Pothole major damage

kitkat9933

kitkat9933

kitkat9933

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Joined
26 Aug 2012
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4,539
Location
North West
Coming out of a service station just before the exit slip road, hit a pothole in the dark that I didn’t notice and it’s killed 2 brand new tyres, as well as mangled 2 expensive alloys and damaged the axels on my Tesla.

Good £600 in tyres plus more damage. £45 RAC excess for recovery etc . Then damage to alloys and such that I haven’t got a quote for yet.

Can I sue for this ? And who if it’s a service station road just before exit slip road.
 
Ouch, that’s costly. Did similar a few days ago and had my fingers crossed the tyres were ok. Our roads are such a state and we’ve not even had winter weather yet.
 
mushtafa said:
You usually have to take pics showing the size and depth of the damaged hole, then write to the local council
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A friend of mine made up a folder full of documentation, pictures, drawings, diagrams, measurements, the lot. Spent weeks and weeks and never got a penny.
 
andy_mk3 said:
A friend of mine made up a folder full of documentation, pictures, drawings, diagrams, measurements, the lot. Spent weeks and weeks and never got a penny.
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Each council has their own specifications for a successful claim I believe. I've heard 100mm deep is claimable, but not sure on actual diameter. I suspect any size your tyre could fit I suppose.
We've had lots of customers send their invoices to the local councils and they pay in full, pretty quickly too.
 
When I tried to make a claim from the local council they said they weren't liable since they didn't know about the pothole before hand. Lame excuse about only being able to repair a pothole that they had been notified about before. The thing is the road in particular was like the surface of the moon (I must have hit the Aitken basin!), they must have been aware of how bad it was. Appealed, denied.

You've got to show council negligence, as in failure to repair the road or insufficient surveying.
 
mushtafa said:
Was it on the service station property? Or the highways/council owned road?
I read it as the road, so assumed council owned.
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It was just near the petrol station at the service station just before the exit sliproad back onto the motorway.

Went back while waiting for recovery and it’s 15cm deep!
 
have you looked online at highways data to see if it's reported - cambridgeshire has a website for reporting defects, reported some road subsidence last week
 
This is why I have Pothole insurance as an extra on my policy.

Costs me £60/year but if I hit one and damage my car it gets repaired under my insurance. Doesn't affect my main policy, it's like windscreen cover.

Once my damage is dealt with, my insurance company then goes after the responsible party for the costs. Councils aren't going to argue with a company that has a army of laywers....
 
Resident said:
This is why I have Pothole insurance as an extra on my policy.

Costs me £60/year but if I hit one and damage my car it gets repaired under my insurance. Doesn't affect my main policy, it's like windscreen cover.

Once my damage is dealt with, my insurance company then goes after the responsible party for the costs. Councils aren't going to argue with a company that has a army of laywers....
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This is a thing!?
Does admiral offer it???
 
andy_mk3 said:
You can try and claim to the council, but it's largely a waste of time.
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It's definitely worth doing.

My dad had a similar situation to the OP, where he hit a pothole at speed and it obliterated an alloy and cracked another.

Council paid out for everything.



It is a claim back kind of situation though, as in you'll have to pay it first, and there are a few conditions.
 
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So got stuck for 7 hours on side of motorway in freezing conditions with heavily pregnant wife and mother in law who had to get back to grandma in law for who she cares for and can’t go toilet or get out of chair on her own etc. I ran out of medication…

Taxi companies refused to pick them from up from motorways. RAC messed us around for 7 hours.

Highways England got us a flat bad in about 20 minutes to recover the vehicle and took js over the motorway. Rac then paid for a taxi to get us home.

So now serval 1000£ in damage, then all the fees I have to pay on top before claiming back from rac… 7 hours of time lost in conditions as highways England made us get out in the weather, but wouldn’t take my partner/mother in law to service station or somewhere safe they could get a taxi even though service station was around the corner.

So **** experience and cost more than a holiday!
 
kitkat9933 said:
So got stuck for 7 hours on side of motorway in freezing conditions with heavily pregnant wife and mother in law who had to get back to grandma in law for who she cares for and can’t go toilet or get out of chair on her own etc. I ran out of medication…

Taxi companies refused to pick them from up from motorways. RAC messed us around for 7 hours.

Highways England got us a flat bad in about 20 minutes to recover the vehicle and took js over the motorway. Rac then paid for a taxi to get us home.

So now serval 1000£ in damage, then all the fees I have to pay on top before claiming back from rac… 7 hours of time lost in conditions as highways England made us get out in the weather, but wouldn’t take my partner/mother in law to service station or somewhere safe they could get a taxi even though service station was around the corner.

So **** experience and cost more than a holiday!
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Crap mate.

next time... watch out for potholes! ... too soon?
 
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