wheel/suspension damage due to pot hole
 

Any advice would be much appreciated....my daughter damaged her tyre/alloy/shocker on a massive pot hole back in January and she rang Leeds council to report the damage to her car and the pot hole which was very big and very deep.The repairs were carried out the same day to road and a claim form was sent to the council and pictures and official estimate was sent as requested.today I recieved a letter from ZURICH insurance stating that the council can not be held responsible because they have not being negligent hence no repair costs will be paid for by their ZURICH.After a few phone calls to I have been stonewalled because the council said they checked the road in december and found no faults.Where do I go from here? If a motorbike had hit this hole he would have most definetly been thrown off and been seriously injured.
This cant be right surely and what is really scary is I am insured with ZURICH and will they try to wriggle out of paying me if have any problems with my Scooby

they only pay if their negligence caused the issue...they say it didnt. In fact, they checked the road in Dec and it was fine and the day they heard of an issue they fixed it.....all in all they acted as well as they could be expected to.

Did zurich write on behalf of the council or are they your insurance and you claimed via them?

I have a claim to which I am on my third letter no going back to the council as I got a puncture due to a pot hole, they are responsible imo as you pay road tax etc for the care of the road etc.

If it was me I would write to them or seek further legal advice maybe CAB as they do pay out for claims providing you can justify them and don't give up :)

Good luck.

I successfully claimed against Leeds council a few years back. They are obliged to periodically inspect and repair the road as required, but if damage occurs between the inspection and your incident they are not responsible unless they have been made aware of the damage another way, a member of the public reporting it for example. I believe the frequency of inspections varies from one place to another, but may be about 18 months, the Highways Agency will clarify. In my case, a local gentleman had written to the council numerous times about the state of the road. He had also written the the local councillor and newspaper, and had copies of all correspondence. I'd start by knocking on doors in the area it happened to see if anyone's been hassling them. If you cannot prove that they have been made aware of the damage then your case is on dodgy ground, but you can still play a game of poker with them. To represent themselves in court properly it will cost them IRO £2k for a solicitor and council representative to be in attendance. The bean counters will assess any proposed legal action and justify it over the cost of an out-of-court settlement. As long as your damage is under £2k, which I'm sure it is, you may stand a chance. Get some application forms for your local small claims court and send them in with a covering letter stating that you will submit them for proceedings on a certain date and see if they flinch.

But that's useless advice.......their responsibility is based on proved negligence, not your opinion. You may as well say some random stranger is responsible because you were watching them as you drove into the hole!

it seems as though its sewn up before i start but why did they waste my time asking for photos ,estimates,forms etc when they know its not going to be settled to my satisfaction...bloody jobs worths

at the end of the day mate its the insurance company that have said no to the pay out thats why they wanted the photos and stuff, but like any insurance company they dont want to pay out for anything unless you can prove that there client is at fault

As I said in my post above, play chicken with them. Application forms for SCC proceedings are free. Complete a copy and send it to them with an enclosing letter stating that you do not agree with the stance of the council or its insurers, and that you will be proceeding with the claim in 7 days from the date of the letter. If you hear nothing, pay the fee and submit the claim, it's only about £20 IIRC. See what they do, but usually they cough up. If they don't, withdraw the claim a week or two before the hearing.

Worth a chance. It's what we did, and won :D We did however have a solid witness to the reporting of the road condition.

Send them another letter mate. I'm sure the initial standard reply was sent hoping you'll just back away!
Insurance always try it on.

Nick

thanks skubidude i will give it a go for twenty quid