Hertfordshire CC rejected claim

by 52Collins 30 Jun 2010 I made a claim at the beginning of March for 450 pounds worth of damage to the suspension on my car from a large pothole. I followed the advice on Potholes.co.uk and made a detailed report. I just had a response today apologising for my long wait from Hertfordshire CC. They have rejected my claim and don't feel they have been negligent. This is their response. " In order to establish legal liability against a Highway Authority, the onus is on the claimant to establish three facts. "Firstly that the highway was in disrepair, then that the disrepair occurred because of a failure to have a reasonable inspection and an effective maintenance system and lastly that this failure is the cause of any loss, damage or injury. In matters of this nature, there is no automatic right to compensation. As a claimant it is your duty to act as if uninsured thus mitigating your losses where possible and you have to demonstrate that you have done so." I have submitted a Freedom of Information request but any other ideas on how I respond to this Bullshit gratefully accepted. They also claim in the letter. "During a period of extreme weather conditions experienced in December and January it was not possible for our workforce to repair all the defects that occurred in our network" They then claim because of the bad weather all repairs where running a month late and this is why the pothole hadn't been fixed in the required time scales. Hence they don't consider there was a breach of duty and they are unable to assist me. Can they do this!!!!!!! please help any advice gratefully received. Kind Regards David Collins

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Comments (5)

pilotjeremy    posted : 17/10/10 at 7.30pm

I have been fobbed off by four letters from Hertfordshire CC for two burst tyres on the same stretch of Furzehill Road Borehamwood, one on Jan 15th 2010 and then the same one on March 2nd 2010. They say the bad weather delayed their response even though you could not go around it as it was between a traffic island and the kerb. I have issued a county court summons which they are defending. Any info on this would be really helpful especially if it supports my claim.

Maxiboy    posted : 03/09/10 at 3.40pm

My friend is going through the same issue with Herts CC. She is about to send her 4th letter since January. They keep rejecting despite the fact they have breached the national standards for repairing a cat1 pothole and openly admit it in their letters! Key is to keep going back to them and not take the fob off's. Good luck!

parish    posted : 23/07/10 at 2.57pm

I had the same crap from Herts but just got confirmation they are going to settle my claim. Read my post "they paid up" and don't give up as I almost did but then went through all the FOI data and discovered they had been lying all along !rnrnThe feeling of 'gotcha' is better than getting my money back !

simon.jones    posted : 06/07/10 at 12.21pm

I had similar from Herts CC.....have you both resolved your claims yet? If so, how?

intercitymick    posted : 05/07/10 at 1.19pm

i got the same letter . i assume its a standard letter hoping i would read it and go away .rnrnin the letter they admit they knew about the pot hole for a month prior to my damage being done, but the day after i reported the hole it was filled in rnonly to reappear two weeks laterrnI feel i have a good case and will pursue it rnany advice will be greatfully recived

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