had decline letter iteresting contents!

14th June 2010

Hi, i put in a claim to my local council after causing damage to my car at the begining of May. They have refused liabilty under section 41 of the highways act & section 58 as expected, But what they have stated is that the road had a routine inspection 4 days before my damage and that nothing identified as requiring intervention, however the day after I reported the road it was repaired! I have requested FOI on this stretch of road and will await this report. I just wondered what others thoughts are about the fact the road did not need repairing 4 days before incident but was seen necessary straight after!! thank you for any advice

Replies (2)

Potholes.co.uk Expert     posted : 15/06/10 at 10:03 am

It can be a difficult concept to grasp, but potholes can (and do) occur in a matter of hours or even minutes in the right (or wrong!) circumstances. Unless you want me to, I won't bore you with the engineering details.

There is every chance that a pothole occured within the 4 days following an inspection. This is more likely on busier roads, and that is why the frequency of inspections is generally more regular on busier roads.

I'm afraid that all you have demonstrated is that once the pothole was reported, it was repaired very quickly, which is a good point for them

pennycrayon     posted : 15/06/10 at 8:59 am

Exactly this has happened to me!! I wrote to the Council again and they came back saying there had been 11 inspections but didn't give me an answer as tot why the inspection which was carried out the day before my accident!!! had come back saying there were no defects which required action on the road....I am wondering to write again or am I just wasting my time

ps I posted on this web site 1 June