Claiming for dreaded pot hole damage.

[Huskyxantia]

Well here we go again & yet another car of mine , 4th one now damaged by our roads. The first two cars I just repaired & got on with it. By the time a couple of yrs rolled by I was driving a little 207 1.6hdi , nice car too, till that was recked by this road I hate to mention.

Just look at the picture we had to take the photo driving slowly towards it as this road is so busy & people driving over the limit I wasn't chancing getting hit by maniac drivers, but look no other cars seen in the picture ! Whey hey but if I'd of stopped it would of been a different story. The photo was taken one week after my car was damaged & tarmac had been thrown into the deepest parts & it looks like it was left to the motorists to flattened the tarmac in place . What a disgrace repair .

Fast forward 2 yrs (I think) now my c3 picasso has been damaged by this
https://maps.app.goo.gl/Zb8WSbWN2HhD49QM7?g_st=ac
That is the area & I think it shows a pot hole, but this google image was dated July 2024, belive me its far worse now.

This problem is this, the drain over flows , you can't see any of that part of the road when it's dark , your driving with on coming headlights so you can't really avoid this part of the road & only when the impact happens you then realised oh crap my car is knackered.

So I'm going to call the council for the TN post code, which will be fun as theres more than one authority (wow my spell check is working !)

I did carry on driving as the car felt ok , it a vibration got worse then I stopped got out and well , flat trye , I call the AA he was with us in lest then 10 mins & when he got out the van to meet me he said I've just come from another car with the same problem & there's a moblie tyre fitter there , so he rang him & asked if he could sort my car out , luck would have it he had my size tyre aswell ! Within 20 mins I was driving back home , both the aa & tyre fitter said claim of the council , there road has damaged your car your allowed to claim off them . So here I go .....

No way this should ever resemble a road in the UK in this day & age

[Huskyxantia]

Here's the tyre that got ruined , not to mention its only a few weeks old too, very annoying so I might claim for that too. Cost me 75 quid that one did , not cheap .

Study the photos & feel my pain

[Huskyxantia]

Now do i claim from them
https://nationalhighways.co.uk/our-road ... ed-claims/
OR
Local ?

[Huskyxantia]

I've found a parish council which is very near where the damaged happend so just emailed them asking which authority is in charge , but didn't give a reason as to why I'm asking because I know how the game of pass the buck is very common between parish & local councils. So i just have to wait, all my evidence is ready , the aa report is short but to the point , plus the invoice for the moblie tyre fitter mentions call out charge , but don't mention how much , but I'd say £90 of that is call out . The rest for the tyre & fitting.

[myglaren]

Best of luck with that Husky.

[RichardW]

A22 shown as a trunk road, so I would assume comes under National Highways. If not, East Sussex appear to cover that area. Usually they refuse compo claims unless they already knew about the pothole, but had not been out to fix it. Info at e.g. https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/recla ... le-claims/

[GiveMeABreak]

Luxury!

Our 'roads' are 10 time worse than that!

But honestly, I'm surprised that the uneven surface shown has caused that damage - that's the norm for most roads where I live and never had damage. It's the half a foot deep ones filled with water that are the lethal ones.

Good luck with any claim though.

[Huskyxantia]

Well I've got photos coming soon , the above was from 2 yr ago when I had the 207. This new damage was caused by a pot hole 2ft by 2ft and can sink a coffee cup ( take away size ) almost three quarters. East sussex looks like it is whom I need to claim from. Thanks to all for sending me luck , I know I will need it.

Also the above was a repair job ! Someone local did measure the depth and it was 7 inches in places at the worst pont 9 inches then a throwing competition of who can get rid of there tarmac the quickest took place while my claim was going on.

Not to forget the start of this road was being sprayed with tar then grit from a lorry that had a long hand held shoot, I drove past 10am that morning 5 pm that same day the rain had washed it all away , all that pitch washed into our drainage system, there's also a pond nearby which no longer has fish in it ... I rest my case.

[Huskyxantia]

OMG moment , this pot hole is looking more like it's just dropped into the kent boundary ! By about 3 feet !

[Huskyxantia]

OK, this is the pot hole , not the link added earlier , the screen shot shows the sign where East Sussex border starts, the patch of the pothole is now all gone no tarmac left just a smashed hole ,as this attachment was about according to Google maps 6 months ago it had been repaired but not good enough, . For some reason highways were installing silly little drains which instead of taking water away actually poor more water onto the road. This was happening when I went there earlier to get some photos & it wasn't raining either, I will add photos later there on the wifes phone at the mo.

[Huskyxantia]

Also the size of this hole is more larger & harder to avoid at night when road is busy plus head light glare too & rain. When I say this part of the road is covered in water when it rains it is like a pond.

[Huskyxantia]

Update, a small bit of luck & a bit of digging East Sussex covers this area and this damaged road has also been reported !
Claim is in along with a mile of documentation so it's now the waiting game & I'm not looking for a win as we all know nowhere has no money !

[Huskyxantia]

I've received confirmation all my evidence regarding my claim has been received, finger's crossed.

[Stickyfinger]

Don't fall fro their bluff, blowing in the wind, etc,etc and feeble excuses
as most potholes are around for weeks and they will have a record of someone reporting it, so tell them you
want the information under the FOI act 2000, section 7, paragraph 5, subsection c.

They will apply "Betterment values", thus they will want proof for when the tyre was fitted, at best they will only pay 2/3rds of the value (when fitted) or 1/3rd if proof cannot be supplied.

Is it worth it ?

[Huskyxantia]

I've all the proof needed , even photos too, I don't fall for the part that states none needed if to dangerous to get them , I mean if they put that there admitting there at fault anyway. I will use your info when needed , very helpful that indeed.