Leaving work today my front nearside wheel went down the pothole that has been at the end of the road for about 2 months now. BANG. A really bad thump, and the suspension hit the stops! Got to squash and had a look (only up the road!)
One bent rim. How do I go about getting the council to pay for the repair of my wheel, or maybe a new wheel if I can't get it fixed!
grrrrrrr, crap british roads. :(:(:(:(

First port of call, take a photograph with a tape measure for ID purposes. Dont get run over.......

If there are houses near by knock and ask if the pothole has been there for a while. The council may claim that its appeared overnight, so theres nothing they could have done about it.

Then contact you local council with your details.

Later Yoza

Send a letter to them along with photos of the pothole and your rim. Don't mention it's been there for 2 months at this stage. Thery should have records of that. If you bring it up they'll be smart arses and say 'well why did you drive into it if you knew about it'. Save that for later.

Take a photo (not digital) of both the wheel and the pothole. Get yourself a witness if you can, and ring the transport department at the council. They will take your details and will send you a compensation form. You fill it, and send the photos along with the form. It can take time, but if they see as being legit, they will pay out.

I had a huge pothole near my house. One day, went over, and braked, as a car reversed out of their drive rather quickly, and as I did so, the pothole smacked my sump, and leaked all my engine oil! Scary moment, that was...

There are loads of damn potholes round Sheffield [img]images/smilies/mad.gif[/img]

Seems i have been lucky so far not to damage anything... well nothing visible.

Dont let them get away with it and dont give up :)

I have emailed the council, and will take some pictures of the hole tomorrow. Thanks guys for all the advice.
I was hoping to go for a "spirited" drive on sunday, do you think I should with the wheel like this?
http://www.wilkinson42.btinternet.co...rim_640480.JPG
chris

I wouldn't go anywhere 'spirited' on that wheel. I might decide to go to work on it for a while if I had no option.

It's not just the bead that's bent. The inner radius of the bead has bent straight. You might be looking at a new wheel.... :-(


Vindaloo.

I had pretty much exactly the same happen to me a couple of weeks back.

A new wheel for MY03WRX was about £180 from the dealer.

Cheers

Dave

ahhhh, dont say that guys, that is not good news. Guess the council can stump up the funds for a new one then eh?
Bugger, on my birthday as well!!
:(:(:(

Did the same on a high curb......Did'nt get geometry checked and knackered the front tyres pronto.... Get down to the tyre dealer and get your geometry checked NOW

right, I'm running around at 40 mph max on the space saver now, and my dads mate is going to see if he can fix the rim.
Took the tyre off today, and doesnt actually look too bad, as it seems to be just on the rim wall and no further into the wheel.
I've emailed the council with details of what has happened, and also took some pictures this morning of the offending hole:
http://www.wilkinson42.btinternet.co...iew_small2.JPG
How the hell I missed it I don't know, but there you go, after all the driving I've done lately, and especially getting airborne on saturday on the way up to the RAID ACROSS THE BORDER
:D:D:D
I'll keep you informed how I get on.
chris.

It's prolly best not getting the wheel fixed if you've said something to the council as they may want to see it as proof.

theres no way I'm waiting for the council to look at my rim, they may be weeks getting it sorted, and I'm not running around on a space saver any longer than I have too!
Good point though, cheers,
chris.

The council should certainly pay for your wheel, the only getout they have is if they have seen the hole and the work is sheduled to be done.
If the hole did not have paint spray around it you are ok, as soon as the council shedule the hole for repair they spray around the hole with paint, this helps the workmen.
I had a wheel replaced when I hit a hole a few years back.
I took a photo as you have, but with a match box beside it and also in the hole as a scale. Took photos of the wheel as well.

I'm not sure if it's still true but digital camera photos used to be unadmissable in court cases as they can be doctored easily, may be a good idea to use a film camera if you didnt.

Hope that helps and you get your money asap.

BTW I carry one of those diposable flash cameras in the glove box now, in case this happens again or if some muppet hits my car. Photo evidence is really convincing when making insurance claims.

Dipster




[Edited by davedipster - 11/22/2003 11:56:05 PM]

Thats one angry looking pothole.

