CLAIM YOUR ROAD TAX BACK !!!!!!

[floordoc]

I thought road tax was brought in many years ago to be spent on building new roads and the upkeep and maintenence of older roads, Here in Portsmouth the local newspaper run a front page story last week about the councils anger at the amount of claims it was paying each week in compensation, A great amount of these were for speed bumps damage and general wear to the car due to the state of the roads. Too many people don't bother when a simple invoice or quote from a garage and a claim form from your local government office is all thats needed, Its got to be worth a go. There's got to be give and take. There are some roads I used for many years but only once in my Porsche.

Edited by floordoc on Thursday 22 March 19:55

[mrtoad]

Great post! Where do you get the government claim form from?

[Goochie]

A friend recently demoloshed his front bumper on a cattle grid in a public road that had sagged in the middle. He hit is at 20mph and caused thousands of pounds of damage.

Again - where is the form ?

[DucatiGary]

I can also go damage my car and provide invoices for over a couple of grands worth, wheres the form ?

[johnfm]

This post is useless without the form...

[TRY5T]

I`d be very careful what you read in papers ...I wouldn`t get too excited - the Council have a duty under s41 of the Highways Act 1985 to maintain the highway. If they have a system of inspection and maintenance in place - and that maintenance policy has been properly adhered to, then they will have a statutory defence and you are stuffed.

Speed humps have to be constructed in accordance with the recommended guidelines - just because they do not conform does not automatically make them dangerous. You will need to show that it was dangerous to all users, not just a section if you are to win; or the alternative is that they were constructed negligently. It is very hard to claim against the Council so just bare this in mind.

The road tax you pay does not go back to roads - it goes into the coffers as a whole and the Council get a sum of money in a budget every year. The more claims the Council pay, the more this budget decreases and the less they have to spend on roads. Its a viscous circle - road degrades, more successful claims appear, less money to spend etc..

[floordoc]

The council office should provide claim forms. Id like to clarify that any genuine claim for damage to your vehicle due to potholes or speedbumps should be paid for by the system that charges.

[Size Nine Elm]

As has been pointed out many times on PH, there is no 'road tax'. Its been named Vehicle Excise Duty (or VED) for a long time - and the name explicitly detaches itself from any ring-fencing.

On the other hand, suing councils sounds like fun. I did hit a big pothole the other day, must go and measure it...