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Original poster

Anyone had any luck litigating against their council over potholes causing damage to cars?

22 replies

MuffinMclay · 29/07/2007 19:25

We drove through a pothole today and it has thrown the steering column on the car completely off balance. The road was full of potholes, and we were forced to go into a sizeable one today (on a rural road) because a car was coming the other way at speed and another was right behind us. We weren't travelling fast (35ish in a 60 zone, but very windy roads).

This is the second time it has happened in 3 months (last time in France) and it cost approx £400 last time to fix.

Is the council in any way liable for not maintaining the roads properly?

Just wondering....

OP posts:
mosschops30 · 29/07/2007 19:30

Yes they are but it depends how long the pot-hole has been there. They have to be given an acceptable amount of time to fix it (not sure what that is).

dh is a civil engineer so when this happened to me, he took proper photos of the hole, its depth, and spoke to the appropriate person at the council.

As it was we didnt continue with claim because I sold the car but good luck

Original poster
MuffinMclay · 29/07/2007 19:33

So do the council already have to be aware of the pothole and the fact that it needs filling in, but not have got round to doing it?

OP posts:
mosschops30 · 29/07/2007 21:33

no muffin, but it cant be left for years without them bothering IYKWIM.

I would make a claim, the worst that can happen is they refuse to pay up

Original poster
MuffinMclay · 29/07/2007 21:44

Ah, interesting. I'll pursue this further tomorrow.

Any more? Anyone actually gone through with it (successfully or otherwise)?

OP posts:
Original poster
MuffinMclay · 30/07/2007 15:09

Bumping this in the hope of further advice.

I have notified the council about the existence of the pothole, but that is as far as I've got so far.

OP posts:
secretsquirrel1 · 24/08/2007 22:44

Was just browsing and saw this thread. I was lucky when the same thing happened to me. Drove over a pothole on an unlit bit of road, and damaged my wheel. The next day I went back to the same bit of road, took lots of photos, contacted the council, they sent a claim form which I sent back with the photo's, they replied back saying to get the wheel fixed (with an explanation of the damage caused from the garage). Sent this off the the council and got reimbursed with the full amount. This was the London Borough of Lewisham, but I hope you managed to get some sort of compensation.

pointydog · 24/08/2007 22:57

I'd speak to the council before steaming in with litigation.

littlemissbossy · 24/08/2007 23:03

MM go back and take photos of the holes and measure them too - before they fill them in

winestein · 24/08/2007 23:05

From my understanding from a recent course I attended on Highway Litigation, all the council have to do is prove that they have a reliable system of maintenance. It is always worth a shot though. I would just write to them, detailing the incident and enclosing the bill.

pointydog · 24/08/2007 23:05

Surely it's a good thing they fill them in quickly?

I object to government money being spent in this way.

pointydog · 24/08/2007 23:06

"all the council have to do is prove that they have a reliable system of maintenance"

yep, fair enough. Do you want them to pay out every time?

winestein · 24/08/2007 23:11

No Pointy. Just when they have been negligent

pointydog · 24/08/2007 23:14

Well I'm agin it.

Negligence is so often an over-used highly subjective word that means 'I want money'

winestein · 24/08/2007 23:19

And rightly so if damage to someone elses property has been caused by it IMO. The "no win no fee" merchants created the hype that evething was claimable, when in fact, that is not the case at all. Actual negligence has to be proved - it's not just a cover-all term as purported by the claim firms.

McEdam · 24/08/2007 23:49

I wish someone would sue my local council, maybe that would make the useless tossers actually DO something about the state of the roads. Honestly, I'm all for the public sector, but my county council are astoundingly incompetent as far as highways are concerned.

Original poster
MuffinMclay · 26/08/2007 09:33

In the end we didn't do anything, other than report the pothole to the council. I haven't been back to check if it has been filled in; I decided it was better to do a long and circuitous route on 'normal' roads in future and avoid this route altogether.

As luck would have it a few days later, on a very narrow bit of road, some idiot came driving towards me, over on my side of the road, forcing me to mount the pavement to avoid being hit. The impact of this hit another bit of the car and seems to have knocked the steering alignment back into place.

OP posts:
stoppinattwo · 26/08/2007 10:16

I have worked in Highways maintenance Muffin.......where we deal with potholes etc. You have had some good advice and it would be worth getting your car checked. But firts you need to be sure that the part of the road is adopted, ie is it under the coucils ownership??. It may be privately owned.

Hope your car is feeling better

Maynard · 13/04/2010 17:21

This reply has been deleted

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Maynard · 13/04/2010 17:31

This reply has been deleted

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southeastastra · 13/04/2010 17:37

wow a whole programme about potholes how entertaining

OhYouBadBadKitten · 13/04/2010 17:40

lol!!!! some of them might be quite exciting. Might find a whole community of lost elves down some of them. whole eco systems even.

lincstash · 14/04/2010 22:49

You only have a claim if you can prove the council knew about the pothole and have not repaired it in a reasonable amount of time.

Otherwise you're wasting your time and money,

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