How do I claim off the Council - they broke my car

[Don]

So there I was. First day of a two week vacation in Scotland. We'd set off very early in the morning from Basingstoke and by midday we were on the A82 north of Glasgow by the Shores of Loch Lomond. We were heading for Oban to get a Ferry over to the Isle of Mull. Very nice. Or so it should have been. Instead I spent until six o'clock that evening sorting out just how the hell we were going to continue our journey.

I was travelling well under the speed limit (60mph) - probably around 45mph when I noted the car in front slow dramatically. A split second later I heard the most god-awful crash under my car and I too had to slow and pull over.

TWO BURST TYRES!

Whilst I was stopped two other cars hit the same enormous pot-hole and were forced to change tyres.

I was forced to await a recovery truck. Thankfully the local recovery operator was an absolute STAR and sourced two new tyres for me and got them fitted by 5:00pm that day. Too late to continue on to Mull - but Andrews Garade Services of Helensburgh even found a Hotel for us to stay at and got us a discounted rate.

Whilst there I photographed the pot-hole, the broken down car(s) and the enormous collection of wheel trims lying around the road - at least thirty.

Now before you accuse me of not properly observing the road I would like to point out that this pot hole was absolutely invisible and just around corner - if you were neatly tucked in to the side of the road due to oncoming traffic there was no avoiding it.

Some of you may view this as sour grapes but I cam CHEESED OFF and intend to pursue the costs of repair and the additional costs I incurred from the Council responsible for that road.

Perhaps Madcop could help....How do I go about making a claim? Can anyone help in identifying the agency/council responsible for that section of road?

[Don]

Oh....and the total goits who waved, hooted and laughed at our misfortune whilst driving by upset my wife so badly and I would have willingly punched their lights out. Grr.

Cheers to the family who offered a tow rope - even thought that couldn't help - nice of you.

The Scots AA chap who stopped to help (not even a member) and waited with us until the recovery truck arrived as our car was in a dangerous location was a total STAR and cheered my wife up no-end with his Scots humour. I'll buy you beer, mate, anytime.

The poor lads who were in front of me changed their tyre but then their car wouldn't start. I had to help push it a couple of hundred yards up the road to a layby. Hope you got home safe...

[drc]

Just for your comfort, i sucessfully claimed from the council two tyres and wheels and a full geometry check after a very similar incident, however in my case it was a local incident and I was able to photograph the hole and also took names of everyone else who fell into same hole for corobatory evidence - so it is possible but it did take a long time to get resolved with I might add not incosiderable help from my local councillor. Good luck.

[steve-p]

Some of you may view this as sour grapes but I cam CHEESED OFF and intend to pursue the costs of repair and the additional costs I incurred from the Council responsible for that road.

Quite right too. You may not be surprised to hear that on average about one fifth of the roads' maintenance budget of local authorities is spent on compensation to road users for accidents or damage caused by the state of the roads.

[RichB]

So there I was... TWO BURST TYRES!
...Some of you may view this as sour grapes but I am CHEESED OFF and intend to pursue the costs of repair and the additional costs I incurred from the Council responsible for that road.

Why should we think it's sour grapes? You have every right to feel pissed off and I'm sure we all agree you should/indeed MUST, purse this with the authority responsible for the road. I don’t have specific details on how to go about this but I would have thought a few phone well targeted calls would soon sort that out? I can reassure you however that councils do have a budget to pay for damage to cars caused by poor road maintenance and I know they expect to pay a certain amount out each year. The fact that you have photo's and the evidence of other drivers caught by the same pot-hole should make your claim very straight forward; 2 X new tyres, replacement wheels (if needed) and a full geometry check.

Rich...

[Gh0st]

You pay your road tax - the road damaged your car!

Take em for everything you can!

Good luck.

[pesty]

I think there are guidelines on this and they are something like this.

The council must have been notified about the hole in the road

the council must have repaired the hole in a certain amount of time (2 weeks to 1 month?)

If they new about it and didnt fix it in the aloted time you can claim I am sure about that

sorry cant be any more specific

[TJMurphy]

Perhaps Madcop could help....How do I go about making a claim? Can anyone help in identifying the agency/council responsible for that section of road?

Had a similar thing with Lambeth council. Hope you get a better success rate than I've had. But here's the steps I followed. Good luck!
First thing is to establish which council is responsible (easy enough in your case I guess). Then phone them up and tell them your car has been damaged by a pothole. In my case I was passed through to their insurance department who gave me a name / address to forward the claim on to. I sent them a (polite) letter and colour copies of the pothole pictures and invoice for the repair. Seven weeks later I get a letter from the claims assessor (external company) saying they were waiting on the engineers report. Over a year later I'm still waiting ...
Oh and a year after the incident I got a customer satisfaction survey from them

[Don]

Well. Would you believe Google came up with the Company contracted to fix the road - one "BEAR Scotland".

