How long do council have to repair potholes?
Discussion
I hit a pothole at the start of the year, it was hidden under a shallow puddle so I didn't see it. It took out two of my tyres and the council repaired it the next day (I reported it to '101' because it was late at night and a busy road).
The council have taken 6 months to reply to me, but they eventually have. Short version is:
"A work order was raised to repair the defect 5 days before your incident, repairs were completed within a reasonable period of time and on this basis we are satisfied that our Client has not been in breach of their reasonable duty of care."
1) That section of road has been constantly falling apart for many years, with potholes all over the place and sometimes temporary repairs taking place
2) Surely 5 days is excessive to repair such a severe pothole that it took out two of my tyres? In the 10 minutes I was parked next to it, I noticed quite a few other cars hit it with a really loud crunch - it's a busy main road so I dread to think how many tyres were damaged over 5 days!
Is there anything I can do?
The council have taken 6 months to reply to me, but they eventually have. Short version is:
"A work order was raised to repair the defect 5 days before your incident, repairs were completed within a reasonable period of time and on this basis we are satisfied that our Client has not been in breach of their reasonable duty of care."
1) That section of road has been constantly falling apart for many years, with potholes all over the place and sometimes temporary repairs taking place
2) Surely 5 days is excessive to repair such a severe pothole that it took out two of my tyres? In the 10 minutes I was parked next to it, I noticed quite a few other cars hit it with a really loud crunch - it's a busy main road so I dread to think how many tyres were damaged over 5 days!
Is there anything I can do?
I know its a s
tter for you personally and you have suffered costs but I very much doubt you'll get anywhere with recompense. Potholes are like pension deficits in this country i.e. inevitable. There simply isn't the money in local authority coffers to fix everything that needs fixing. I'm sure most CC's are running a multi-million deficit in overdue/required works. 5 days is pretty good IMHO for something that isn't life-threatening. They don't have SWAT teams waiting to pounce. I'm surprised you got any remedy through 101 call, probably just a fluke it was scheduled the day after your demise.
Local amenities, infrastructure and services are funded by a finite / decreasing pot of money, we don't have a divine right to local services at a much higher service level.
I have noticed a much greater rate of potholes over the last couple of years. I suspect this is a combination of:
Ever increasing traffic
Constant redigging of roads for utility services
Variable / wetter weather of recent years
Repairs funding squeeze
Environmentally friendly materials not being up to the job.
On that last point I notice a lot of roads where the entire top finish surface has lifted away, I'm sure that's down to materials rather than erosion.
In most cases the lack of quick remedy will be down to lack of reporting. They can't fix them until they know they're there (again they don't have roving patrols as some would expect). I use the online reporting tool for my area (Surrey CC) and typically it gets marked within a couple of days and remedied within 10 or so after that. I would urge all PH'ers to take the trouble to report them online.
tter for you personally and you have suffered costs but I very much doubt you'll get anywhere with recompense. Potholes are like pension deficits in this country i.e. inevitable. There simply isn't the money in local authority coffers to fix everything that needs fixing. I'm sure most CC's are running a multi-million deficit in overdue/required works. 5 days is pretty good IMHO for something that isn't life-threatening. They don't have SWAT teams waiting to pounce. I'm surprised you got any remedy through 101 call, probably just a fluke it was scheduled the day after your demise.Local amenities, infrastructure and services are funded by a finite / decreasing pot of money, we don't have a divine right to local services at a much higher service level.
I have noticed a much greater rate of potholes over the last couple of years. I suspect this is a combination of:
Ever increasing traffic
Constant redigging of roads for utility services
Variable / wetter weather of recent years
Repairs funding squeeze
Environmentally friendly materials not being up to the job.
On that last point I notice a lot of roads where the entire top finish surface has lifted away, I'm sure that's down to materials rather than erosion.
In most cases the lack of quick remedy will be down to lack of reporting. They can't fix them until they know they're there (again they don't have roving patrols as some would expect). I use the online reporting tool for my area (Surrey CC) and typically it gets marked within a couple of days and remedied within 10 or so after that. I would urge all PH'ers to take the trouble to report them online.
TooMany2cvs said:
bigbob77 said:
(I reported it to '101'
Did you ever report it to the council, or just to the national Police call centre?They told me they'd set up some cones to prevent further damage and contact the relevant council, which was very helpful and hopefully prevented too many more people wrecking their tyres.
Retroman said:
You could raise a claim through the small claims court if you think the council have been negligent, but based on thier response i would say the chances of winning are slim and it would be throwing more money away.
It's only about £200 so not worth taking time off work for small claims court, especially as I may lose.I guess I'll just have to let it go
You can claim damages from council but you need a photograph of the pothole (presumably date stamped.) It happens quite regularly here in NI.
The councils will not fix potholes here until they are a certain size, or if someone tries to claim, it is immediately filled in.
Recent news articles have said that around £4million has been handed out in pothole claims last year! That would fix a lot of potholes!
The councils will not fix potholes here until they are a certain size, or if someone tries to claim, it is immediately filled in.
Recent news articles have said that around £4million has been handed out in pothole claims last year! That would fix a lot of potholes!
Took 8 years for the potholes in our street to be fixed. Eventually, it got so bad, and someone claimed because their child had come off her bike after hitting a hole, they had to completely resurface the entire street.
Of course, two of us had emails reporting the potholes going back the 8 years of trying which the lass's father used in his claim! The clouncil didn't even defend it!
