Small Claims for a Pot Hole

[jsmith589]

Hello there. I am looking for a little legal advice regarding a pot hole I had the misfortune of driving over back in December.
I would describe it more as a crator than a normal sized pot hole (roughly 4/5 times the size). Anyway, I went to report it on my local Highways website and was startled to see it had already been reported 3 times previously all on different dates.

There were no road markings/cones to show the council had even been to inspect it.

I contacted them asking for an explanation of what was going on and explained in my letter that I would be sending them the bill to have my front wheel repaired. I got a confirmation email back 3 days later to say thanks for your letter. At the same time, the pot hole was fixed.
Since then, I have heard nothing at all from them.

I am planning on sending them one more letter to give them a final chance, but this whole affair has cost me greatly, writing letters is not something I do every day so it took me around 1 hour to write my letter out to them and check it etc. I also had to take 1.5 hours of my own time going to my local garage to see what the costs would be, and I am now going to have to spend more of my time writing yet another letter.

I am planning on invoicing the highways department for this has I feel I have had to spend a considerable amount of my time on this matter, something which should never have occurred.

Can anyone give me any suggestions on how to proceed?
My thoughts were to send my final letter, with attached costs.
The costs would be something like this:
Cost to get work done,
Cost in my time
Mileage costs to get to garage and back + time for this.

What is the best way to calculate my time costs? I am on £29,900 pa, should I just work out what I get an hour at work and base it on this? Seeing as I had to take time off of work to do this and repay work out of hours?

And regarding the mileage, how would I calculate this?

Like I say, any suggestions would be great.
I am sorry I have to take this approach but I can barely afford to get to work these days as it is, and this really is the icing on the cake for me. I would rather not jack in my job because of poorly maintained roads.

[labman]

Re: Small Claims for a Pot Hole

I've recently had an almost identical experience. I reported it to my local Highways Dept., but assumed in the call they would be reimbursing me for the costs involved. They have now very helpfully sent me a claim form to submit to them. It might be worth trying the same approach.

[Mr Muffet]

Re: Small Claims for a Pot Hole

If you do end up issuing a claim and have to go to court - you would claim your time at £18.00 per an hour - Litigant in Person rate. So why not use that as a guide. Unless of course you have had to take time off work to attend to any of this, then work out the hourly rate you would receive via your employer !

[jsmith589]

Re: Small Claims for a Pot Hole

Hi, thanks for both of your posts. I am yet to hear anything from the local council yet. I will send them my final letter requesting a claim form and reminding them that the time it is taking me to write these letters, go out and take pictures of the pot hole etc are all racking up. WIll keep you posted Thanks.

[jsmith589]

Re: Small Claims for a Pot Hole

I have finally had a response from my local council. They have sent a template letter, not addressing any of my questions etc with an Insurance Claims form attached. I am happy to fill out this form, but they want copies of my car insurance certificate, v5log, mot certificates etc. It says it is for fraud prevention, I have no problem providing all of this info however I don't want this showing up on my insurance claims history as I have been working hard to build up a no claims record. Does any one know if this will affect my no claims or go down on my insurance? Thanks

[labman]

Re: Small Claims for a Pot Hole

In my opinion they have no right to ask for the information whatsoever, for fraud prevention or otherwise. You hit a pothole, it caused damage, they need to reimburse you for the cost of that damage - simple. They do not need a load of irrelevant information about you which could end up anywhere knowing local government. Another case of Big Brother's watching you in my opinion.

[Salmon Man]

Re: Small Claims for a Pot Hole

I know in Scotland, if you keep pestering your local council claims dept, they WILL pay out. Heard on the radio just the other day that local authorities in Scotland had compensated drivers to the tune of some £38 million in the last year.

[wales01man]

Re: Small Claims for a Pot Hole

I can see why they want all the documents it would be so easy for fraudulent claims from people who have either No car No mot or No insurance who should not be on the road Makes sense to me

[labman]

Re: Small Claims for a Pot Hole

I can see why they want all the documents it would be so easy for fraudulent claims from people who have either No car No mot or No insurance who should not be on the road Makes sense to me

With my claim I submitted the invoice for the tyre and a copy of the call out from Green Flag, so I guess that covered your worries. I can see your point though.

[jsmith589]

Re: Small Claims for a Pot Hole

Maybe if I put a note in saying I would not like the info I am sending in to be used for anything but the fraud prevention thing?! Probably not worth the paper it is written on, but must be worth a go?

I didn't need any kind of Recovery Service thankfully. I have visited my local garage (wheel and tyre garage) as the main dealer I bought my car from recommended them saying they have all the equipment to check and test. They took a look and said that both front and rear wheels are badly aligned. I have only had the car for around 5 months new from a dealer so I can be very sure the pot hole has caused the problems (I have been very careful doing 40 in 60s etc, this is the first pot hole I have hit in this car). From what they can see, the front wheel which hit the pot hole is ok. There are a few scuffs on it, but it could be hard to prove this was the pot hole.
I have not had the work done yet for fear I will never get the money from the council.

It may sound a little tight, but to be honest I am struggling as it is. Repayments for the car for the next 3 years, very expensive insurance and car tax plus I am putting money away each month for servicing and new tyres, I just don't have the spare money to spend on getting this done until I know I can claim it back. I am just counting my lucky stars the pot hold didn't cause anything more serious or I would have potentially been out of work for quite some time until I could get enough together to pay for repairs.
I am sure if I had already got the work done, I may even be more likely to get it back from the council, but I have never made such a claim, and I need to be very careful paying out any more than I can afford at the moment.

[labman]

Re: Small Claims for a Pot Hole

I think most of us who run vehicles are starting to feel the pinch. My wife informed me as I filled up with diesel at £1.44 per litre that it is supposed to hit £1.60 per litre by Easter. If we brought back gallons, people would not accept a rise of over 70p per gallon in such a short time.