So like any good citizen would I have reported the pot-hole. They assured me that it had been FIXED LAST WEEK!

So then I say...well...I am seeking redress for the damage suffered by my vehicle. Immediately they said "No Problem - we'll send you a claim form." So they obviously have a system to deal with those seeking compensation.

They said "engineer's report" etc like TJMurphy mentioned regarding Lambeth. But its the "Scottish Executive" apparently who will need to sign off my claim.

So we'll see how far I get. I have documented everything so I'll remember and I have photographs of all damage and the location and at least one of the other cars present with a burst tyre so...

I'll let you know how I get on just in case, all heavens forfend, any of the rest of you need to pursue a similar line...

I reckon the claim will be for one new wheel and two tyres and geometry check. At Porsche prices that's equivalent to TEN YEARS road tax.

I wish they'd just fixed the fcuking road....

[marki]

Hi Don , sound like you were lucky not to have destroyed both rims as well ? ,,,,, can you post a pic of the bomb hole cos thats what it sound like .

Lucky escape

[heckler]

I think I'm right in saying that that hole's been there for a few weeks and must've generated quite a few problems and claims.
A friend's girlfriend hit it on the way up to Fort William two weekends ago (we followed the next day and missed it fortunately), but I overheard someone else at the event we were attending who said they'd hit it as well.

Good luck in getting it sorted ... glad it there's no damage to you or your wife (more importantly).

pg.

[Don]

Thanks for your good wishes guys. Yes - God bless the Porsche engineers for making such a good car. We're alive because they did their job properly...and because I was keeping the speed down. Dual blow out right next to a drop into a lake and I was able to control the car and bring it to a halt with little incident. Thank God we were only doing 45. I hesitate to think about what would have happened had I been doing the speed limit....

Since I was advised that digital pictures aren't accepted by the authorities I took all the shots on a 35mm. Once the film is exposed I'll post up a picture of the whole sorry tale...

[icamm]

Don, don't forget the cost of the hotel you had to stay in because you'd missed the crossing to your pre-booked hotel.

Glad to hear your okay and that the car seems to have survived the incident well.

[hornet]

Probably worth a very angry letter to whatever the local paper up there is too? They could probably ask for more instances of damage and put better pressure on the powers that be. Maybe a letter to the MP for the region too?

[cortinaman]

i put a claim in with basildon council when i hit a pothole and it pushed the top of the suspension piston on my bmw into the boot.take photo's of the pothole from various angles and take pictures of the road approaching and leaving the potholes and get a written quote for the damage,call the council's highway dpt and tell them what happened and what it will cost,they will give you the address to send your pics,quote and statement of what happened to their insurance dpt (dont forget to photocopy EVERYTHING!).

they should contact you once they realise their road is in a terrible condition (i.e a couple of weeks) with a letter saying if you dont blame them for it they will pay you out for the cost of the repair.

hope this helps mate!

p.s mine took a total of 4 weeks to sort out.

>> Edited by cortinaman on Monday 16th June 21:15

[minimax]

I'm very glad to hear you & mrs are ok I had a similar incident (not as scary) but sadly I'm too dumb to remember to claim

Don said...and because I was keeping the speed down. Dual blow out right next to a drop into a lake and I was able to control the car and bring it to a halt with little incident. Thank God we were only doing 45. I hesitate to think about what would have happened had I been doing the speed limit....

good god! - don't let madcop hear you say that

[5ltr-chim]

If you don't get a reasonably quick settlment - I'd reccomend your LOCAL Small Claims Court - quick, fairly cheap and you get to claim the court costs and 8%/yr interest (worked on daily basis). Lots of companies work too slow to respond within deadlines and are declared guilty by default.

:sospeaksthevoiceofexperience:

Good Luck...


Edited to say : interest is from day of incident

>> Edited by 5ltr-chim on Monday 16th June 23:11

[bobthebench]

The Duty of care extends to regular checks on the road condition, though this is never precisely defined. Depends on traffic flow etc. If they knew about it, or should reasonably have known, then they should have taken remedial action. Sorted it or put out signs. If they don't they are liable. This is very slow process. Suggest you contact insurer to see if they take it on - uninsured losses or houslehold cover this kind of thing, either that or a No Win No Fee lawyer. Beware the differing procedures between small claim courts north and south of the border. Once acted against a very large London based FTSE 250 company who didn't, and got within a few days of freezing their bank account. If stuck, post so and I will get the names of a few companies who do this, perhaps you can have a chat to them on-line.

[46TEE]

Take them for everything, and good luck.
Tha could have had fatal consequences for anyone, including a motorcycle.
Incidentally, Lambeth council will only repair holes, once they have been claimed against for that particular hole, if that makes sense

[minimax]

46TEE said: Incidentally, Lambeth council will only repair holes, once they have been claimed against for that particular hole, if that makes sense

now that really is ridiculous!