Pothole Claim... Reports of damage location 'not specific'

7th June 2010

My wife and I hit a pothole on the A31 in Jan (just after snow and ice damage). Fortunately, the FOI request yield 2 separate reports to Surrey council on the same section of road just 2 days prior to our incident. Therefore, I feel I have fairly solid grounds for a claim as Surrey failed to act within 24 hours of reports to make the road safe.

However, the council have rejected my claim saying that the reports aren't precise enough to identify the actual pothole ('i.e. "several potholes along this section"). It makes me so angry, the council are excusing their negligence with the fact that the road was really bad, not just bad... Thus my £741 claim goes unsettled and I am mulling over a suitable response. For info, the council's letter cites legal precedence but isn't specific about what case.

Any advice would be gratefully appreciated.

Thanks

Replies (1)

Potholes.co.uk Expert     posted : 10/06/10 at 10:24 am

"Failed to act" within 24 hours or simply did not have the resources to act?

This winter was the worst for 30 years and highway authorites were out gritting almost none stop, leaving little opportunity for other routine functions, including filling potholes. There are a finite amount of resources, including stafff and contractors and at times like that, highway authorities have to prioritse. Put simply, ice kills and potholes do not.

In my humble opinion, Courts will take a favourable view to a highway authority's assetions that they could not fill a pothole within 24 hours as they were over-stretched on other matters.