Pothole

aj7x77

I hit a pothole on a B road which had been reported 2 days earlier on the council's website.  2 people in front of me also hit it.  All of us had damage to our wheels and tyre.  On the way home it had been repaired with a white line round it.  2 of us put in a claim.  These have been rejected saying it was unfortunate that it was hit before it was fixed.  Apparently, because they only had 1 report of the pothole it wasn't a priority to inspect it and as such there is no liability and those of us affected have no claim.  It wasn't a little pot hole and we all had no way of avoiding it due to oncoming traffic.  My question is would I have a case if I appealed?

HillStreetBlues

It would be better if you post the full wording on the rejection letter.

LinLui

Sympathies sincerely meant, but please tell us which council repairs potholes within two days of reporting because I want to move there. Around here you could report one the size of the Grand Canyon and it will still be there a year later....I hope you get somewhere with this as it's a national scandal.

Aylesbury_Duck

LinLui said:

Sympathies sincerely meant, but please tell us which council repairs potholes within two days of reporting because I want to move there. Around here you could report one the size of the Grand Canyon and it will still be there a year later....I hope you get somewhere with this as it's a national scandal.

Is it?  It's not good, but if the state of B roads is a national scandal, how would you describe some of the other stuff that's been neglected for the last decade or more?  Round my way the roads are a mess, but I'd sooner pick my way around potholes at reduced speed than have money spent on the roads when there are much bigger local projects that are more deserving of funding.

To the OP, we need to see the full wording of the rejection letter, but I suspect your appeal will fail given the very short period between reporting and your accident. 

Alderbank

How is this a consumer rights issue?

No consumer contracts are involved and there is no 'trader' to breach any consumer laws.

It is a topic of great interest to many so there is a very detailed guide elsewhere on MSE explaining in great detail how to pursue a claim for pothole damage and maximise your chances of success:
https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/pothole-claims/

There is also much discussion in the Motoring section, as you might expect:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5108150/pothole-claims-guide-discussion/p29

LinLui

Aylesbury_Duck said:

LinLui said:

Sympathies sincerely meant, but please tell us which council repairs potholes within two days of reporting because I want to move there. Around here you could report one the size of the Grand Canyon and it will still be there a year later....I hope you get somewhere with this as it's a national scandal.

Is it?  It's not good, but if the state of B roads is a national scandal, how would you describe some of the other stuff that's been neglected for the last decade or more?  Round my way the roads are a mess, but I'd sooner pick my way around potholes at reduced speed than have money spent on the roads when there are much bigger local projects that are more deserving of funding.

To the OP, we need to see the full wording of the rejection letter, but I suspect your appeal will fail given the very short period between reporting and your accident. 

I meant potholes - around here they aren't confined to B roads. One very busy dual carriageway has so many potholes that they can't afford to fix that they reduced the speed limit from 70 to 40! For no other reason than the potholes causing a danger, and that was the explanation provided by the council. It isn't and shouldn't be a case of either/or. And good luck picking your way around the potholes here - on many main roads missing one simply means you hit another. Yes there has been lots of neglect, but roads are major infrastructure and impact on lots of things including inward investment and the local economy.

DullGreyGuy

aj7x77 said:

I hit a pothole on a B road which had been reported 2 days earlier on the council's website.  2 people in front of me also hit it.  All of us had damage to our wheels and tyre.  On the way home it had been repaired with a white line round it.  2 of us put in a claim.  These have been rejected saying it was unfortunate that it was hit before it was fixed.  Apparently, because they only had 1 report of the pothole it wasn't a priority to inspect it and as such there is no liability and those of us affected have no claim.  It wasn't a little pot hole and we all had no way of avoiding it due to oncoming traffic.  My question is would I have a case if I appealed?

It depends, councils get to mark their own homework with these things... they set their policy and are only liable if they breach their own policy. 

Depending on what it states in your letter you can either pursue it to see if they did breach policy or accept that they've evidence they didnt and so accept it as your own loss (or your insurers). If the letter is incomplete you can do a FOI request to confirm when the road was last inspected, what their policies are on inspections and repairs, plus the info from the original report of the pothole.  

Given its a B road a 2 day repair from first notification is likely to be within scope but some do have more complex rules based on depth and road position but would be surprised with a sub 2 day requirement.