Pothole Advice Wanted Please!

AndyJ

Right guys, apologies for the lengthy post in advance but i could do with some advice...especially if your a legal eagle :thumbup:

Basically i hit a pothole back in November and buckled my wheel and damaged a tyre. I took pictures of the damage and the pothole, replaced the wheel and tyre and sent a letter with all the evidence to the local council requesting compensation. At the start of the year i received a letter from the councils insurers stating that they have reviewed my request for compensation but have decided that the council are NOT liable because the road in question was inspected 7 months prior to my incident with inspections being carried out yearly.
Now, i responded to this letter requested various pieces of information under the Freedom of Information Act and in this correspondence i argued that due to the state of the road (its in dire need of resurfacing) yearly inspections were clearly not adequate.
Since this i have recently received a small amount of the information i requested, the insurers say that thay are not entitled to provide everything, and they have not changed their stance on the claim. The information they have provided are details of repairs to the road from April 07 up until my incident, during that time they repaired no less than 29 defects in total on five separate occasions! Surely this is proof of the condition of the road and that yearly inspections are simply not adequate!?
I am unsure of the classification of the road (in highway maintenance terms) and of the local councils maintenance regime as the insurance company will not release this information. I am considering pursuing this through the small claims court and have already threatened to do so however i am unsure whether it is worth my time, effort and money to do so.
Has anyone had any similar dealings or can offer some advice?

Thanks for your time! :thumbup:

JohnnyN

There was a chap on VVOC recently who smashed the front of his GSi bumper on a speed hump. IIRC, the rubber had come away leaving the studs exposed that fixed the hump to the road. The studs caught on the underside of the bumper and severely damaged it. He tried claiming but was knocked back at every turn. It was a lengthy proceedure and failed to gain any compensation.

planty

same with me, i hit a pothole, damaged my alloy and tyre, took loads of pictures, sent off everything that i need to, they filled in the holes the next day, and a few weeks later i recived a letter back saying that the road has been inspected less than 28 days ago which is in there targets,

No hope at all,

so now i drive round pots holes and drive slowly over them if i know where they are, which is more hassle to everyone else now.

Sjdickso

My sister had the same, hit a pothole did her wheel in and tyre, she reported it and got the answer they had checked the road within 6 months and that was that.

AndyJ

There was no way i could have avoided the pothole i hit; the road was unlit and it was dark. Its a matter of proving whether the local council have been negligent or not. Certain classifications of road have to be inspected at minimum intervals and if they'e not then the council are liable. Now, i think that the road in question does only have to be inspected every 12 months but my argument is that the council have got this classsification wrong as it is used as a rat run by a considerable amount of traffic and that because of the condition of the carriageway, which they knew about, it should have been subject to more frequent inspections.
It would seem that they would rather suffer the expense of going to a small claims court, which will cost them thousands, than pay out a couple of hundred pound!

Matt

Ah, don't you just love how our Councils and Government love to waste our "Road Tax" on shite other than the condition of the road we are actually paying to drive on.