Driving to work at 6.45 this morning on a dark main road doing the speed limit of 60 MPH and hit a hot hole!

There was no way of seeing it in that light and now its distroyed my front tyre!

If that wasnt bad enough, i had to leave my car and run to work the rest of the way, took me half an hour and i was still late for work!

Got a mobile fitter coming to fit two new front tyres this afternoon £150 for 2x falkens (is that how there spelt?) fitting, callout charge and balance. They wanted £180 for toyo's!

Does anybody think iv got a case against the council? The pot hole is on a well used main road and was the size of a football easily! My argument is that if id not been paying attension, and my car wasnt soooooo planted:D i could have crashed and died! Maybe not died but it would not have been good.

Do the council have responsiblity to keep the roads in good working order?

I just hope iv not done any mechanical damage or i will be p***ed!

Does anybody think iv got a case against the council?

Yes - take photo evidence and submit a claim to them.

Rob.

I think somebody on here said they got compensation for their alloys being damaged, so you may have a case.

Driving to work at 6.45 this morning on a dark main road doing the speed limit of 60 MPH and hit a hot hole!

Not sure if the council are responsible for volcanic activity :confused: :P

Best thing you can do is nip out and take a picture of the hole ASAP with something beside it to scale it to (phone/tin of beans ) and also keep a hold of the old tyre thats getting changed today. Then get in touch with your local roads dept they will have a full claims procedure

Before you do anything, it's worth knowing that you have to prove that the council has been negligent to claim any money from them.

So if you reported the pothole this morning, then hit it on your way home from work tomorrow, they would have been negligent in not repairing it...

I tried to get my local council to pay for damage to my Ibiza a few years ago after I hit a HUGE pothole. They just kept falling back on the - The council has a statutory defence and unless you can prove negligence on their behalf, you can't claim...

HTH and good luck getting any money out of them.

Rob

cheers guys, if i get somebody else to report the pot hole and then i ring up and say i damaged it this morning would they be responsible?

Thing is, its not my bl**dy job to report the state of the roads, i pay my council and road tax so i can drive on good roads!

cheers guys, if i get somebody else to report the pot hole and then i ring up and say i damaged it this morning would they be responsible?

Thing is, its not my bl**dy job to report the state of the roads, i pay my council and road tax so i can drive on good roads!

Lol, that was what I said, I even wrote to them asking if I could have a refund on my council tax as I was doing a council workers job:O

I think you need to give them 24 hours or something reasonable to inspect and repair the road. I think it depends on the council though.

When I was going after my council I was questioning inspection frequencies, and asking if I could speak to the person responsible for the job. Saying that, I was chasing them for just over £1000 so it might be easier if it's just the cost of a new tyre...

You should start by getting photos and noting weather, lighting, etc, you are normally also required to obtain two quotes for repair to the damage - it would also be advisable to have the tracking / alignment checked after something like this. In some cases, its also a good idea to notify the local police office of the dangerous road, they might put pressure on the council to get it fixed quicker, or at least put in a speedy temporary repair.

Ideally, before maknig a claim the pot hole will have already been reported using whatever local procedures are in place. If you haven't done it already, report it to them now, or ask a friend to do it if you needed it reported under someone else's name ;-) - you might save hundreds of tyres from the same fate!

If it has already been reported, and the damaged occured afterwards you have a strong case for a claim. If your the first person unfortunate enough to have their car damaged, your less likely to have a successful claim (dependant on how strict the council are with such matters).

Either way, ask the local authority council for a claim form, get it back to them and cross your fingers!

Let us know how you get on.

Cheers

Ross

You want to get photos fast because if someone else reports it, chances are it'll be filled and they'll deny all knowledge. Btw, if you were doing 60mph and couldn't see the road in front of the car, maybe you were going too fast?

Chris

Hope you get it sorted out. I have no idea where my Council Tax money goes to. It is certainly not on the roads :(

You want to get photos fast because if someone else reports it, chances are it'll be filled and they'll deny all knowledge.

Chris

Which is exactly what happened to me a few years ago. One buckled OZ F1 Cup wheel was the result of that incident:mad:

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/ask-tech/i-hit-sunken-manhole/34879/

i seem to remember something about section 41 of the highways act....council have a duty to ensure the road is in good conditin and not result in damage/injury or something like that.

course, they will say due care and attention.....without knowing the road or conditions...60mph, dark main road.....sorry to appear negative but you might be on to a loser. I was doing half that and the council are claiming damages from me for a street lamp I hit, despite the road surface having oil and water residue from an identical crash the night before......

