Pothole question

tacticalx86 said:
The front tyres had literally been replaced a month or so before had they not been new I'm sure they would have burst. Wonder if there's anyway I can back what you've said up in court or whatever to amplify just how bad the pothole would have been to damage the car etc .

Like I said if you look at the video the front left of the car almost sinks into the hole basically
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Best thing to do is take a coke can and long stick/ruler/spirit level, go back to pothole and place can in it put ruler across it so it acts as a level line and shows how far deep it is against the can. Iv seen people use this method on pistonheads. Get a photo and send to council, numbers is one thing but everyone can relate and scale things to a pop can without having to eyeball up the markings on measuring tape.

If pothole is whole can deep or more you will probably be given an fk2 type r as replacement
 
rumple9 said:
A good trick is to see if the pothole appears on Google Street View. If it does, you can show the pothole has been there a long time and not been fixed, irrespective of their inspection regime, which will completely defeat their defence.
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Yes I have streetview from 2009, 2016, 2018. Not the best but here it goes

Degeneration of pothole – Google Drive

drive.google.com drive.google.com

In 2009 the road is in perfect condition.
In 2016 the side of the carriageway has started to wear away leaving gap for the pothole
In 2018 the pothole has formed there and starting to resemble the pothole I saw with water inside it. The picture I took shows how the pothole has gradually spread in length and width from the edge of the carriageway to well within the carriageway
 
Ok newsflash!

I've just checked the councils pothole portal again. Yesterday I spoke to one witness I will use who had his car damaged. Yesterday he reported the pothole on the defect system. I can see on the council system, though it doesn't specify a date, that in August 2023 the road was inspected, and the latest update now reads

"We've investigated and assessed this issue. We have assigned this to a team to progress the scheduling of works".

So I'm pleased it seems like they've realised that actually, this is a dangerous pothole and they need to repair it. How does this help me though? Because if they repair it I won't be able to measure the original pothole. Will this latest admission that the pothole is dangerous per their most recent inspection essentially destroy their previous ruling when the road was inspected in May after my accident?
 
tacticalx86 said:
Ok newsflash!

I've just checked the councils pothole portal again. Yesterday I spoke to one witness I will use who had his car damaged. Yesterday he reported the pothole on the defect system. I can see on the council system, though it doesn't specify a date, that in August 2023 the road was inspected, and the latest update now reads

"We've investigated and assessed this issue. We have assigned this to a team to progress the scheduling of works".

So I'm pleased it seems like they've realised that actually, this is a dangerous pothole and they need to repair it. How does this help me though? Because if they repair it I won't be able to measure the original pothole. Will this latest admission that the pothole is dangerous per their most recent inspection essentially destroy their previous ruling when the road was inspected in May after my accident?
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I'd get in there and measure it quick.
 
tacticalx86 said:
Can't . I'm out of the country
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They did exactly the same thing with my father in law, I posted earlier he lost his fight against the council.

He registered with his insurance who then logged the claim against the council and the next morning it was filled.

They are right buggers.
 
BUDFORCE said:
They did exactly the same thing with my father in law, I posted earlier he lost his fight against the council.

He registered with his insurance who then logged the claim against the council and the next morning it was filled.

They are right buggers.
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I wonder why Now though. I wonder if they've seen some of these posts.
If anyone is in Essex and wants to do us a favour go down there ! Kennel Lane Billericay. The council will be repairing the hole wirhinn 5 days possibly less
 
Not exactly a pothole but after a flood last year, a raised block paved area on a junction (traffic calming measure) had quite a lot of the sand from under the blocks washed away. The council did send out a local company to repair only some of it(they are a paving company and did their job well) however the area is still uneven and then someone else then repaired a bit with tarmac. On the hill just up from this is another calming measure that had sunk down so far that cars were losing exhausts, to them ages to get it repaired after they figured out the problem . Anglian Water done the work as it involved one of their pipes. They poured a load of concrete in relayed the blocks and low and behold it's sunk again.
 
Ok so I found a guy locally to go and measure the hole, no picture unfortunately but massively different size than what Essex has said. He has measured it as 280mm deep when the water is included, 900mm wide, with a road width of 3.2metres. apparently the minimum width required for a single track country lane is 3.5m so it's another thing I can argue.
 
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tonys said:
A picture would have been very helpful though
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I know..
What can I do though? I'm not back until the 17th. If they are going to repair it I should think they would have done it by then
In the meantime I've sent off another foi asking for how they actually assessed the pothole. All they've sent so far is the measurements with no pictures or method of how it was measured eg below the water..

I submitted my claim (not a fast claim I did that through the council website and that's the one that got rejected) yesterday. If I have any more information I will send it on to them or wait til court if it gets that far. Innterms of the pothole size all I've said Is I doubt the pothole is the depth they have suggested and got evidence of mt cars ground clearance. Summary of the points:

ECC were aware of the pothole in October 2021 and did not act in those 18 months to take action to rectify the defect, despite there being the opportunity to do so
ECC's assessment of the pothole in the post-accident inspection was incorrect, given that the "Consequence" Score of 1 assigned to the hole after my accident did not correspond to the damage and impact suffered by the car, which is available to see on video.

ECC removed evidence from the public domain which showed the pothole dates back to October 2021. GSV imagery shows the gradual degeneration of the road, with the most recent imagery from 2018 showing the first formed pothole. The evidence still exists through a screenshot, of which metadata will confirm the date the screenshot was taken

ECC deemed the pothole eligible for repair in August 2023, but not between then and October 2021.

The most recent scheduled road inspection in November Was carried out over a month later than it was supposed to be, and on both occasions "no actionable defects" were found despite ECC having knowledge of the defect, and it would have also been visible to the public eye.

Other road users have suffered accidents owing to this pothole; approximately 14 days before this claim was sent , after ECC deemed it to be non dangerous in their assessment following my accident.

Another took place around the time of the November 2022 inspection, further suggesting that ECC failed to recognise the danger or the pothole as part of their duties to maintain the roadn
 
You must try to get photos of the depth otherwise it's just your word against theirs. We having a flooding issue in our area and residents have been asked to fill a survey in on what we think the cause is and any photos of the problem. Not that I can see much getting done as they will plead the "we don't have the budget for anything at this time" even though this problem has been there in reality from the time they started building here in the 30's.
 
Down a pothole in May, 2 new wheels and 1 new tyre, still waiting for the claim to be settled.
 
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tonys said:
You must try to get photos of the depth otherwise it's just your word against theirs. We having a flooding issue in our area and residents have been asked to fill a survey in on what we think the cause is and any photos of the problem. Not that I can see much getting done as they will plead the "we don't have the budget for anything at this time" even though this problem has been there in reality from the time they started building here in the 30's.
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I can still argue though that the depth is irrelevant . The damage I incurred is suggestive of a dangerous pothole and I have a video of that. Unless they are accusing me of lying about damage which I can prove I'm not
 
So checked the council portal and surprise surprise the pothole has been fixed. I've already sent fois asking for why it was repaired this time and not before .

Do I continue as planned? I sent off a claim the other day (after my fast claim via the council website which I did after the accident was rejected).
 
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