Potholes.

Trumpet

Well-Known Forumite
Has anyone here any experience of claiming for damage to car wheels, tyres etc after hitting a pothole in the road.
Strumpet managed to hit a pothole yesterday resulting in a ruined tyre and cosmetically damaged alloy wheel. She's been out today to measure and photograph the pothole. Apparently it's about 4' x 2' and 6" deep at its deepest point. It appears that the council / highways dept are already aware as there are paint marks on the road around it.
She has spoken to someone at the council today who didn't seem particularly helpful.

Send your claim in and at some point we'll forward it to our insurers who at some point will decide whether to pay out or not.

Not verbatim as I didn't witness the conversation.
Any advice gratefully accepted.
 

Jimbo

Well-Known Forumite
Trumpet said:
Has anyone here any experience of claiming for damage to car wheels, tyres etc after hitting a pothole in the road.
Strumpet managed to hit a pothole yesterday resulting in a ruined tyre and cosmetically damaged alloy wheel. She's been out today to measure and photograph the pothole. Apparently it's about 4' x 2' and 6" deep at its deepest point. It appears that the council / highways dept are already aware as there are paint marks on the road around it.
She has spoken to someone at the council today who didn't seem particularly helpful.

Send your claim in and at some point we'll forward it to our insurers who at some point will decide whether to pay out or not.

Not verbatim as I didn't witness the conversation.
Any advice gratefully accepted.
The question I would ask as the legal advisor to the Council is 'If it's such a large pothole how did she not see it early on and avoid it?'
 

Gramaisc

Forum O. G.
Jimbo said:
The question I would ask as the legal advisor to the Council is 'If it's such a large pothole how did she not see it early on and avoid it?'
Perhaps there could have been water in it? I remember a lad jumping into a 'puddle' to splash me during a cross-country run at school ( after I had done the same to him ) - but his 'puddle' turned out to be a trench and he submeged totally..
 

Trumpet

Well-Known Forumite
Gramaisc said:
Jimbo said:
The question I would ask as the legal advisor to the Council is 'If it's such a large pothole how did she not see it early on and avoid it?'
Perhaps there could have been water in it? I remember a lad jumping into a 'puddle' to splash me during a cross-country run at school ( after I had done the same to him ) - but his 'puddle' turned out to be a trench and he submeged totally..
Apparently that was the case after the recent heavy rain.
 

Trumpet

Well-Known Forumite
Quick update, GF has just had an E-mail from the council, paying out £270.00 taking into account wear & tear on the tyre. A couple of aquaintances reckoned it wasn't worth pursuing but after the initial contact with the council it was a relatively painless job.
 

Nicedave

Well-Known Forumite
Gramaisc said:
Jimbo said:
The question I would ask as the legal advisor to the Council is 'If it's such a large pothole how did she not see it early on and avoid it?'
Perhaps there could have been water in it? I remember a lad jumping into a 'puddle' to splash me during a cross-country run at school ( after I had done the same to him ) - but his 'puddle' turned out to be a trench and he submeged totally..
Did you write that Vicar of Dibley sketch?
 

basil

don't mention the blinds
Trumpet said:
Oh, all right then, Ranton. Filled in by now I would guess.
Ye gods Ranton!! forget it, they don't have road markings, streetlights, kerbs, footpaths and they hit them lanes like maniacs........
 

AA Silencers

Well-Known Forumite
I refer to the case of Bernard Cribbins as Man digging hole Vs man in bowler hat and ask you this. was the hole actually a hole with reference to it's shape and position? Legal cases are never simple

 

Arcadesteve

Active Member
I read somewhere that some councils use ways to wriggle out of paying out for damage to cars. Did you know that there is a definition of what a pothole is? It has to be a certain size and depth and has to be in a certain place in the road so that it's completely unavoidable. With some councils if it doesn't doesn't meet a certain criteria it's not a 'real' pothole and they don't need to pay out.
 

Gramaisc

Forum O. G.
Pothole Review - page 27 - it seems that local highways authorities can basically just make up their own rules..

Although 40mm deep seems to be in general use and there's pressure to consider 150mm in diameter as the threshold..
 

John Marwood

I ♥ cryptic crosswords
5NJUF9v.jpg
 

Gramaisc

Forum O. G.
I had cause today to drive along Douglas Road. If there is a more potholed road in Stafford, then I'll be surprised. It wouldn't be quite so annoying if they hadn't wasted the budget in putting rather futile humps along it...
 

Withnail

Well-Known Forumite
*Attention Cyclists*

That one by the lights at Tesco - heading towards the Grapes from the Railway, you'll know the one if you've been that way - is back, just at the right position for your front wheel to get proper mangled.

Approach with extreme caution.
 
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