£400 pothole damage claim refused

A Hereford driver says he feels “fobbed off” after being refused compensation for nearly £400 of pothole damage to his car.

Rosh Gungabissoon, 50, hit a “huge, metre-long” pothole near the middle of the A4103 heading towards the city in his Fiat 500 on the evening of March 10.

“It was like the road had been split open,” the food industry quality consultant said. “I do 15-20,000 miles a year, I’m familiar with the road and its funny bits, and this was new. I could have been into someone.”

He acknowledges that Herefordshire Council’s public realm contractor Balfour Beatty then “acted pretty quickly” in tracking down and fixing the hole the same evening, after he reported it.

He filed a damage claim to the council two days later.

“I had to change the front two tyres, but then when I came to have the car MoT’d, they could see the shock absorbers had gone too, so it’s cost me nearly £400,” he said.

Balfour Beatty Living Places’ “regional claims handler” wrote to him on March 31 to say: “Unfortunately, as a result of this investigation we are unable to offer you any compensation for the damage to your vehicle due to us having a valid Section 58 defence.”

This part of the Highways Act 1980 excuses highway authorities from liability where they can show a reasonable system of maintenance has been followed, and that they had not left untreated a previously known defect.

“The carriageway is subject to monthly driven inspections and the last inspection undertaken prior to your accident was carried out on February 16, 2022,” the claims handler said in his email to Mr Gungabissoon.

“At that time, the defect to which you refer was not present or was not at intervention level and therefore the highway was considered safe for traffic.”

The letter said the pothole had been “called in on February 10, 2022… and a repair undertaken” but this was later corrected to March 10.

“In view of this and the well-recorded inspection regime in place within Herefordshire Council prior to your incident date, we have carried out our duties according to the standard of a reasonable contractor maintaining the highway.”

Mr Gungabissoon said he felt “fobbed off” by this.

“What do you term ‘reasonable’? Yes, they can’t patrol every inch of every road. But however long or short a period the pothole was there, the £400 of damage to my car was not my fault.”

A Herefordshire Council spokesperson said: “The council maintains the network in accordance with our Highways Maintenance Plan.

“The safety inspections and defect rectification regime reflect the character and usage of the network where the inspections range from monthly to annual with approximately 2,000 potholes repaired each month.

“Our approach to compensating vehicle owners for damage sustained has remained consistent, the council is not liable unless we have failed in the application of the Highways Maintenance Plan.

“If a defect contributes to damage and we have failed to properly inspect and repair the highway, the motorist may be able to claim reimbursement of losses, this is in line with the councils duty under the Highways Act 1980.

“Given there was no defect present at this location at the time of statutory inspection on 16 February, the claimant was not entitled to compensation.”