MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
We will be in touch
Hi Guys
Just getting your advice on what to do next.
I had to get some repairs done to my wheel and tyre after hitting a pot hole. (£366)
I have complained to the council concerned who have denied responsibility.
There were no markings on the road to indicate that there was a pot hole to avoid. They have apparently done the checks to the road in what they deem as the right frequency. Ironically, they temp repaired the pothole on a Sunday, the day after I took the photos.
Has anyone else appealed and been successful. Do I have to use a solicitor? Does that mean that I will have to pay the solicitor?
Any advice would be appreciated.
David
Playing devil's advocate, is it not somewhat your responsibility for driving into it?
Unless it was previously reported and they did nothing about it...
The council were notified of the pothole on the 01/02/2017 the day before I hit the pot hole. A temp repair was done on the 5th Feb
The council were notified of the pothole on the 01/02/2017 the day before I hit the pot hole. A temp repair was done on the 5th Feb
That seems like a very reasonable performance from them
If it was previously reported there are lines to get recompense. You won't get it but if you fancy jerking their chain for a while go for it. I tried to claim for a flat from a hole I reported (after discovering it at 30 mph on my road bike, then my wife drove our car into - after 7 such tyre losses in 18 months I finally lost patience and tried to get compensation and 16" steel wheels with higher profile tyres) but it became passing of the buck from county to national ownership and trying to get reference numbers off failing websites with no contact or support details.
To be honest it's not worth £300 even if you win.
It would be hard to hold them liable for a pothole they didn't know about, I would expect. Four days from report to (temporary) repair sounds pretty reasonable to me.
Playing devil's advocate, is it not somewhat your responsibility for driving into it?
I can appreciate that conditions might make it hard to see, though I'd broadly agree.
I went through this a long time ago and got a payout (new tyre, new alloy, tracking etc).
What I did was go straight back to where it happened, took lots of pictures showing the depth of the hole etc then wrote a letter and supplied pictures, invoices etc (I got the repairs done straight away as I needed to be able to drive the car to work) and got a payment without issue.
However, as I said, it was some time ago and I know budgets are much tighter now and compensation is much harder to come by – you pretty much have to prove they knew about the hole and didn't do anything about it for an unreasonable amount of time.
Playing devil's advocate, is it not somewhat your responsibility for driving into it?
In my experience, I had turned left into the (narrow) road and, although I saw the pot hole, there was a car coming the other way so I could not swerve around it. Yes I could probably have emergency stopped but at the time I took the split decision to drive through it as I did not know how deep it was nor how much it would damage my car.
We tried to claim off Lancashire when my son broke a wheel on a pothole. They sent us an A4 envelope with a thick wad of all the pothole reports they had received as proof that they hadn't received a report so couldn't be held responsible. The letter concluded by challenging, basically: "See you in Court."
I don't expect many people have the time or energy or the cash to risk on Court claims and councils know that.
Playing devil's advocate, is it not somewhat your responsibility for driving into it?
I challlenge you to drive up the M62 from J18 to J20 and NOT hit a single pothole, Stirling.
We tried to claim off Lancashire when my son broke a wheel on a pothole. They sent us an A4 envelope with a thick wad of all the pothole reports they had received as proof that they hadn't received a report so couldn't be held responsible. The letter concluded by challenging, basically: "See you in Court."I don't expect many people have the time or energy or the cash to risk on Court claims and councils know that.
I would ask the council for a Freedom of Information request for pothole reports and also routine visual site inspections based on that particular location.
I challlenge you to drive up the M62 from J18 to J20 and NOT hit a single pothole, Stirling.
I'm sure I would hit the odd pothole.
That said, I'd be driving at a speed such that if something appeared that was sizable enough to break my car, I'd be able to stop or get out of the way.
Any advice would be appreciated.
Suck it up as life. Move on.
Council have moved pretty quickly it seems (unless you want a 24hr, dedicated team leading in front of you to fill in all potholes).
That said, I'd be driving at a speed such that if something appeared that was sizable enough to break my car, I'd be able to stop or get out of the way.
Challenge still stands. 😆
I has a one week old (car) tyre blowout when I hit a pothole in the dark several years ago.
The council initially refused any kind of compensation saying that it had been inspected within their recommended frequency.
I pointed out that if a pot hole that was around 2ft long and about 6 inches deep could appear between their normal inspections, then the frequency of inspection was incorrect.
They eventually offered 50% of the cost of the tyre (without prejudice etc).