Hi folks,

As the title suggests, I was unfortunate and hit a pot-hole that distorted the alloy and popped the tyre off the rim. Hence, alloy and new tyre are both fecked.

I went out later on with the digi camera and took lots of photos of said pot-hole.

How do I go about trying to claim from the council?

Has anyone had experience of this ?

Can you please give some advice........

Thanks

Bob.

 

If the hole has paint around it then the council can get out of paying cos the repair is planned. If on the other had they don't know about it (no paint) you can contact your highways dept of the council and make a claim.

I don't think digital cameras can be used in court, so you better get a disposable film camera and take some shots with something beside/in the hole as a scale. A rule always looks good.

They can be surprisingly quick in paying up.

Dipster

 

Good luck

You will NEED pictures/witness/POLICE number??/ and loads of time and patience

I gave up after 4 weeks

 

There was an artical in Autoexpress about just this sort of thing, i'll see if i still have it.

Have a look on Autoexpress's website

 

Advice, don't drive over pot holes.

 

Happened to my sons 18in alloy on his Astra coupe turbo, he was told that he could not claim from the council but now it has been pointed out to them anybody else who damages a wheel can, to say he went fooking ape **** is an understatement, best of luck!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I've had this happen to me on two occasions. I just took a digital photo and sent a printout along with the claim form the council sent me. I also sent them the receipt for the repair work (we have a local alloy wheel reconditioner). Approx 6 weeks later, I received my cheque for the full amount.

 

Send your picture with invoice for repair/replacement to the highways department of the council concerned.
It may be prudent to phone the council main telephone number first to ascertain the name of the individual you should send your claim to for the type of incident you have had.

theotherphil,
Out of curiosity, who fixed your wheels,and what sort of cost was involved?
I have 2 slightly out of round alloys that I believe should be recoverable.

Thanks
MTR

 

Hi MTR, I used Romax UK which are located at Unit 4 Ross Road, Stockton-on-Tees - (01642) 619196. They are excellent and have a very good reputation. They can totally repair and repaint/ laquer (or even powder coat with any colour) kerbed alloys. They charged me £150 for 4 wheels.

As for the repair to a single wheel, I have had a large V shaped buckle in a wheel fixed for £50. This was done when I had a blow-out on a front tire when negotiating a roundabout at 40MPH....I span twice and then mounted a kerb .

 

Thanks Guys,

Very helpful indeed.

Also, in the future I hope to avoid potholes by visiting a top psychic every day.

 

a few years back i bought a nice new set of alloys for my cavalier gsi,a couple of weeks later i was drivng down a back rd at night and went over a pothole..totally wrote off the front one and badly damaged the rear.
i took pictures,sent a letter off with the invoice for a new wheel to the council,they replied saying as long as the road is checked once a year they can not be held liable(i had to take their word for it that it had been checked)

i had to bite the bullet

but the hole was filled a couple of days later

 

Exactly the same happened to me, was that Northamptonshire by anychance?

Spoke to a very unhelpful supervisor & w4nker in their highways dept who was unable to give me a date of last inspection, but assured me I had to take his word for it!....still got his name somewhere.

Sent them map, photo's etc. Then 7 days later the entire road is resurfaced - no doubt I should invoice them for the survey!

Buff, If it is Northant's then I'm up for pushing this...still got copies of my letters etc...

Chris

 

I was under the impression that the exact opposite was the case.

For example, if there is no "paint around it" due to the council being unaware of it's existence, then how can they be held liable for something they don't know is there?

If, on the other hand, they ARE aware (paint round hole) and simply haven't got their finger out and fixed it, then they ARE liable.

For this reason I was always told to keep quiet after an "incident" like this, and simply report the pot-hole as a "concerned motorist".
Once the report is filed and you can prove they are aware, get your claim in!

As for police number.....

What the heck can the police do in the situation? Its a roads department issue.

Good luck.

 

Did the same myself ages ago, took pictures, got my tracking re-done, got the wheel fixed and sent the bill to the council.
Heard nothing for months, just that they were handing the claim to thier solictors.
Then out of the blue, got a cheque that covered the tracking and wheel fixing through the post, result
And then they fixed the hole
Go to your local council website, find the highways agency part, email them details of whats happened. They send you a form, fill it in, include any pics you have ( digital ones worked fine for me with stockport council ) dont forget to get your tracking done as well as the cost of the wheel and tyre! Wait months for them to process the claim, hopefully receive a cheque to cover your cost
chris.

