Defect in Nine Days?

2nd November 2011

Hello,

On July 14th of this year, I hit a pothole on the A544 in North Wales, which buckled and cracked my front wheel and blew the front tyre. Reporting the pothole on Conwy County Council's website returned a very prompt reply asking for clarification on the exact location and including an Incident Report Form, should I wish to file a claim against them. I made a successful FOI request, have had the wheel repaired at a cost of around £226, submitted a claim with Conwy County Council, and have recently noticed that they have filled the pothole in.

Just last week, I received a letter from a firm representing the council stating that the road was inspected on 05/07/11 and "At that time the defect was not noted and it is clear that it has come into existence subsequently.", they therefore state that they are unable to offer any form of compensation.

Now, I know from reading the 'well maintained roads' documents that a defect is classed as 2" or deeper and this pothole falls on the border of this. I guess I just wonder if it's regular for a non-defect pothole to deepen to a wheel-denting pothole requiring repair over a period of 9 days of clear summer weather on a quiet road? Does anyone think I have reason to dispute their suggestion and pursue this claim?

Regards,
Eric

Replies (2)

SkinnE     posted : 09/11/11 at 10:56 pm

Thanks for your helpful reply. While it is an A road, it is indeed a very quiet road with little traffic on it, but that seems to be a moot point. When I made my FOI request, they stated that all inspections are done from a slow moving vehicle in pairs, on a monthly basis. The document they sent me shows pretty much all of the inspections were a few days after they were due (not a big deal is it) and they only list one inspector (presumably one of the pair is the inspector and the other is the driver?). Curiously, in the document that lists all repairs made, there was one that was ordered on a date after it had been repaired.

At any rate, it looks like I have to suck this one up. Thanks again,

Eric

Potholes.co.uk Expert     posted : 04/11/11 at 5:04 pm

It's an 'A' road so I doubt the "quiet road" argument will carry much weight. A pothole on an A road can easily appear in 9 days and you will not find any highway engineer of note who says otherwise.

Your best angle would be to look at how the inspection on 5 July 2011 was undertaken to make sure it was done properly. If it was, you are probably flogging a dead horse I'm afraid.