F*#king council

[Hungryfish247]

Driving home from my friends house the other day I ran over a pothole by accident, I couldn't really avoid any of them, they were everywhere, any way as I was driving home I saw the bad road so I slowed down to drive over them and I hit the mother of all potholes it was that bad I've ruined my N/S/R alloy completely bent the inside of the alloy so I got a flat tyre, the can of foam that came with it won't even fill the tyre now I gotta ring citroen as I cleverly took out the alloy cover if it was my fault for driving like a numpty I'd be like well it was my fault but seeing the useless idiots that we call the council around here can't be bothered to fix main roads I'm fuming do you think I should write a letter to them?


Message me what you would do

[BeefMasta]

Take lots of photos of the road and the damage to your car. You're probably not the only one who it's happened to. Speak to Citizens Advice Bureau too, they should be able to help.

Edit, just found this, might be helpful: http://www.potholes.co.uk/claims/how_to_claim

[Girlypink]

Go back to the scene and take photos, take photos of the car, receipts for any payments you have to make etc. put in a complaint for sure. They have a budget for this kind of thing and you are entitled to compensation. Register your complaint immediately and add the photos etc at a later date.

[lfcrule1972]

Good luck, I had a similar issue with W Sussex council a few years back, I drove my Astra into a large pothole that bent the suspension arm and punctured the tyre. I took photos, measurements and provided all receipts and submitted a claim. After two years of the council denying all liability, even though they repaired the pot hole within a week of receiving my claim I gave up....

[Paul]

Years ago I hit a huge one disguised as a puddle on the way to work, same as you hungryfish bent rim and damaged tyre. I went back the next day to take photos and it was literally 4" deep and the size of an old style dustbin lid! To show the scale of it I used a CD case and the depth was nearly the same width as the case!! The pothole was exposing the old cobbles underneath! I contacted Tameside council who took my details and a couple of weeks later (after the hole had been filled) informed me that they were not prepared to compensate me for the damage as the road had been inspected within the last 3 months and no faults were found so basically hard luck! Absolutely disgusting!!! Good luck!

[pmk]

Wonder if you could try the small claim court..

[lfcrule1972]

I wondered that at the time Pete, I think the councils bank on wearing you out before you get to that point I was also loathe to pay anything further on it

[Owd git]

I used to be in this game - you're up against the council's 'special defence' under Section 58 of the Highways Act

In simple terms the council can't be expected to know about every pothole as soon as it occurs, but they must be able to show that they have, and are following a documented inspection and maintenance regime. As soon as they know about it, either by their own inspection, or a report, then they must do something about it in a timescale that will be written down in their policy. In my experience it's quite likely that they wont be able to show that they have followed all their policies and procedures.

You can ask for all the policies, procedures and records and go through it all but it will drag on forever and there's no guarantee of success

Section 58
Special defence in action against a highway authority for damages for non-repair of highway.

(1)In an action against a highway authority in respect of damage resulting from their failure to maintain a highway maintainable at the public expense it is a defence (without prejudice to any other defence or the application of the law relating to contributory negligence) to prove that the authority had taken such care as in all the circumstances was reasonably required to secure that the part of the highway to which the action relates was not dangerous for traffic.

(2)For the purposes of a defence under subsection (1) above, the court shall in particular have regard to the following matters:—

(a)the character of the highway, and the traffic which was reasonably to be expected to use it;

(b)the standard of maintenance appropriate for a highway of that character and used by such traffic;

(c)the state of repair in which a reasonable person would have expected to find the highway;

(d)whether the highway authority knew, or could reasonably have been expected to know, that the condition of the part of the highway to which the action relates was likely to cause danger to users of the highway;

(e)where the highway authority could not reasonably have been expected to repair that part of the highway before the cause of action arose, what warning notices of its condition had been displayed; but for the purposes of such a defence it is not relevant to prove that the highway authority had arranged for a competent person to carry out or supervise the maintenance of the part of the highway to which the action relates unless it is also proved that the authority had given him proper instructions with regard to the maintenance of the highway and that he had carried out the instructions

[lfcrule1972]

Thanks for that, makes the process a bit clearer

[scubagazza]

http://www.fillthathole.org.uk/hazards/list
you can also check websites like the one above to see if it's already been reported and when. This will help to add weight to your claim if it's been reported and not yet repaired in a reasonable time frame.
Best of luck

[cyclone]

http://www.fillthathole.org.uk/hazards/list
you can also check websites like the one above to see if it's already been reported and when. This will help to add weight to your claim if it's been reported and not yet repaired in a reasonable time frame.
Best of luck

nice map function on there that makes it easy to see where the reported ones are.

[Girlypink]

There's always a right of appeal, involvement of MP, Local Government Ombundsman etc etc.

[Hungryfish247]

Cheers guys its just a ball breaker knowing someone who doesn't have the cover that I have or doesn't have them money to pay for this sort of damage will probably do the same thing and the council knows about the problem, what if it was an older person who had done it or someone who had just past their test they would be screwed I know it's a major road and a lot of people use it, all they have done in the past is filled old potholes with stones and a small amount of Tarmac over the top and you can see that they're breaking away, why not fork out once and sort the problem properly it has to be so much cheaper for them don't you think?

[cal23]

It's a political merry-go-round. I'm sure they just patch potholes and re-do them every year to keep their budgets high. If they don't spend it they lose it and road repairs are a great excuse for keeping the money rolling in.

[lfcrule1972]

My fiancee works with a lady whose husband repairs potholes for Kent CC, he is minting it, the Council don't get the budget for proper road repairs and they hire contractors to piece meal fix the pot holes as they are reported....