Potholes - worth claiming

[icowden]

I use FixMyStreet app to report pot holes. I have used it for about ten years now and it does really work.

It does, but I hear that soon it's just going to redirect to a page saying:-

THEY ALL NEED FIXING
ALL OF THEM​

 

[ianbarton]

The OP may find the Council contact his car insurers and inform them of the incident - thus raising his premium. They (the Councils) use every trick in the book to avoid paying out.
I saw a massive pothole in Cambridge last week, and walked to the location to take photos. On the return walk I saw a car parked with a gash in its tyre caused by the pothole. I sent a photo to Cambridge CC and this was their response:-

Cambridgeshire County Council Highways Report XXXXXXX has been closed
Thank you for contacting Cambridgeshire County Council.

FixMyStreet seems to be the way to prompt our local council. Even better if you carry a measuring tape with you and can provide photos of the depth and length/width of the pothole.

 

[icowden]

I just checked. Out of 7 roads that I drive down on the school run, 6 of them have potholes that need urgent attention.

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

I just checked. Out of 7 roads that I drive down on the school run, 6 of them have potholes that need urgent attention.

Have you reported them?

Tried replying like this to a local paper a while ago
replies were all of the "no point they won;t do anything about it"
and "all the money goes into brown envelopes"
variety!

some people just need to find something to complain about and never look at how to fix it
(NOTE - I don;t mean people on here - I am talking about the sort of people who reply to comments in the local paper
which I have learned to not bother commenting in!)

 

[dicko]

FixMyStreet seems to be the way to prompt our local council. Even better if you carry a measuring tape with you and can provide photos of the depth and length/width of the pothole.

I always take a photo of the pot hole, this is the essentially but it does speed the repair along. Also FixMyStreet contact me every month for an update, is it fixed or isn’t it ? If it’s not been fixed they pester the council more.
It’s so easy to download the app then you can use it on the spot anonymously if you prefer.

 

[mistyoptic]

Prompted by this thread, I downloaded the app.

First attempt to use it, “Nottingham County Council no longer accept reports from ‘Fixmystreet’”. That’s disappointing

 

[Fastpedaller]

I'm suspicious that Councils are making it difficult. If the pothole is 'dangerous and liable to cause injury' then the reporter is required to either telephone and be kept in a queue for 50 minutes (from my experience) or then has to report it as a 'regular pothole', thus diminishing its 'importance'. A not fit for purpose reporting system, as the report (again from my experience) gets 'closed - we'll fix within 12 weeks' and the reply is from a noreply email. They just are incompetent. The latest report i made in Norfolk about a hole (2ftx 18 inches and about 9 inches deep) was responded with the usual 'we'll deal with it within 6 weeks' and a note 'unable to mark as it was wet'
I just don't know how to progress these dangerous holes without trying the Police, and it takes ages and lots of persuasion.
Need to glue ourselves to the holes?

 

[icowden]

Need to glue ourselves to the holes?

Turn them into a golf course and get the local press involved?

 

[ianbarton]

I'm suspicious that Councils are making it difficult. If the pothole is 'dangerous and liable to cause injury' then the reporter is required to either telephone and be kept in a queue for 50 minutes (from my experience) or then has to report it as a 'regular pothole', thus diminishing its 'importance'. A not fit for purpose reporting system, as the report (again from my experience) gets 'closed - we'll fix within 12 weeks' and the reply is from a noreply email. They just are incompetent. The latest report i made in Norfolk about a hole (2ftx 18 inches and about 9 inches deep) was responded with the usual 'we'll deal with it within 6 weeks' and a note 'unable to mark as it was wet'
I just don't know how to progress these dangerous holes without trying the Police, and it takes ages and lots of persuasion.
Need to glue ourselves to the holes?

It needs a fatal accident caused by the pothole which hopefully would result in an enormous fire for the council However, I suspect that councils are insured against such outcomes, so they don't really care.

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

I reported something via FixMy Street a few weeks ago - because I had no idea which council area I was in at the time

A dya or so later I got a response from the council saying that it needed to be reported in different manner - looked like they had an automated system that entered data into the council screens - but the screen had changed

I reported it to the counsel - and then reported the problem to FixMyStreet
A day or so later FixMyStreet responded thanking me for informing them and saying they were getting onto the counsel to work out how to get their system to report it using the new system

SO it is worth passing it on if a problem is reported.

 

[Gillstay]

It needs a fatal accident caused by the pothole which hopefully would result in an enormous fire for the council However, I suspect that councils are insured against such outcomes, so they don't really care.

I think they have few staff, little money and a lot disappears as people make claims, despite part of it being their own fault having poor alloy wheels and thin tyres.

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

I read a while ago that a certain cash strapped counsel near here (think ferries and 3 graces and The Beatles) had worked out that it cost them less to pay the compensation for any claims made than it cost them for fix the potholes until they actually blocked the road

 

[dicko]

A group of locals forced a council to fill in potholes on a road - by drawing rude shapes around them. A crew of council workers have been spotted filling them in today.

 

[PeteXXX]

Appear, the DIY filling of potholes is frowned upon by Cornwall council!!

~ ~ Closed road due to huuuge pothole is fixed by 'Mystery Person' ~