Of course, two of us had emails reporting the potholes going back the 8 years of trying which the lass's father used in his claim! The clouncil didn't even defend it!
grumpyscot said:
Took 8 years for the potholes in our street to be fixed. Eventually, it got so bad, and someone claimed because their child had come off her bike after hitting a hole, they had to completely resurface the entire street.
Of course, two of us had emails reporting the potholes going back the 8 years of trying which the lass's father used in his claim! The clouncil didn't even defend it!
Trouble is, it's probably cheaper for the council to pay compensation for car repairs than repair the roads, until a person is injured by one. I'm guessing they'd rather take their chancesOf course, two of us had emails reporting the potholes going back the 8 years of trying which the lass's father used in his claim! The clouncil didn't even defend it!
What you probably need to know is how oftem and when was the road last surveyed, is that interval of inspection of the road appropriate
Has the pothole been previously reported and sat on file until they raised a work order. If they were informed say 6 months previously and then failed to repair it then you probably have a good chance of a claim
But all this will take a lot of your time to find out and I believe that this is what the count on to put you off.
Has the pothole been previously reported and sat on file until they raised a work order. If they were informed say 6 months previously and then failed to repair it then you probably have a good chance of a claim
But all this will take a lot of your time to find out and I believe that this is what the count on to put you off.
Happened to me a few years ago and I got the details for how to claim from here :-
http://www.potholes.co.uk/claims/how_to_claim
I was unsuccessful as I was the first person to report it, and it had been checked in the previous (I think) 6 months.
http://www.potholes.co.uk/claims/how_to_claim
I was unsuccessful as I was the first person to report it, and it had been checked in the previous (I think) 6 months.
Sorry to hear that your car tyres were damaged. Like you have said, it's not always easy to avoid these hazards when it's raining, just think what would have happened if you had been riding a motorcycle or pushbike!
If it's any help I tend to use http://www.fillthathole.org.uk/ to report potholes or other road hazards, either go to the website or use their very handy iPhone app to submit the hazard location in realtime.
Using this service means that the council can't duck out of responsibility and liability by saying that they weren't advised of the hazard.
If it's any help I tend to use http://www.fillthathole.org.uk/ to report potholes or other road hazards, either go to the website or use their very handy iPhone app to submit the hazard location in realtime.
Using this service means that the council can't duck out of responsibility and liability by saying that they weren't advised of the hazard.
i managed to and got ~£250 back from them IIRC, passed it into a contractor
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
When I claimed I looked up the guidance re. how long it is allowed for them to fix it based on what type of rod it was, different roads had different limits - 24 hours to 3 months IIRC. trying to find the link now but am on the phone
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
When I claimed I looked up the guidance re. how long it is allowed for them to fix it based on what type of rod it was, different roads had different limits - 24 hours to 3 months IIRC. trying to find the link now but am on the phone
veccy208 said:
You can claim damages from council but you need a photograph of the pothole (presumably date stamped.) It happens quite regularly here in NI.
The councils will not fix potholes here until they are a certain size, or if someone tries to claim, it is immediately filled in.
Recent news articles have said that around £4million has been handed out in pothole claims last year! That would fix a lot of potholes!
Try south of the border. Size matters!The councils will not fix potholes here until they are a certain size, or if someone tries to claim, it is immediately filled in.
Recent news articles have said that around £4million has been handed out in pothole claims last year! That would fix a lot of potholes!
There you go:-
https://www.fixmystreet.com/
Spend half a day, or all of your dinner hour(s), reporting every pot hole you can find. When they arrive to inspect it, and put the infamous orange circle around it, get yourself a similar spray can, and then include all those they 'forgot' because they don't satisfy the repair criteria !!! If you have a high vis coat it's even better !!
https://www.fixmystreet.com/
Spend half a day, or all of your dinner hour(s), reporting every pot hole you can find. When they arrive to inspect it, and put the infamous orange circle around it, get yourself a similar spray can, and then include all those they 'forgot' because they don't satisfy the repair criteria !!! If you have a high vis coat it's even better !!
Edited by robinessex on Monday 20th June 11:09
tony wright said:
Speed 3 said:
5 days is pretty good IMHO for something that isn't life-threatening.
Not sure on this sentence... If it was big and deep enough to take out two tyres on a car imagine the effect on a fast travelling motorbike
This pothole was completely hidden in the middle of another shallow puddle and didn't have a big diameter but was very deep and sharp. I was only doing about 25mph when I hit it, but it felt and sounded like I'd driven into a wall.
I think it's pretty crap that they knew about it for 5 days and didn't even put cones down. Probably 100s of tyres wrecked for the sake of 10 minutes work.
I think they generally take the view that unless its a sinkhole and the road is well lit (per OP) then it can be avoided, even if its on the normal driving line (which would be different for 4 vs 2 wheels). You have to draw the line somewhere otherwise tens of thousands of potholes up and down the country would need hundreds of hit teams for cones and rectification. I'd rather not have any potholes and have lost an alloy and tyre to one but simply proferring the pragmatic view in light of limited funds.
Any bike rider doing "high speed" (whatever you consider that to be) on a puddle filled wet road at night in a 40 zone wouldn't get much sympathy from me.
Any bike rider doing "high speed" (whatever you consider that to be) on a puddle filled wet road at night in a 40 zone wouldn't get much sympathy from me.
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