I won my claim!!! It was easy to do...

by SteveCorbs

14 Dec 2009

3 months ago, I drove over a large pothole which burst my tyre and totally destroyed my alloy wheel. I have a BMW with low profile tyres so when I took it to BMW they charged me £500 for the new tyre and alloy. Following instructions from this site I then set about getting my money back from Birmingham Council. This is where you HAVE to put the work in....I made sure I followed the advice to the letter and took countless photos of the pothole, measurements, drew diagrams, wrote a long statement and generally put together such a case that anyone couldnt deny it. I then reported it the Council and asked for the Freedom of Information Act reports on the maintainance of the road. I then posted everything off to Birmingham City Highways (my recorded delivery). I then waited. And waited. And waited. 2 1/2 months went by so I called them and they told me that "due to high levels of claims, there will be a delay for another month. I thought that they were going to contest my claim in the end, however last week I got a letter from the Council along with a shiny cheque for £500!!!!! They didnt even quibble it or try to "bargin" with me. I can only advise people that if you have a similar pothole incident, then follow the instructions on this site to the letter and YOU MUST put together a solid claim/photos/invoices etc. (I even took a photo of my car in a BMW garage up on the ramps getting the wheel changed). Then push and push - but you will get a response. The UK is in a terrible state and the authorities openly admit that it is cheaper for them to pay out cheques to people, than fix all the potholes around the country. I won, you can too!!!