Pothole claims guide discussion

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  • tykesi
    tykesi Posts: 2,061 Forumite
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    Heaven forbid anybody might actually look where they're going?!
  • veedubu
    veedubu Posts: 38 Forumite
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    what about damage to bikes (cycles)? It is a real hazard and can cause actual injury.

    Can we claim too?
  • autosere
    autosere Posts: 3 Newbie
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    I don,t understand the comment by somebody called tykesi. The answer to veedubu is, any member of the public cyclist, motorist, or pedestrian.
  • clint1
    clint1 Posts: 4 Newbie
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    I wish anyone luck for trying to claim for pothole damage. I had photos, towing and repair receipts, had filled out their Highways incident form and even finally, received a list of notification reports from members of the public, made in the 3 weeks previous to my pothole incident, from their Highways department and still their legal department would not accept the council were negligent in not repairing the known pothole sooner. This took about 7 months of correspondence and their final suggestion to me was to take them to small claims court!
    The irony was, that amongst the information they sent to me about this pothole was that they were first aware of it in September 2013, 5 months before my damage!
    What signifies negligence then????
  • dianewebber
    dianewebber Posts: 5 Forumite
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    I had a water leak outside my home (busy main road) for over a year and I constantly complained about it - when it got icy it was lethal for drivers as was like a skating rink - I complained to the water board who said they needed permission off the Highways dept to close the road and they said they needed permission off Nexus (Tyne and Wear Metro) as they would need to put up temporary 'manual' lights - after going back and forth over 12-14 months the crack turned into a hole and as its on a double decker bus route/lorries passing daily the hole got bigger - as we are also near a school and a public park I complained that large chunks of tarmac/rubble were being thrown up by passing vehicles and someone / some child was going to get hurt - my large hedge was full of the stuff - luckily it was protecting my front window - I started keeping my car in the garage as cars were swerving around it and my mirror was knocked off - one day I got my car out of the garage and got out to shut my garage door when a large 'stone' hit my car and damaged it - I kept the stone and complained to the Highways again and they asked my to fill in a claim form and take pictures which I did - on the same day my husband was outside when a young man on a cycle fell into the hole and broke his arm - he was to start work at a new job the following day and couldnt go so he lost the job - the hole was full of water, he had to cycle through it as cars were passing him pinning him to the kerb side - I had taken pictures of the hole over the weeks and took a tape measure to show how deep it was - 5" x 10ft long! we both made claims and got witnesses from local dog walkers/parents talking children to school who had avoided it and walked on the other side of the road as it was full of water and they would get splashed by passing vehicles - the 'Highway Dept' wrote back and said their inspector inspects the roads regularly and 2 weeks before these incidents the road was found to be in order and no damage was reported and our claims were thrown out!
  • aprilone
    aprilone Posts: 2 Newbie
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    Two twenty pence coins a bit fiddly for depth, suggest roughly the diameter of a golf ball might be better to visualise.
  • rapido58
    rapido58 Posts: 1 Newbie
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    There seems to be a concern re guilt about these claims, which I don't really understand. I live on the Hants/Wilts border and the roads are in a disgusting and unsafe condition. What do the Police think? why don't they ever raise their heads? If I do something unsafe will I get away with it like local authorities do?
    It is my belief that, as long as we pay our rates & taxes we have a right to expect the maintenance for which we have paid to be carried out. When an announcements regarding Council cutbacks are made, there is this supposition that we will all quite happily continue to pour money into this this pot.......
    I think it is time that there was a united front re Council cutbacks and the potential for cutbacks on our behalf for work undone.
    Problem is that we look like a third world country more & more, simply because of neglect, and it applies to everything.
  • Step123
    Step123 Posts: 1 Newbie
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    Hello
    Just some feedback on my pot hole incident. I hit a pothole a couple of years ago and not for the first time. With previous incidents I had no luck with the council over my claims. So on my latest incident I informed my insurance company of the situation. Eventually the council told me they would pay me for the damage to my car tyre and wheel which was nearly £1000 . I was elated until I came to renew my insurance. My insurance company and subsequent companies have charged me an extra £100 per year because of this incident even though it was not my fault and the council admitted it was their fault.
    BEWARE!!!!!!!!!!!!
  • Johnnysparra
    Johnnysparra Posts: 1 Newbie
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    Any thoughts and experience of claiming for pothole damage from Private finance Initiatives, which manage area roads on behalf of the local council?
    I live on the Isle of Wight, where they operate a Kafkaesque arrangement whereby, notwithstanding photographic and geographic evidence, if their monthly inspection visit has not spotted the pothole, it doesn't exist and can't therefore be claimed on!
    I hear that Sheffield also has a PFI...
  • cinders59
    cinders59 Posts: 7,632 Forumite
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    We hit a pothole after leaving a hospital in 2013 , we heard a big clunk and the spring was on the road, we took pictures and made a claim, we asked the local authority how many people had claimed and were told they could not give us that information as it would open the door for more people to claim, we tried to claim and it was rejected as someone had reported the pothole a number of weeks earlier and it was on the list to be sorted. (my husband works for the authority and often gets called out to do a quick fix on the potholes). the next time we went visiting the hospital, the pothole was fixed.
    I think it was bad that they would not pay out, it was a huge pothole and took up half the width of the road
    Thanks to all who post comps :)
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