 

DaveDipster near the top of this thread is giving sound advice. This happened to me, and I simply took photos with a ruler next to the hole (digital prints were fine for my claim).

No real argument from the council, who paid up in accordance with the estimate I provided. I expected far more difficulty !

 

an easier and cheaper method is to use your eyes like the rest of us.

 

Surely the council is bound to say 'we aren't liable for x or y reason'. They don't want to pay you. As some of you have shown, a percentage will simply back down, cursing under their breath.

Doesn't actually mean they don't have to pay though.

 

i thought they would only pay out if the hole has been previously reported by someone else?

 

Theotherphil,
Thanks for the info.
I am Manchester based, so would be a little difficult/costly on the logistics front. postage etc

But useful info either way.

Cheers
MTR

 

clearly there are no guidelines, which I'm sure is how the councils like it.

In that case, get a friend to ring up first, then send your invoice in!

 

My brother had this about 2 years ago in his peugeot. He went down what could be described as a small bomb crater in the middle of the road and this knackered his wheel, and disabled his engine-something built into pugs to stop it blowing up or something should you roll it. Anyway, the damage to get it all sorted was about 400 quid and he was told by the council that they wouldn't be making any contribution at all-they are not liable. This was in Croydon. Maybe as has been suggested, it differs from council to council, with some paying out, and some refusing point blank. Good luck with it, you can only try. Why do we bother paying our road tax hey!

 

All the more reason why everyone should report potholes to the council when they swerve to avoid them.

 

I understood that the local authority are legally responsible for damage whether they know or not.

STEVE..................

 

I have a question on a similar vein. When I was driving down a back road the other night there was a large branch had broken off and managed to in effect "key" my car the entire length. I did some "t cutting" at the w/e but you can still see it? Is there any chance of a claim on that one ?

 

IMO if it's "someone's" tree, then they would be responsible for ensuring it doesn't block or damage footpaths or vehicles etc. I don't know the full legal situation but I would imagine that if branches had been there for a long period (i.e. say 2 weeks), then you'd have a case. If it falls off the tree in a storm and bounces off the car, you wouldn't be able to claim.

Are the councils mentioned above being perticularly evasive trying to get people to back off or is there a standard legal get-out clause for them. IMO it sounds 50/50 that they're talking b*ll*x and trying to weasel their way out of paying by setting up a standard legal approach.

J.

 

had the same problem a few years ago. In the end it boiled down to the council (Kent)refusing to pay because they had checked the road, seen that it needed repairing, so painted white lines around it. They then have 14(working) days to fix that hole. Anyone (like me) that damaged his car in that time hard luck...No payout. If council fail to repair hole after 14 days then you will get your money.

If it happens to you report the hole and then just wait and see if it gets repaired within the allotted time, or find do what a friend did and just paint around the hole yourself take a photo, and see what the council say. He said this had been like this for months and that somebody must have forgotton to put the paper work in, to get the hole repaired.
Works every time

 

I managed to crack the undertray on my front splitter driving over a huge dip on the road...It was not a pothole but just where the road had subsided in one place.
I contacted the council who told they knew about it as others had complained but it was not there parish and gave me the number of the correct council,they sent a claim form and about a month later the road got resurfaced.I then recieve a report from the highways dept saying the road was checked 1 month before my incident and it was fine even though it had been like that for years getting worse in time...
To get anywhere you need photos and witnesses otherwise you will get some cack excuse...

 

A above.....pothole in Glastonbury = tyre bubble + flat spot in Superleggerra. Had to get new wheel and tyre = £280 IIRC. Somerset Council referred my claim to their solicitors who replied after 8 weeks or so. Words to the effect that their client has a policy of checking the roads in the area on a monthly basis and the offending stretch was checked within that time period before my mishap and all was found to be well. Therefore they operated in accordance with local and national guidelines are are therefore not liable.

mutter mutter bugger!

JB

 

I had the same problem with my beastie.

But the road damage was caused by contracters working on the road and nearby, took lots of photos, spent an hour on the phone, one letter(to the right person, do your homework) and 4 weeks letter after i had forgotten about it a cheque for £495 turned up in the post.




Moral! NEVER EVER give up.




Ta Ta

Richard
Scooby Island