Pothole damage to car. Council admitted liability?
Discussion
Unfortunately my holiday was cut short this year, after being recovered home on the back of an RAC recovery truck.
Was driving back to our caravan from Pendine Sands, and the car hit a pothole. I didn't see the pothole, but it was such a crash, I expected to have popped a tyre.
Got out to check, tyre seemed fine, so i continued on my journey.
4 hours later, I was turning the car around in a tight turning circle, and the car felt like it had run over a traffic cone, so I iimmediately stopped and found this:
A suspension bolt had sheared.
Car recovered home 3 days early.
I just called the county council, expected to be told to bugger off (bearing in mind I could not tell them the time the place or even the road name), but have been told to provide 2 written quotes for the damage.
Now I realise they have not yet (and and may not) pay out, but I find this very unusual.
Was driving back to our caravan from Pendine Sands, and the car hit a pothole. I didn't see the pothole, but it was such a crash, I expected to have popped a tyre.
Got out to check, tyre seemed fine, so i continued on my journey.
4 hours later, I was turning the car around in a tight turning circle, and the car felt like it had run over a traffic cone, so I iimmediately stopped and found this:
A suspension bolt had sheared.
Car recovered home 3 days early.
I just called the county council, expected to be told to bugger off (bearing in mind I could not tell them the time the place or even the road name), but have been told to provide 2 written quotes for the damage.
Now I realise they have not yet (and and may not) pay out, but I find this very unusual.
xstian said:
Never mind the council claim, I would be getting that old car into a garage to make sure the rest of the rusty suspensions bolts aren't about to break. 
In all seriousness, there seems to be no damage to the wheel, so was this the work of a pot hole, or has it just highlighted a major weak point with your car. You where lucky, this could have happened doing 70+ on the motorway.
It's in the garage as I write.In all seriousness, there seems to be no damage to the wheel, so was this the work of a pot hole, or has it just highlighted a major weak point with your car. You where lucky, this could have happened doing 70+ on the motorway.
Mk3Spitfire said:
Which road was it?
And there lies the problem.I was staying nr Saundersfoot and heading back from a trip to Pendine Sands.
I hit the pothole, stopped because I thought I had popped a tyre, got out, checked all was ok, which it appeared to be, and drove on.
Problem didn't materialise for several hours.
onyx39 said:
Ironically, this whole incident (if you ignore the fact I came home 3 days early) has only left me £40 out of pocket.
Could have been very different had the suspension collapsed in the M4 though!
So, a little update. Got a letter unsurprisingely, telling me to bugger off.Could have been very different had the suspension collapsed in the M4 though!
Sadly the initial damage seemed a lot less than I finally found, and cost, around £500, this was with me buying 2nd hand parts (it's an MG, little choice in this matter). Highly pissed off at the moment.
They would not take into the consideration the fact that it was a completely alien environment to me, on road that I did not know, and would not have had a hope in hell of identifying, when the damage only came to light hours later.
22Rgt said:
Why spend £500 on a car you cant give away? Theres absolutely loads for sale for pennies which you could have got the parts from..
I'm an MG "enthusiast" and don't tend to buy "disposable" cars. Also, car is a rare colour, with only 99 made in this colour as part of the Monogram programme, which I rather like, so highly unlikely I would find another.
"Absolutely loads for sale" yes there are if you want to buy a dog, but if you want to buy a decent "collectable" one, it's a slightly different story.
Thanks for your input though, very much appreciated.
Eta: I've just re-read your post, the parts I bought were purchased 2nd hand, but I have also replaced the rear tyres in an effort to resolve handling issues.
Here's a pic of the car if anyone's interested.
Edited by onyx39 on Wednesday 18th March 21:48
Short Grain said:
OP, Why not go to council Twitter / Facebook and local media. Seems to work wonders these days. Name names, i.e. people spoken to, signed letter etc.
Not a bad plan, and someone sent me a link to their Facebook page last night, the problem is, in the absence of a location, it's difficult to peruse it. I'm even toying with the idea of stomping up for. stank of fuel to drive back to the area, but I guess that's just chucking good money after bad.Gassing Station | Speed, Plod & the Law | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff