Council denies liability - are they right?

15th October 2011

In January, my wife hit a pothole near our home breaking the NS front spring. I made a FOI request and found the road was last inspected three months earlier (in compliance with an annual inspection routine) and the road was 'unclassified' in the hierarchy classification. This concerned me since the road is used by lorries delivering to the local shops on a daily basis, buses when the normal bus route is flooded and directly serves several dozen homes. I feel the road should be better classified and more frequently inspected than annually. Indeed the day after the incident, the pothole was repaired along with 11 others that were described as 'dangerous and increasing in size'. Indeed the pothole my wife drove into had to be repaired again seven months later as it had once again become a car eater. I estatimate the daily flow of cars past that point to be several hundreds a day.

I argue that the road is incorrectly classified and therefore the inspection routine is inappropriate due to the amount of use. In addition, I am also concerned that the quality of repairs are unable to withstand the time elapsed between inspections and therefore the inspections must be too far apart.

Firstly, am I being reasonable in arguing that the maintenance regime is wrong, and secondly, are the council liable for the damage to my car. They deny liability (or rather their insurers do) and claim the maintenance regime is appropriate. Do I have a basis for a claim. I'm also keen to get the maintenance of the road improved anyway as it is a mess of small holes and patches which in some cases lead to large potholes.

Replies (2)

ctpo     posted : 25/10/11 at 6:49 pm

I have reviewed the definitions and the distinction between 4a and 4b is significant as far as maintenance regime is concerned. I think 4a fits the description of lorry deliveries, several dozen homes and occasional bus route whereas 4b sounds like 'dead end' to me. In any case, 'unclassified' isn't a viable option for this description of traffic in my inexperienced opinion. Does anyone have a view on that.
I consider it reasonable that the council could classify it correctly (if they haven't already of course), inspect it according to good practice and when there is a fault, ensure that a repair made to that fault lasts longer than the interval between inspections. It isn't my opinion that counts though.

Potholes.co.uk Expert     posted : 17/10/11 at 9:17 am

Definitions of road classifications can be found in the national code of good practice, so I suggest you compare the road in question to the recognised definitions.
The council are only liable if they have not done all that was reasonable to have known about the pothole before it was hit.