tylerdurden
Active Member
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- Apr 4, 2010
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Damned pothole in middle of road has shredded a tyre that will cost me £240 to sort.
Do I have any recourse with the council?
Do I have any recourse with the council?
pothole damage and recourse
- Thread starter tylerdurden
- Start date
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Photograph the pot hole, get measurements if you can (preferably without getting run over) get estimate for repair and send it to the council.
Finally post on here the details and then we can all put a claim in
Roads are atrocious at the moment and with the cold weather will only get worse.
I might have to visit the dentist after xmas for some new dentures they are that bad.
mercmancdi
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Yes they should cover costs , place an item like a cigarette packet or similar in the hole at deepest edge then take picture this gives a guide to the depth
and you have the photo before they can do a temporary repair as after that you can’t prove the dept , I have done this and got paid out on a new chrome rim and tyre without even a visit , just filled in the claim form and attach a copy of the photo. .
I hit a pothole on day 13 of owning my Jaguar XF about four years back. I claimed for a new tyre against South Ayrshire Council along with exact location accompanied with photographs.
The “ace” up my sleeve was quoting Google Earth which clearly showed the poor surface confirming it had been like that for some time.
SAC paid up without hesitation.
The “ace” up my sleeve was quoting Google Earth which clearly showed the poor surface confirming it had been like that for some time.
SAC paid up without hesitation.
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Commiserations:
It may help others to add comments if you tell us where you encountered the Pothole!
Others on here may have dealt with the same Council! 
Rashman
MB Enthusiast
Roads are in terrible shape, as usual.
I don’t see it improving any time soon either.
best of luck making a claim.
I sincerely hope you are successful.
but I read an article not too long ago that said that councils continue to weasel their way out of claims, declining around 3/4 of them.
I don’t see it improving any time soon either.
best of luck making a claim.
I sincerely hope you are successful.
but I read an article not too long ago that said that councils continue to weasel their way out of claims, declining around 3/4 of them.
Marquisofraspberry
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Claimed five times to the council only successful once, Hampshire 3 me 1, Worcestershire 1 me 0. Good luck.
D
Deleted member 126251
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You are either unlucky, unobservant or the roads where you drive are really terrible.
tylerdurden
Active Member
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Drove to pothole which is near home. ****ards have filled it.
now with new tyre and £215 down.
gonna treat this as a learning investment
now with new tyre and £215 down.
gonna treat this as a learning investment
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Don’t give up. Do an FOI request on the council to find out when they were first alerted to the pothole in question (either by their own inspection or someone reporting it) and compare that with the date they fixed it. There’s case law that if the delay is significant between being alerted and fixing it, then they’re liable. In the case that set the precedent, it was ruled that the council being alerted on a Friday but not fixing it until the Monday after the weekend was excessive due to the size of the pothole.
Yup same happened to us last year. Early on a Saturday morning we hit a pothole on a major A road just as we were joining a motorway. I was chatting to the RAC guy who came out about claiming from the council and he mentioned that they are much tougher now than they used to be e.g. you are very unlikely to get the full cost of a replacement unless you can prove the tyre was brand new (and of course there's no guarantee you'll get anything). He also warned that if the council are insured for public liability (very likely) it can end up recorded on the insurance industry shared database as a 'no fault' incident / claim in your name. So not declaring it to your own insurance (which you are supposed to do) could be a bit of a gamble ... and if you do declare it some companies will weight your premium for even a single no-fault incident.
I looked at the pothole on the way home and it had already been filled (this was on a Saturday, remember!), so decided it was game over anyway.
Love it. Measuring the depth of a pothole relative to the farking crater around it.
Funnily enough, it's not that deep and doesn't need filling once you have factored that in.