Hope you get it sorted out. I have no idea where my Council Tax money goes to. It is certainly not on the roads :(

I heard from quite a good source that 1/3 of the council tax we pay is for council employee pensions so they can retire at 55, as they obviously work soooooooooooooo much harder than the rest of us eh?

Ben.

aye make sure you take a picture mate of any damage and the pothole, I'm in the process of complaing about the council about a raised drain cover outside their s****ie new head quarters, the manhole cover is like a blooming speed bump,and I feel it willdo damage to the car.

Davy

I hit a hole and ruined a tyre and a wheel. i had to buy a wheel from the dealer 130 quid and a new tyre 80 quid. I then got the car tracked 60 quid.

I kept all the bills from the incident and took pictures of the pothole, clearly showing the position of the hole relative to the kurb. This showed i had no way of avoiding it without hitting a traffic island or the the kurb.

I phoned the local council, and they sent me out a claim form.

They ask you all sorts of questions about the car you were driving, ie when they ask is the car lowered, your answer will be no its standard

I attached the photo graphs to the form along with photo copies of the repairs.

I ended up 3 months later with a cheque for 300 and odd pounds Now work that one out

Hope this helps

john

To be fair its a really wide road and 80 is very comfortable down there so i dont feel that 60 was going to fast, i no the road really well too, (not well enough!)

I dont think it would have been seen at 50, its a hidden little bast*rd this pot hole!

Anyway, 'my boss' has complained to the council and i have told them whats happened as well so we'll wait and see what happens!

I hit a hole and ruined a tyre and a wheel. i had to buy a wheel from the dealer 130 quid and a new tyre 80 quid. I then got the car tracked 60 quid.

I kept all the bills from the incident and took pictures of the pothole, clearly showing the position of the hole relative to the kurb. This showed i had no way of avoiding it without hitting a traffic island or the the kurb.

I phoned the local council, and they sent me out a claim form.

They ask you all sorts of questions about the car you were driving, ie when they ask is the car lowered, your answer will be no its standard

I attached the photo graphs to the form along with photo copies of the repairs.

I ended up 3 months later with a cheque for 300 and odd pounds Now work that one out

Hope this helps

john

Nice one, cheers mate:thumbup:

Before you do anything, it's worth knowing that you have to prove that the council has been negligent to claim any money from them.

So if you reported the pothole this morning, then hit it on your way home from work tomorrow, they would have been negligent in not repairing it...

I tried to get my local council to pay for damage to my Ibiza a few years ago after I hit a HUGE pothole. They just kept falling back on the - The council has a statutory defence and unless you can prove negligence on their behalf, you can't claim...

HTH and good luck getting any money out of them.

Rob

This was also my experience.

If the hole is filled before your claim - find another they have marked for maintenance/repair they haven't yet fixed.

I know it's fraud BUT I think their get out clause is very shady and unreasonable so IMHO your actions would be justified.

I heard from quite a good source that 1/3 of the council tax we pay is for council employee pensions so they can retire at 55, as they obviously work soooooooooooooo much harder than the rest of us eh?

Ben.

Since we are at 67 now theirs ought to become at least 57 and more likely 65/67 like everyone else...

Or they could just fire a load of them

Retiring at 57 I'd be happy with that, still many, many years off for me.

As to a 1/3 of council tax being spent on pension, afraid not. I have the figures somewhere at work, I could dig them out, but I don't wanna be accused of wasting tax payers money...

Another thing worth noting, is more money is spent on compensation claims due to vehicle damage, than is spent on actually repairing the roads. A never ending cycle, with no hope of if every stopping with decreasing budgets.

Agree with all advice above, I've successfully claimed off of Hampshire CC and Portsmouth CC, which turned out to be Colas. In both cases had photos of hole + damage, measurements etc. Local residents may also help with any previous incidents - go for it!!!!

Have a read here it may be of some use to you. I hope you can get a claim from your council. It's terrible, if you fall down in the street and can claim negligence then you can get compensation. So that should be the same for driving on the public highway.

I know for a fact that Bournemouth Council here would tell you to eat ****.The roads here are terrible pot holes,bumps,drain covers god i could go on.

Kerrier council would say [cornish accent]"There be no pot holes. The tractors don't complain."[/cornish accent].

Seriously though, good luck.

I managed to get a mountain bike replaced through the council when I was forced onto a pot hole.

If the council did their jobs there wouldnt be potholes

It ****s me right off when i see potholes, why the hell do we pay road tax

I know why, so some fat **** can sit in an office all day for his life then retire early with a nice fat pension :thumbdwn: