Rejection of Claim

30th December 2011

In March of this year I hit a pothole covered by standing water and suffered a crack to alloy and also needed a new tyre.
The pothole was in excess of 1metre long, 300mm wide by over 100mm deep. In addition, the general area had been repaired previously.
I wrote to the local council, met one of their highway team and advised that he was sending claim direct to their insurers who, have used the standard refusal.
The road is classed as C grade between villages. Asked for details of inspections under FOI, inspection carried out in February and after my accident. However, the February report refers to lots of standing water near verges.
Can I still claim against council under malfeance?

Replies (1)

Potholes.co.uk Expert     posted : 09/01/12 at 11:01 am

I would keep away from trying to imply a level of poor practice by using legal terms none of us really understands (or can spell correctly) and keep it simple. Any claim should be as a breach of Section 41 of the Highways Act 1980.