Cheshire East turns down claim

Regular readers will recall a series of incidents in late December and early January when a number of cars ended up with damaged tyres and wheels because of a pothole, see photo, at Hatherton.

AudlemOnline articles at the time included the way to claim for compensation. One local resident who did, after having to pay £120 for a new tyre, has just had her claim turned down.

The Highways department, in a letter, say "Please note compensation is not automatically paid when a claim is submitted to the Council. For a claim to succeed , it's not only necessary to show that an accident has occurred but also that this accident occurred as a direct result of negligence on the part of the Council."

The letter then goes on to explain that all footways and carriageways are inspected regularly, the one in question six times a year, with the latest on 4th November before this particular incident in late December. Highways then say that they had not received "any report of a defect prior to your accident. We were first made aware of the defect on 20th December and our officer immediately attended making the defect safe."

On those grounds the resident's claim was turned down.

This refusal raises a couple of points. Firstly, whether or not an officer attended "immediately", the pothole had opened up again within a matter of hours. We have photos and evidence from local drivers showing that quite conclusively.

Secondly, Highways seem to imply that as long as they have inspected at some time in the past couple of months, they cannot be held responsible if no one has reported a fault. This suggests that if your vehicle is damaged, and you are the first to report the dangerous pothole, you automatically exclude yourself from a successful claim against the council as they will not have received a prior report!

That's hardly the way to encourage motorists to do the responsible thing and report a dangerous pothole.

The letter, frankly, reads like a council simply refusing to accept they might be to blame. Yes, Cheshire East has to ensure frivolous claims do not get through but when a whole series of cars get damaged, the pothole has been reported, and a first attempt at a repair fails as it did in this instance, Highways should think again.

Audlem's resident has been very badly treated. And has been landed with a £120 bill because of the council's poorly maintained roads. We understand Cheshire East's rejection of the claim will be challenged and AudlemOnline will be pleased to publish the future correspondence on this issue.

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