Claiming for damage due to pot holes

[Dave 123]

Has anyone managed to be reimbursed by the powers that be for damage to wheels due to our fantastic roads?

Cycling in to work this morning I've hit a rain filled pot hole and completely ruined the rim. A new wheel is being built as I type this, but I don't fancy footing the bill.

To add insult to velo injury I was soaked beyond the skin!

 

[numbnuts]

Unless the said hole was reported before your accident you will get sod all sorry

 

[glasgowcyclist]

It helps if you can show that the council were aware of the hole and hadn't fixed it within a reasonable time. I'd use fillthathole.org to check if it's been previously reported and use that as supporting evidence for the claim. I've even heard of one cheeky driver who damaged an alloy wheel on his regular route, logged the pothole on fillthathole.org and dated the incident claim to the day before the council repaired it about a month later!

GC

 

[steve52]

i have pot hole avoidance,systems on my bike. EYES

 

[fossyant]

Good luck, you'll need it. My BIL has just damaged two 18 inch car tyres on a pot hole - given tyres will be unevenly worn, he may need a full set yet (£1k).

I've written off a rim on a pot hole before !

 

[Shut Up Legs]

i have pot hole avoidance,systems on my bike. EYES

I've got those too, but rain-filled pot holes can be tricky to spot sometimes.

 

[robjh]

darkness doesn't help either - and there's a lot of it around at this time of year. Even with a good beam, if you have the light focussed ahead rather than down you can easily miss details of the road surface.

 

[nickyboy]

I went through a large puddle and hit a submerged pothole, wrecked the rim. Tried to get the cost of a new wheel back. But would you believe it, the road was the metropolitan boundary. Both councils claimed the other was responsible for the "just to the left of middle" bit of the road and I gave up in the end. The pothole was filled a week later, by which council, who knows?

 

[Dave 123]

i have pot hole avoidance,systems on my bike. EYES

Steve, I have eyes too. Funny that.
At the time it was peeing down and the said pothole was full of water. It all looks the same.
But thanks for the helpful input.

 

[Roadrider48]

Has anyone managed to be reimbursed by the powers that be for damage to wheels due to our fantastic roads?

Cycling in to work this morning I've hit a rain filled pot hole and completely ruined the rim. A new wheel is being built as I type this, but I don't fancy footing the bill.

To add insult to velo injury I was soaked beyond the skin!

London has so many pot holes that I was thinking of suing the other week because I came across a flat bit of road.
Good luck with that!

 

[Bodhbh]

i have pot hole avoidance,systems on my bike. EYES

This time of year you get dazzled by oncoming traffic, throw in some rain on your glasses, as well concentrating on whatever manouvers you might need to be doing and you'll hit the odd pot hole.

 

[Dave 123]

I am being sent a claim form by the highways dept.
We'll see.

 

[Dave 123]

So I filled in the claim form and sent it off.... Nothing.
A few weeks ago I sent a complaint email about not hearing anything from Cambs council. The day after that the potholes on that road were filled*. The day after that I receive an email saying that they had never received my claim form!

My reply was fairly grumpy, the abridged version " so you save up enough claims to make filling in the holes worthwhile, then tell the taxpayer that you never received a form? What an excellent criminal, dishonest scam. And you can quote that in court if you'd like to take me there...."


I gave it up as a bad job.

Yesterday afternoon I had an email...... "We've received your claim form"

More peanuts than potholes.

 

[ufkacbln]

It helps if you can show that the council were aware of the hole and hadn't fixed it within a reasonable time. I'd use fillthathole.org to check if it's been previously reported and use that as supporting evidence for the claim. I've even heard of one cheeky driver who damaged an alloy wheel on his regular route, logged the pothole on fillthathole.org and dated the incident claim to the day before the council repaired it about a month later!

GC

I use a statement called "out of repair" when dealing with the issue of poor roads and cycle paths, and it seems to work

As I understand it, the system works like this:
The Council has a responsibility to check the road and record any issues on regular basis
Any faults should be recorded and assessed
The assessment needs to be actioned, even if that is a statement that a repair cannot be performed for financial reasons
If this is not done the road is deemed as "out of repair" - this has a legal definition
You can then action a Section 56, requiring the Council to repair

You have to be patient , but it is amazing how quickly you get action once you use the "out of repair" and Section 56 in the complaint. You can also use the entries on Fillthathole, Fixmystreet etc to show that the Council has been aware for a reasonable time without taking action

There is one path near us where after a year of complaints about conditions, a ten line email quoting this resulted in immediate repair, the illegal parking dealt with and a regular weekly clean!


Where does this help you?

Well in theory...

Write to the Council asking for the last inspection date and the assessment for this section of road
If the pothole is recorded, ask for the safety assessment
If they have not inspected, or are aware and have not fixed then you may have the evidence to support a claim quoting thatir failure to maintain

 

[ufkacbln]

The other issue is that the legal definition is that a road must be suitable for the "ordinary traffic" using that road.

It can be argued that the road is safe for the majority of vehicles and that cycles fall outside the requirement