wrx287

iTrader: (8)

Went for a little spirited drive the other day and just came over a crest on a road i know very well and BANG! hi the front left wheel on a pothole the was just after the crest Hit it at about 50mph.(60mph limit)

Thankfully no damage to the wheel but i think it's safe to say the tyre is fu**ed



Luckily i was 2 mins from home and limped back at 20mph

Rally fan 555

iTrader: (7)

Glad you are OK - what are we paying our tax for

notfub

iTrader: (4)

Don't quote me on this but I'm sure you can claim for damage from the council. Worth a phone call if you ask me Calv.

Trap2Terrorist

iTrader: (3)

You should be able to claim as long as there are no signs or yellow spray paint marking it out as a hazard. If it doesn't have a sign or any yellow marking around it, go back in daylight and take plenty of photo's of the pot hole, ensuring you have an everyday object to show the perspective and size of the hole, both width of the hole and its depth.

Then write a strong letter to the council claiming compensation for the tyre. It'll take ages for them to cough up but you are entitled to compensation.

Don't contact them until you have photographic evidence though, otherwise you might find the magic yellow spray paint will suddenly appear overnight

Cannon Fodder

iTrader: (100)

I wouldn't rely on making a claim from the Highways Agency, Council or the Welsh Assembly as I damaged a wheel on the A465 between Hirwaun and Merthyr. I filled in the claim form and sent it off to the South Trunk Road Agency it was then sent off to the Welsh Assembly Highways Claims Dept and 3 months after the damage I received a response basically telling me in nice terms to f*ck off.

That was a month ago and I have recently received maintenance/inspection records showing that the pothole was reported before my damage and it was repaired the day after the damage. I am left now having to take my complaint/claim to the Ombudsman as far as the WA are concerned as 'nobody else reported damage' .

I am either left having to pay for the repairs myself (which I did as I needed the car on the road) and accept that my £405 road tax is not worth a w@nk when it comes to having roads which are in good condition.

matscooby

iTrader: (3)

Thats about right Ty.

My brother had a motorbike accident down some back roads between Tesco's Leeway and magor.

He hit a pot hole outside a building yard and tried to claim from the council the day after the accident, He went back to the hole to take photo's the following day and they had been out and tarmac'd over the pot hole.

He called them back the same day and they said it was reworked weeks before and they had reports confirming that.

mervil

iTrader: (5)

That's bloody terrible!! Road tax goes nowhere!!

As Rich says, photos and make a claim!! Any damage to suspension??

KJD Mk1

iTrader: (3)

Once a pothole has been reported the asset owner has up to 7 days to carry out repairs. If the defect is not repaired then the asset owner is responsible. Ask for records to prove.

Inspections of the asset should be carried out at various intervals depending on the classification of the road. If the inspections are not carried out within the specified times then the asset owner is liable.

As said photos, and ask for all records of maintenance and inspections.

You may or may not be able to make a claim depending on how good the local authority are at following the code of practice.

Good luck.

The Stitcher

iTrader: (12)

gutting mate

GMballistic

iTrader: (1)

X2 for both
I hit a huge pot hole the other night....might just go and check the inside of my tyre thinking about it now....


...no it's ok . Can't believe the state of our roads Never enough Tarmac to fill the pot holes but always enough to make those bleedin' speed bumps that keep popping up everywhere.

wrx287

iTrader: (8)

Thanks guys. Unfortunately i had a similar incident about 3 years ago when a pothole broke a wheel on my Peugeot 206. Took all the pics of the pothole with measurements and like Ty said,after a couple of months the letter came back saying they wouldnt pay for any damages

No other damage apart from the wallet

The more the road tax goes up the worse the roads seem to be getting

mervil

iTrader: (5)

Try a local paper, see what they say!! Anything is worth a try

THE DOCTOR

iTrader: (2)

The yellow paint is an interesting point, taken advice from relatives who used to work on the council...no yellow paint is normally bad news, cos the council will basically deny any knowledge of th pothole, basically for them to be liable they need to be aware of it, and will use the 'can't check all the roads all the time' clause to get out of it, relying on members of the public to inform them of problems...

Yellow paint on the pothole on the other hand is good news, cos basically it means they have been made aware of the pothole, have inspected it and have marked it for repair, so obviously if you hit a hole that they know about and have not repaired yet, then you have a stronger case. It will still be difficult but you would have more chance of claiming.

ScoobyNudge

iTrader: (4)

gutted for u mate!

get a claim in just in case they do pay out!

ryan33hks

iTrader: (2)

Gutting Calv, but atleast your wheel wasn't damaged aswell. Defo worth trying to get a claim going

wrx287

iTrader: (8)

Dont really think it's worth it to be honest. Got a new tyre today and only paid £58 for a 215/35/18 They are great tyres and ive had a set on for about 7000 miles and they are as good as any big brand tyre

Cant complain

corradoboy

I dropped lucky in a similar situation, as whilst I was taking photos for the claim, an old kid who lived right where the pothole was came out to ask if I worked for the council. It transpired that he'd been writing to them, his MP, councillors and the local newspaper about the state of the road for over 12 months. Copies of all his corespondance substantiated my claim fully They did still try it on though, but eventually I got a cheque to cover a new wheel, tyre and alignment and suspension checks.

As has been said, they have a duty of care to inspect periodically, and the timing varies from road to road and differs in different areas. I seem to recall two years being the longest period between inspections, but as also stated, once a fault which qualifies as serious enough is reported they have to repair it within 7 days.

Whilst my claim was ongoing I considered setting up a website where people could report potholes, and I would then make the official report to the council. This would mean everybody would be able to see if the one they hit was indeed reported. Call me cynical, but I'd bet that even those which are reported are denied as no-one except the council and the reporting individual will have a record.