Freedon of Information??

2nd June 2010

I hit a pothole on 24th Feb 2010.It caused £394 worth of damage to two alloy wheels. I sent in a claim and this was their response. Under the terms and conditions of the Higways act blah,blah. The road is inspected on a quarterly basis. The last inspection was carried out 13th January 2010 where 'the defect was starting to form. Following the incident an order was raised to repair the defect within a practical and reasonable timescale whilst accounting for the persistent poor weather that we were experiencing throughtout this period. I am advised the the repair was completed by 25th February.'

On this grounds they are refusing my claim. Do I have any grounds to argue this further?

Replies (1)

Potholes.co.uk Expert     posted : 02/06/10 at 3:22 pm

This has always been a grey area with claims; when the highway authority saw the defect during an inspection, but didn't repair it because it had not reached a dangerous condition.

I have been involved in court cases where the judge has accepted this as a defence, but I have also been involved in cases when the judge has said that the pothole should have been repaired at the time of inspection if the highway authority thought it might deteriorate to a dangerous level before the next inspection.

Sorry I can't be more help. If you have not done so already, download (free of charge) a copy of Highway Risk and Liability from www.roadcodes.org as I know that there is some content in there about failure to repair or repair promptly.