Well I had a reply from the local council.


Not happy.

Other point raised in the letter were that:


My argument is that there was no sign posting, sprayed markers on the ground or anything to say it was there.

I also went to re visit the site of the hole today and found that about 3/4 of the hole has been filled in, but the rest of it is still very holey...


I'm also going to argue that the council clearly hasn't demonstrated a reasonable system of repair as clearly there is still damage there.

Thinking about it, what I should have done after hitting the pot hole, is stopped immediately and called an ambulance complaining of excruciating pain in my neck and back. Then phoned one of these "have you been injured" companies and gone about it that way. Stupidly, I thought honesty was the best way to go about it, how naive I am

So how much council tax would you like to pay, in order to provide sufficient road repair teams to identify and repair every single pothole within <say> four hours of it forming?



None of which removes your ultimate responsibility - as the driver - to look where you're going.



They've certainly cocked that up, and it's going to be back in no time, but it doesn't make any difference to your claim.



If you hit it again today and damaged a wheel as a result, you may have a case. But whether they repaired it properly or not doesn't affect a previous incident. They have repaired it (probably) within that 28 days, though. They may well have done what they know full well to be a temporary patch, solely to reduce the risk until the weather improves enough to do a proper long-term repair.



A deliberate fraud is never a particularly good way to go about anything, other than getting some free board and lodging for a bit. Nor would an injury affect the council's liability (or lack thereof), merely the size of payout if they WERE found to be liable.

I think you will have to prove the council knew about this pothole and had a reasonable amount of time to repair it before your accident. There are a few report-a-pothole websites scattered around the internet so if you could find the hole had already been reported to the council that would strengthen your case against the council.

I am not a lawyer though and would not claim to have any real understanding of the law. The letter could just be a standard council "fob off" letter just to deter half-hearted claimants.

I have known friends who managed successful claims in the past against councils for poor road surfaces, but not the details.

Miarke

True, but given it was dark and the hole was obscured by a puddle and the sheer size of the hole, a sign or road marker would have been nice and improved the safety of the lane.

The point is, they knew it was there, and it was very large. They could have put some cones round it or a sign or something.

Im not trying to get something for nothing here, I'm genuinely indignant that I've now got two unusable rims from hitting that pot hole.

If your lights don't allow you to see as far or as well as you can in daylight, you're meant to slow down...



Do you know for sure that they didn't put one there, and some pillock nicked it? There's certainly at least one gone missing from an open-cast mine in the middle of a road round here.

Blimey Adrian you're a harder sell than the local council



It's not lke I'm saying my suspension is shot or my super chavy 24" chrome rims were scratched as I cruised at 50 in a 40 zone.

I was well under the speed limit, I'm quite happy to replace the shocks myself but it would be so nice if they just said, "sorry you cute old car got damaged, here's £100 to get yourself some new rims from Ecas."

<shrug> You don't pay council tax yourself, do you...? I do... About £180 a month.

It's more than doubled since we moved in, and I'd rather it didn't go TOO much higher, thanks - especially if some of the rise is because of people who don't look where they're going...



Just because a sign says a certain speed is legal, doesn't mean that it's safe or appropriate to do that speed. Equally, just because a sign says a certain speed ISN'T legal, doesn't mean it isn't safe or appropriate...