Still trying to claim

5th July 2011

I hit an unlit pothole in tan unlit road in January at around 18.00. It had been reported the evening before at 21.00, and it was repaired the following day, but started to sink again so it was again repaired. It caused my tyre to burst, and it cost me over £200 to replace. I took photos of the hole which was 100cm long x 30cm wide x 13cm deep, and supplied them together with a bill from Kwik-Fit to the council to support my claim.
I have also found out through the freedom of information act that 5 vehicles had similar incidents, 2 having blowouts in around the end of March early April 2010. The road has one annual inspection in the summer June/July , and no further report of potholes was made until January 2011 after the heavy winter weather...a day before I had the incident.
The council refuses to admit responsibility, as it keeps saying it did all it could according to its remit, and nobody reported it between April 2010 and January 2011. Any helpful advice would be appreciated, as I cannot understand how a council expects the general public to act on their behalf and report such problems without the council also taking some responsibility for bad workmanship because of the previous incidents.

Thank you,

Peter Warner

Replies (1)

Potholes.co.uk Expert     posted : 07/07/11 at 9:19 am

Have a look at the national code of good practice. Very few roads should be inspected just once per year, so maybe you could argue that the road should have been inspected more often, therefore minimising the risk.