Earlier this evening I hit a massive pothole in a very poorly lit area in the city of London 2 pinch flats and damaged rims. Do I have any way of seeking damages or is that a waste of time?

You have to find out if the local council knew about the pothole. If they do and they haven’t repaired it then you should be able to claim. If they claim ignorance of it then I don’t think you can do much.

This is me remembering what I had to go through about 14 yrs ago with Manchester Council after hitting one near the Airport and having to change a wheel in the pissing rain.

Similar thing on a flooded road in Birmingham, got some cash back (like for like – because of course it’s easy to get part-worn suspension arms. Thanks council) so don’t dismiss it, but I think as mentioned above it’s only if it’s been reported or as in our case, there’s some other reason why the road should otherwise have been inspected and wasn’t.

Go on to their website – they will have a section to report the pothole.
There is also a site where you can check all those that have been.
If its not on there then you’ll get nothing.
Hants tried it on with me when one wrecked both nearside wheels on my 330 by saying they “couldn’t reasonably have known about the damage to the road surface”
However because it was on the other site and showing as reported on three occasions they had to pay out – turned out to be both wheels, both tyres, front wishbone and rear droplink.
They still coughed up

Not necessarily true – they also need to have a proper inspection schedule in place, if it’s been there long enough that they should have noticed it without being told then they’ll also be liable (I think showing the lack of a recent inspection may be sufficient).

They rejected that line with me aracer – fortunately it showed up on the pothole site 3 times so they were goonered

joolsburger – Member
Earlier this evening I hit a massive pothole in a very poorly lit area in the city of London 2 pinch flats and damaged rims. Do I have any way of seeking damages or is that a waste of time?

Go to No. 10 and see if Cameron’ll pay; it’s his fault afterall. No wonder the council aren’t fixing potholes – they;ve got no money!

Successfully claimed off Edinburgh council for pothole damage twice in the last 5 years or so, definitely worth a try.

Because they think they can get away with it – you’d probably have won if you’d taken them to court with no proper inspection schedule.

Check fixmystreet.com for reprted potholes.

If it’s not on there, put it on there.

It was on the website above so they had no choice but to pay anyway so didn’t need to go to court – the reports covered almost a year so no vagaries of them not “having sufficient time to repair”