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I've read some posts on here but they're pretty old now. So, for 2023, has anyone successfully claimed for car damage due to a pothole? I had £150 worth of damage and the council has refused my claim for compensation. It's all a bit wordy but, in short, they talk about no automatic right as a defect on a highway doesn't constitute negligence on their part. They will only be liable if 'it had no means of finding out about a hazardous defect because they don't have a proper system of inspection and repair', or 'they knew about a defect and failed to do anything about it within a reasonable time'. They say they have a system for inspection and the road I was travelling on is inspected monthly. They say they inspected the road before the day my car was damaged and the defect I reported was not present when they inspected the road. The pothole hadn't been reported by anyone else before me. They say that the defect therefore occurred after they inspected it. As such, because they didn't know about it, they wasn't in a position to repair it before my incident. So, they say that they had discharged their duties imposed by the Highways Act and, as such, they will not give me any compensation.
Is it worth pursuing? If anyone did, what did you do? The car mechanic wished me luck as he said very few claims get paid and to keep at it. I thought I could badger them for more information, such as evidence of where the road had been inspected, what percentage of claims get paid (Freedom of Information Act). Any thoughts, advice, suggestions would be appreciated?
So the council are saying that a defect/pothole, sufficient to cause damage to your car, suddenly appeared in 24 hours.
I don't buy that.
Ask them for sight of the highway inspector's report - and the two previous - as that should evidence whether or not the road was inspected and any comnents/notes made by the inspector.
Did you take any photos of the road defect as, without them, any chance of success will comletely disappear.
they have the protocols in place and so long as they have the paper trail which details how they've discharged their responsibilities there's little you can do. for more information i'd suggest looking at pistonheads but TBH i don't think you'll get anywhere other than taking up more of your own time and draining resources from a local authority who i doubt these days is well placed.
i wouldn't bother. i was more pissed off with VW dealer for telling me my tracking was fine when i got it checked and then telling me i needed another new tyre 2k miles later because my tracking was out. then doing a shit job of the tracking and having to get it done by someone else properly along with another two tyres.
edit: FWIW i don't buy it either but life's too short IMO, i'd rather they spent the money on social care. YMMV.
Thanks for replying. Yes, I submitted a photo with the claim.
I know that there were potholes there for ages, certainly before they say that they would've inspected the area, but I have no proof. I was just bloody unlucky that I drove through the damn pothole on the day I drove down that road.
Ask them for sight of the highway inspector’s report
There is a chance your local council has been adequately funded by central government and are able to prioritise the resources to carry out a proper highway inspection, by a proper highway inspector.
If, however you could imagine a world where central government have squeezed local finances to the point where the decisions are not between fixing a pothole or building a cycle path, but between providing care for vulnerable older people or vulnerable younger people...then your 'highway inspector' will be a volunteer member of the public, or junior elected member given a list of streets that they have to 'inspect'' on a scheduled basis.
It won't surprise you to learn that these volunteer inspectors will complete the form without actually visiting the street.
It will be difficult to prove, the council will say they have discharged their duty, and you'll likely get nowhere.
It's bollocks, it's frustrating, and it's shit. I'm long enough in the game to remember actual inspection regimes, but thanks to our friends in Westminster that's all ****ed.
Edit: for the avoidance of doubt, I'm on your side OP.
Basically, yes. Potholes are caused by water getting in to cracks, then a freeze-thaw process (coupled with heavy traffic) creates the hole.
Best way to reduce potholes is an increase in fuel duty!
When was it ? And how big was the hole ?
If they say it wasn't there the day before, if that credible? Or BS (either because it was and they couldn't be arsed recording it or didn't even actually do the inspection and went to 'spoons instead for couple of hours whilst being paid.
If it was mid April then there's no freeze-thaw happening!
It was early Feb. It was pretty big and deep - say, length of a wheel and deep enough to damage the rim.
might be a worth having a look on streetview to see if it was visible in the earlier dated photos. In some areas the streetview photo archive now goes back 15 years.
^ also check 'fix my street' to see if it had been reported previously
Check whether it had been reported on sites such as fixmystreet.com. Other sites are available, probably. If it had and they didn't fix it, well....
Unfortunately potholes can appear in a day but defo check fix my street
I submitted a photo with the claim.
I know that there were potholes there for ages
As far as I'm aware they're broadly correct. They're liable for damage if they've failed to act on reported damage. It's unreasonable to expect them to have repaired damage they were unaware of.
Did you report it ages ago? Why did you drive into it knowing that it was there? Even if they're lying through their teeth, Schrodinger's Pothole is not a particularly strong counter-case. I rather expect you're shit out here unfortunately.
Unfortunately potholes can appear
I live on a residential road but it's also a bus route, ca 20 buses a day. We had a pothole develop within a day a month or so back, once it started to form the buses couldn't avoid and just kept crumbling another bit off with every pass. It didn't get that deep but longer and longer and with a sharp end to it.
It was a relatively new laid road too.... maybe a couple of years but as said the budgets are so tight that the quality of the surfacing is just crap. It's been patched but i suspect will go again as soon as we get into freeze-thaw territory.
Ours got (partly) paid as the road was flooded (there's a statutory duty to inspect roads after heavy rain or somesuch), but if they inspect regularly and it hasn't been reported since being inspected or since it rained very heavily, that's gonna be a tough fight to win.
Best way to reduce potholes is an increase in fuel duty!
assuming that the extra duty on fuel actually went to repairing pot holes.
raising tax rates on highest earners and getting corporations to pay a fair rate of tax would probably be better as a whole.