I hate them ones with the nice deep, sharp, vertical face.:eek:

Am I alone here? When I know Im going to whallop a pothole, due to not seeing it until the last minute. I tend to jump up in my seat, as though I can somehow 'bunnyhop' my car over the hole.:)

Please tell me you do it aswell.......:o

Chris,

Same happened to me in the Calibra and I got the cash back from the council. Ring me and i'll tell you how!

Pete

I am trying to claim from High Peak at the moment but they don't even reply to my calls. Scuffed two wheels couple of weeks ago in Disley.

Is that one near SKF?

Si

yeah, thats the one near skf sillysi, monster hole it is too yoza!
I didnt get chance to "bunnyhop" it though yoza, hehe:D could have been worth a try though eh?
I'll give you a ring sometime today mad, thanks for that,
chris.

That looks a nasty hole mate, shame my 2 spares are the wrong size you as you could have borrowed them till it was sorted. Good luck with the claim, let me know how you get on.

I had a similar experience with the Somerset County Council having buckled a Superleggerra and damaged the wall of a perfectly good tyre. I took pictures of the wheel and sent them in to the council. They sent me forms and a local ordinance survey map to point out where the pot hole was. After 3 months or so, I got a reply from the Council's solicitors who said that as their client had a policy of checking the roads every 6 weeks or so, they could not be held responsible for the damage to my vehicle as they were not negligent.

I gather you would have to prove negligence on their part to have any chance of success. I dropped the matter and paid for replacements myself.

Finally, I do recall a member of Scoobynet mentioning that he processes these types of claims for his council but I can't remember his name.

Hope this helps

Jerome

after the email I sent with pictures to the council on friday afternoon at around 16:30, I got this reply back today:
That is very refreshing to see in this day and age, and some positive action being taken on there side!
On the wheel front, it is now fixed! and has cost me a tenner! So, all in all not a bad result.
I've yet to double check the tyre, but as it was brand new, with only about 600 miles on it, and the guys who fitted them at SELECTA TYRES in bredbury also took it off on saturday, they didn't say that it was knackered in any way.
I'm having it put back on in a while, so I will let you know later if its ok.
thanks for all the comments.
chris.

Yoza,

Thank God for that, I thought it was just me :D

tiggers.

I suppose we could all take from this experience a more proactive attitude.

If we know of a pothole thats getting bad, to report it before it damages something/someone, easier said than done but maybe worthwhile.

Glad the repair was so cheap.

Pity you got it fixed, cos when the council admit liability, they'd have had to replace your damaged wheel.

Due the production problems with the Superleggera at the moment, you might have found yourself getting a full set of new rims, which you could then have punted and fixed your SuperL! ;)



[Edited by talizman - 11/24/2003 11:43:08 AM]

Chris where's that hole?? i'll run over it and wreck my leggra, claim off the council for a full new set like Talizman says:D:D:D

gav..

Chris how the hell did you manage to get that fixed for a tenner http://smilies.crowd9.com/contrib/sarge/Oogle_anim.gif

there we have 2 opposite views from scoobynet, and what makes this bbs so good! talizman on the one hand, trying to screw the council for as much as I can get, and gary c taking the caring approach, and thinking of others :D
thanks for all the comments guys. £15 all in and I was thinking it was going to be much worse than that. (the extra £5 was for the refitting and balancing of my wheel)
Now all I need to do is get a bogus reciept from a wheel and tyre place, so I can claim for at least a tons worth of damages!! :D
chris

Boyakasha, dads m8 at work is a wheel repairer in his spare time. On nights with him, dropped the wheel off at dads on saturday at 4:30 pm, he gave it to the bloke, bloke put it on jig all day sunday, gave back to dad last night, dad dropped it off to me this morning at 7:00 am when he finished work.
drove about 4 miles in total on my space saver, hehe.
chris.
ps, he quoted me £25 originally, but as he knew my dad, I got a discount, cheers shaun! :D

In all seriousness, I'd get the repair fully checked as they can be prone to integrity problems, especially after a repair of this nature.

OZ carry out numerous stringent tests even including x-rays!!!

Just in case it gives up on you when you are most relying on it.... Not good.

no worries there talizman, that is what the guy does, he has all the equipment to do that. there is no way he would let me have the wheel if he thought for a second it was faulty in any way.
can you imagine the guilt he would have if I crashed because of it, and he had to face my father!
chris