Bent (new) rim after pot hole incident :-(

Grahamd wrote:

Don’t muck about, just send the council the bill / estimate and ask them to pay within 14 days before you escalate matters. Do it on a presumptive basis that they will pay and put the onus on them. Did this when my car broke a coil spring hitting a pot hole, had refund within the 14 days.

This.

Take photos and a measure, if it's as big as you say it is then it doesn't happen overnight nor even a couple of weeks. If the road is on a bus route then the road should be checked een more regularly.

The onus is on the responsible persons (this is the county council ordinarily in Egland and Wales or unitary authority), have a read of the relevant act (Highways Act 1980 section 58.

This states that a road is out of repair if it would be a danger to any road users -  eldery or infirm pedestrian, wheelchair user, cyclist), and is apparent to an ordinary person that it is in disrepair (so the measurements given by council as to when they would act in a gien timescale is total bollocks, they have 1 month from notification to make good a repair) and that reasonable measure were made to remedy the problem.

Given that we know that winter has a detrimental effect on the condition of the highway it would be apparent o an ordinary person that checking the highway to keep it safe for all users would be done at greater frequency than in the summer and reasonable steps to repair those defects to protect the public purse (i.e. to prevent compensation claims, ask for how much it costs in claims for year and have it broken down for winter summer periods)

If council state that inspection periods are set at regular intervals throughout the year then this shows they have acted unreasonably and with misfeasance as it ignores the very clear problems that arise when the change in the seasons/weather happen, particularly surrounding damage to the highway surface and the liklihood of personal injury or damage to property.

Ask for no of claims re potholes for winter against summer as this will further prove they had knowledge of the problem and have ignored it if they have not increased frequency of checks in those periods of known issues due to weather/prevailing seasonal conditions.

Basically make it clear that you know your stuff and you will go to small claims track and claim for all your costs on top of the cost to have a replacement wheel (don't mess about with just a rim, just get a new wheel complete)

remember, get the photos/video and measurement asap if you haven't done so already as it's very important. 

good luck.

fukawitribe wrote:

Outside bet, but might be worth checking whether the pot-hole has been reported.

Good point, should be able to claim for repair or replacement costs