Can I claim from the council??

Last Sunday I was driving home in the dark and hit a bloody massive pot-hole in the middle of a usually busy road. I thought it was all okay, but today I noticed my tyre has a bulge on the sidewall and needs replacing. I only bought the front tyres a month ago!

Can I claim the cost of a new tyre from the council since they should really not allow the road to fall to bits.

There are some other really bad ones in my town that have been there for ages on one of the most busy roads.

 

You will prob have to take them to court to do it!!

For what its worth some of the roads around here are a disgrace. A lane (tho' main road to a busy pub)is a liability for me on a bike. its part of my training/excercise circuit but I spend most of my time riding in the centre to avoid shaking my teeth out.

 

If you have a photograph of the offending pot hole and the tyre plus costs most local authorities will consider and refund .I dont know how English local authorities accomodate this but I know that a firend of ours completed a standard form supplied by the authority and he did get a refund.Took a while , about 3 months but he did get it.

 

I went and took a photo today. The hole was not marked out in any way, and is about 2.5" deep.

I also got two new tyres today that cost £192. I couldn't get the same tyres again so I had to replace both or I'd have miss-matched tread which I gather is not good in the rain.

I'll sell the good remaining tyre on eBay, hopefully re-coupe £40.

 

I believe the Council's liability depends on the date of first knowledge of the pothole.

If they don't know it exists, then they can't repair it, - so no liability flows.

Also they are only expected to repair it within a reasonable time, - not immediately.

If you report the pothole yourself, then the council say you know it's there, and should mitigate your losses by avoiding it, - so they won't pay then either.

The only time you have them bang to rights is when you can prove it was reported, but they did not repair it in a reasonable time.

JC

 

If you have alloy wheels it is quite likely that this will also be buckled and it may not be possible to balance it.

 

No hope i am afraid

JCBRUM has it spot on. If the pothole was marked (yellow paint) then the council were aware of it and you may have a claim. If there was no paint, ty a very specific Freedom of Information request about reported road defects?? Dont know if that would work but worth a go.

John

 

fyi simon today's sun

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3594719/Not-potholes-until-theyre-15-inches.html

 

I would doubt that a 2.5" pothole would cause that sort of damage unless you have ultra low profile tyres. Could it have been a faulty tyre or been curbed?

 

I think you will probably have as many varying replies as there are councils. Two years ago I successfully claimed against my local council for the damage to my wife's tyre and tracking due to a pothole.

The council had decided that it cost them less to pay out for the occassional damage claim than to send teams of repairers out to fix the roads.

It took a couple of months but they paid the full value of the receipts.

 

I've got the claim form and I'll fill it in today (should have done a couple days ago!). I also reported the hole the day after I found the damage on my car.

I'm sure it was this hole that caused the damage, when I hit it I was amazed how hard the bump was and worried right then it might have caused some damage.

My tyres are quite low profile but not extreme; they are 195/45/16. Both front tyres were only 1 month old, and the wheels were new too! Cost me nearly £200 to replace both tyres since I couldn't get hold of the same tyre to match tread on the good one. I'll only claim for the damaged tyre though and stick the other good one on eBay.

 

My tyres are quite low profile but not extreme; they are 195/45/16


Thats pretty low!

 

honest john goes on about this all the time in the telegraph motoring pages.
good guide here . good luck

http://www.potholes.co.uk/claims/step_by_step_guide