The pitfalls of not repairing potholes

[robert.saunders]

True; but it is sunny

 

[C43AMG]

Unless the hole was only made recently, don't they have a duty of care that would allow you to claim for compensation?

Where is Swiss Toni when you need him?

Yes the C43 buckled a front wheel and damaged the tyre in a pothole. Elmbridge paid for new AMG Wheel and tyre eventually.

I just sent them a photo of wheel and tyre and estimates, lots of money.

 

[prprandall51]

I have beach-buggy style tyres so no problem for me normally. However, I borrowed a CLS while my car was being serviced three weeks ago and split a brand new low profile tyre on the first day. A week later, I was in a loan A-Class with low profile tyres and burst a tyre in that, too. Two tyres is 8 days

The council wants proof of ownership, insurance documents, photos, a map and (probably) blood samples before they will entertain a claim.

 

[st13phil]

At risk of opening up a debate on taxation, the reality is that in general terms the UK doesn't spend enough on maintaining its infrastructure and hasn't for many years in the quest for lower taxes. Cutting back on routine maintenance is almost always false economy, that is unless you can dispose of the asset before it becomes too troublesome and while a buyer might not notice that it's been neglected. This is rather difficult to achieve with things like roads, though

We're now at the stage with much of our infrastructure that the cost of reinstatement is quite massive, and far in excess of the aggregate expenditure that would have been required to keep it in good repair in the first place.

While burst tyres, bent rims and damaged suspension are in most cases the limit of damage suffered by a car driver, for motorcyclists the consequence can often be complete loss of vehicle control, with predictably dire consequences. I wonder when the point will be reached that it becomes more economically viable to spend the money on road maintenance rather than compensation payments? My cynical side says that nothing much will change until that stage is reached.

 

[prprandall51]

Honest John - a columnist in the Daily Telegraph - frequently quotes the following statistic:

"Councils spend £35 million a year repairing potholes and £60 million a year in compensation for the damage they cause."

 

[rf065]

There seems to be a trend up our way now, that means new motorways built as a by passes, are not built with a hard shoulder but are classed as a motorway not a dual carriageway. Is that just to lower the cost?
Why not just call it a dual carriageway? Are they having a laugh?

Russ

 

[st13phil]

Honest John - a columnist in the Daily Telegraph - frequently quotes the following statistic:

"Councils spend £35 million a year repairing potholes and £60 million a year in compensation for the damage they cause."

Which, assuming my logic that it's cheaper to pay the compensation than fix the potholes holds true, we can safely assume that they'd need to spend more than £60 million a year in addition to the £35 million they're already spending on the problem.

 

[richard]

We're now at the stage with much of our infrastructure that the cost of reinstatement is quite massive, and far in excess of the aggregate expenditure that would have been required to keep it in good repair in the first place.

And worse still, most (sensible) people try and save money when times are good, so that when times are less good they have some reserves.

Not our current pm / ex chancellor - spent everything they could, now, if times do get slightly worse - which seems more than likely - its going to be very very painful.

National debt (as a percentage of GDP, and as an absolute number) has been increasing every year. http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=277

So, that sends a fine message about saving for hiccups and later life.

But, then in fact, they don't want us to be comfortable in later life, otherwise they'd allow pensions to be based on 100% of pre-retirement earnings, not on some smaller proportion thus ensuring we're worse off then. I guess the last thing they want is a bunch of people becoming indepedant of the state incase theres enough of them to point out how much they enjoy living on our money. (ok, a bit jaded)

R

 

[Carrotchomper]

I frequently wonder why, in a country with so many and varied taxes, that we struggle to make the everyday stuff work when other countries tend to do alright. Then I see figures quoting the cost of the Northern Rock debacle at 34bn, the ongoing cost of our many overseas conflicts and come to a sad realisation...

The country's fecked!

I mean, 34bn??? The mind boggles. Surely that's more than the sum total of all investments in the bank? I would have been happier for the Government simply to have underwritten everyone's deposits, and left the rest to the Bank themselves to sort out. I mean, it's not like their mortgagees would have a terrible vested interest in the bank remaining solvent, n'est-ce pas?

 

[Colin_b]

Some roads in Cumbria (A595) have been detrunked - ie maintainance moved from national to local responsibility. Maintainance seems to run to landscaping roundabouts, putting up signs (never updated) boasting 1595 accidents in 5 years. Doesn't seem toi include filling potholes, or probably worse, stopping the edges of the road eroding.

Saves central govt. money, and shifts the blame to local councils.

 

[Silestanix]

Roads aren't brilliant around here...I've driven on better roads in rural Belgium... :|

 

[Tec7]

I find it interesting the way my local council cannot find money to fix potholes, but have an endless supply of cash to create new speed bumps!

 

[Seamster15]

If you use this site to report the pothole it should get fixed. The ones in our road normally get done within two weeks of reporting.

http://www.fillthathole.org.uk/

Simon