Wheel damaged by pothole

[Justinp]

Hi

I have just driven over a nasty pot hole that I did not see, it was just before I turned off a 30mph road to the left so I was braking which may have made the impact even worse. Anyway I hit it so hard that the centre cap on my alloy flew off (which has never happened before). On further inspection the wheel is damaged and I’m guessing I should now have the tracking checked.

The pothole has been circled with white spray paint so the council are about to fill it in, there was no temporary road surface sign.

I pay my road and council tax so I’m hoping I can claim this back from the local council. I will go back tomorrow with my digital camera and take some photos of the hole, and pop in to Audi and get a quote for a wheel, centre cap, tyre, and wheel alignment.

How do I go about claiming, I guess I need to write a letter, if so what should it say? Does anybody have an example letter that I could base mine on?

Thanks in advance

JustinP

[puggit]

You may have some difficulty - IIRC the council has a duty of care which they are following in this case, having marked the pothole

[kojak69]

Thread from a week ago.
www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=81191&f=6&h=0&hw=pothole

[dimmadan]

1. Have you reported what happened and also the pothole? If not do so. This will act as a record of your incident on their system in future.
2. Take photos of the pothole asap.
3. Write into the highway authority (or whoever is responsible for maintaing the road) explaining the situation what happened etc and that you are making a claim. Expect some exchange of correspondence before getting a decision. They may send you a standard form to fill out. This will be without prejudice.
4. If they refute ask to have a copy of inspection records backing up their defence as proof of their rebuttal.

Its always worth writing in. If you dont ask you dont get. Its possible that work has been identified but not repaired within the required time. This is gonna be good news for you. Its also possible that the pothole in question was not considered dangerous by whoever marked it up. Normally dangerous potholes (over 40mm deep) should be filled in within 24hrs of being inspected or reported.

>> Edited by dimmadan on Friday 20th February 20:03

[Justinp]

Thanks for your help guys

JustinP

[TonyOut]

Get your camera down there at first light.... in case they are aiming for that 24 hour window!!!!!

[andrew54]

dimmadan said:

Normally dangerous potholes (over 40mm deep) should be filled in within 24hrs of being inspected or reported.

In one way this sounds fair enough, but it could lead to a lot of bent wheels in 24 hours

[dimmadan]

Highways agency use the following and local authorities are similar. Normally a 2hr response would be requested for a dangerous pothole, but can be up to 24hr.

Category 1 - requiring prompt attention, as the defect presents an immediate or imminent hazard to road users. Category 1 defects are required to be corrected or made safe at the time of the inspection, if possible. Where this is not possible, temporary or permanent repairs must be completed within 24 hours of detection and, where temporary repairs are adopted, permanent repairs must be undertaken within 28 days;