sent to them and I have told them damage was caused by continuous going over potholes over few moths period in fact after I reported the potholes the whole stretch of road was resurfaced. What are my options thanks

cw8825

The way this reads 
you know the road was in bad condition and continued to drive over it
car was eventually damaged
once you reported it it got resurfaced



The council want to know which date and which pothole you are claiming caused the damage. 

If you have continued to drive over a road that you knew was full of potholes.  You may struggle to hold them liable

Mildly_Miffed

Droplinks are a consumable. If you buy cheap ones, they have a life expectancy about the same as a petrol station sandwich left in the car on a sunny day.

For the garage to say "It was potholes" is ridiculous.
For you to then expect the council to just pay is even more so.

witchone

With the way roads are today, a string of potholes joined with other potholes to make a road, drop links, tie rods, bushes, bearings, wish bones and even anti roll bars are all common parts to wear out with the constant drop , bump , rumble ect. It's a big shame but it's part of modern day motoring in this country. Only advice is try and miss as many as you can and drive slower over those you can't .

born_again

flopsy1973 said:

Hi my car has been driven along a damaged section of road about 500mts of very badly potholed road start of this year for about 4 months. I reported this to the council as my car started making noises after going over these continuously. I had a report from the garage saying the front drop links were damaged and this would have been caused by potholes. I put in claim to the council and had this response back

We note from your original report to the Council that you were unable to identify the exact defect and the date that has caused the damage to your vehicle.

The defect is on copy of garage quote sent to them and I have told them damage was caused by continuous going over potholes over few moths period in fact after I reported the potholes the whole stretch of road was resurfaced. What are my options thanks

So at what point in this 4 months did you report the potholes.

DullGreyGuy

To sue them you have to substantiate exactly which pot hole caused the damage on which date else who's to say it was that pothole or a pothole in London when you went down there a few weeks ago or maybe the drop when you came off the drive a bit steep and so dropped off the side of the kerb. 

If you can substantiate that this is the only road you've ever driven on since the drop links were first fitted to the car and have never gone over a speed hump or off a non-perfect drop kerb etc then maybe you can convince a judge that its more likely than not these potholes that have caused all the damage. 

Even if you did manage to get a judge to consider the council responsible it is almost certain that notable contributory negligence will be assigned to you for having to continued to do the same activity that you are alleging has caused the damage for 4 months... think the equivalent of someone who's injured in a car accident but had failed to wear their seatbelt. 

Presumably you reported this to the council on the first day you spotted the potholes or did you assume that someone else would do that for you?

flopsy1973

I had no other option but to drive along this road, I reported the potholes on 7 Mar and put a claim in to the council on 10 Apr. That damage was caused by those large no of deep potholes on this stretch over this time and If I had to give a date it would be the date I first noticed the noise from car which was around 1 March. The council are completely liable so how do i proceed what options have I got ?

cw8825

flopsy1973 said:

L

The defect is on copy of garage quote sent to them and I have told them damage was caused by continuous going over potholes over few moths period in fact after I reported the potholes the whole stretch of road was resurfaced. What are my options thanks

You have 2 options

give up 

continue to pursue this throwing good money after bad

the fact you drove on it for 4 months before reporting it. Then it was repaired once you reported it

how are the council liable?

DullGreyGuy

flopsy1973 said:

I had no other option but to drive along this road, I reported the potholes on 7 Mar and put a claim in to the council on 10 Apr. That damage was caused by those large no of deep potholes on this stretch over this time and If I had to give a date it would be the date I first noticed the noise from car which was around 1 March. The council are completely liable so how do i proceed what options have I got ?

Even if you can prove that the pothole caused the damage, which sounds dubious, and you had no contributory negligence that doesn't automatically make the council liable.  For that you have to check when they were first made aware of the problem, when the last inspection of the road was, what their policy is on both frequency of inspections and speed of repairs. 

Councils effectively get to mark their own homework so you have to substantiate that they have breached their own rules, only then can you hold them liable. 

flopsy1973

cw8825 said:

flopsy1973 said:

L

The defect is on copy of garage quote sent to them and I have told them damage was caused by continuous going over potholes over few moths period in fact after I reported the potholes the whole stretch of road was resurfaced. What are my options thanks

You have 2 options

give up 

continue to pursue this throwing good money after bad

the fact you drove on it for 4 months before reporting it. Then it was repaired once you reported it

how are the council liable?

They are responsible for upkeep of that road it was in bad condition which caused damage to my car. Yes it was repaired once reported which proves how bad it was. Maybe I should have reported it sooner but it only caused damage at that point so then reported it. I have to travel on this road so where are they not liable

cw8825

 previous post from Mr DGG points out what you wish to do to continue to pursue them but as already mentioned it’s going to be a struggle 
 

Serious consideration- If the council did not know it needed repair how can they be liable?
once you reported it it was then resurfaced. 

how much has this cost you? Bear in mind it will cost you time and money to attempt to get it back