Gone down a Pot Hole...

[jax50]

My daughter ran into a pothole in the road last night and trashed an alloy wheel and punctured the tyre...thankfully she was unhurt.

I've told her to report the hole and then make a complaint for compensation with the Highways dept.

She reported the hole through the on-line Highways system, which revealed 3 previous notifications within the past couple of days
by other drivers who had presumably hit the hole.

Thing is though, if that stretch of road has been inspected visually within the past 12 months by the Highways dept, then they say they are not liable, as they have carried out their statutory duty. I was wondering if the fact that it has been reported previously, and not fixed yet, whether that made the Highways Dept liable regardless as to whether it has been inspected within the last 12 months ?

[miliitant]

Re: Gone down a Pot Hole...

as long as previous reports on the pothole have been made and recorded, the council have no defence, vicarious liability, the stretch of road though, is it covered by the local authority or highways agency

i argued my complaint with the council after i hit a pothole, their insurance did settle

[jax50]

Re: Gone down a Pot Hole...

It's Local Authority covered...it showed up on the Councils on-line pot hole reporting system where we found the 3 previous notifications about this particular pot hole. I presume the authority is allowed time to rectify maybe...24 hours ? 48 hours ? I don't know...and I'll check how old the first complaint was on their web site..

[labman]

Re: Gone down a Pot Hole...

Usual advice is to go there at a quiet time. Place a 50p piece in the hole with a ruler behind it, and ideally a copy of that day's newspaper to prove the date. The 50p shows callibration on the ruler is correct. Send this to the council with a copy of the invoice for a new wheel, or whatever was necessary. Faced with the evidence, they usually pay up. If not, I suspect local press rather than court for something of this nature.

[miliitant]

Re: Gone down a Pot Hole...

Agree on the above before they fill in the pot hole

[jax50]

Re: Gone down a Pot Hole...

Yes good advice ! Anyway, my daughter rang the Highways office to ask about this and was asked had it been reported before ? Which is a funny question as how would she normally know...unless had she reported it before...but why would she? Anyway the clue came when she said she had been on the 'system' and seen it had been reported by 3 other people...then the Highways person said, oh righto, I'll put you through to the Insurers...which she did, and they are sending a claim form in the post.. Meanwhile photo has been taken of Mother Shiptons' Cave Mk2...I think Lord Lucan was down there somewhere...

[bluebottle]

Re: Gone down a Pot Hole...

All good advice. Once a highways department has been informed of a pothole, any damage subsequently caused to vehicles by the pothole due to the highways department's failure to act is their responsibility.

[alham]

Re: Gone down a Pot Hole...

Try this link, https://www.gov.uk/claim-compensatio...-road-pavement