I reclaimed £700 from my council after a pothole wrecked my car tyres – how you can too

DRIVERS forked out almost half a billion pounds on repairs last year due to Britain’s broken roads.

Potholes savaged 632,000 vehicles, up 16 per cent on the previous 12 months, according to AA stats.

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Bad weather and substandard maintenance pushed callouts to a five-year high in 2023, the roadside recovery service said.

Motorists typically paid £250 each for pothole damage, but there are simple ways of reclaiming the money.

Harriet Cooke explains how.

Get proof

If it’s obvious a particular pothole is to blame for the damage, it might be possible to claim the repair bills back from the council.

To do this, you’ll need to act quickly.

Revisit the pothole and measure its depth and width, if it’s safe to do so.

Most councils count a pothole as anything 40mm deep or more, although this varies between authorities.

Take pictures of the hole both close up and showing its position in the road, ideally with a tape measure in to illustrate the depth.

You’ll need to describe where it is in the road, what lane and how many metres from the kerb.

Also take photos of the damage to your vehicle, along with the repair bill, and get a copy of the mechanic’s statement on the cause.

Write a detailed description of what happened, where the pothole was, the date and time you hit it, and include any witness statements.

Claim

You will then need to work out which council is responsible for the road.

On a major A-road or motorway in England, contact National ­Highways.

For major Scottish roads, visit the Transport Scotland website, and for main roads in Wales, contact Traffic Wales.

You can find the right authority for other roads using a postcode at gov.uk/report-pothole.

If your car has been damaged, councils have a section on their website where you can report a pothole.

You might automatically be given a form to fill in for compensation. If not, ring and ask how to make a claim.

Your claim stands more chance of success if the pothole has previously been reported.

Check ­fixmystreet.com, where people report road problems such as potholes, and include any previous reports in your claim.

Fight

Don’t be surprised if your claim is rejected.

Helen Dewdney, a consumer champion who runs The Complaining Cow blog, says: “Local authorities will usually fight pothole claims. Their strongest defence is that they have a maintenance programme in place.”

If your claim is denied, the authority will likely argue they did not know the road was dangerous.

But you can still win if you ­successfully show the road wasn’t being maintained properly, although it will take time.

Know your rights

The next step is putting in a Freedom of Information request asking how often the road should be inspected and repaired, whether these inspections were carried out, and which potholes the council was aware of.

MoneySavingExpert.com has a free template letter that can be sent to the authority’s FOI department listed on the council website.

When the information comes back, check if the road had been cared for according to the council’s own rules, and if the council was already aware of the pothole.

You can ask local Facebook groups if anyone had reported it prior to your accident.

If you send proof of previous reports, it might add weight to your claim.

When you have the extra details you can appeal the council’s decision.

Ask how to appeal, and if you’re not sure, just write saying you want to resubmit your case with new information.

Insure

If the council still refuses to pay up, try your car insurer to help cover the costs.

Corey Evans, of the DAS Law firm, said: “If a claim for damage is unsuccessful on the grounds that the relevant authority cannot be proven to have been negligent, you may be able to make a claim on your insurance policy.

“Review your documents, check your cover and make a claim.

You’ll need to decide whether it’s worth losing your no claims bonus.

You win some, you lose some in fight for council payouts

MARIA Jones, 46, from Aberdeen, blames a pothole for damaging her BMW.

The chair yoga instructor, who runs yuvayoga.co.uk, was driving with her son when her tyre burst, costing her £900.

She said: “I couldn’t avoid the pothole as a bus was coming the other way. As soon as I hit it there was a bang and when we stopped the tyre was going down. The tyre repair bill was £250, but then a few days later, the suspension went on the same side of the car – that cost a further £650 in repairs.

“I feel sure the two problems were linked, but I can’t prove it. The council said the pothole, which was four inches deep and eight inches wide, had not been reported before so I got no compensation.

Meanwhile, handyman Peter Shelley, 53, from Newcastle, won £683 from Stoke-on-Trent City Council for replacing four wheels and two tyres on his BMW after hitting a pothole on the A34.

He said: “It wasn’t too difficult to claim for repairs – it probably helped that other people had damage from the same pothole on the same evening. I submitted the claim forms, receipts and photos and they didn’t quibble. It took two months to settle.”

Thousands owed after JSA slip-up

AROUND 20,000 people who claim Jobseeker’s Allowance could each be owed up to £2,210 after being wrongly denied benefits.

They were rejected or underpaid new-style JSA between March 19, 2020, and November 19, 2022, after the Department for Work and Pensions made a blunder over their pension income.

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It admitted it may have treated income from a pension inherited from someone who has died as the same as income from other pensions when assessing JSA applications.

Normally, only income from your own pension is looked at.

The DWP is now contacting affected claimants, but you don’t need to wait for a letter to get the cash.

If you think you are affected, write to Benefit Centre, Freepost DWP BC 38 and ask to make a claim.

You don’t need to use a stamp.

Include your National Insurance number, copies of your pension statements showing it is inherited and the amount of pension paid for the dates of your JSA claim, the reference “PAN PEN” and your bank, building society or credit union account details.

James Flanders

THE taxman has been accused of cashing in on struggling workers who can’t pay their tax bill on time by charging exorbitant interest rates.

HMRC raked in a record £346million in interest from taxpayers who made late payments in the year to October 2023.

The previous year’s sum rose too, by £159million, according to a freedom of information (FOI) request by accountants RSM.

Around 1.4million taxpayers made late payments in the tax year 2020/21, according to an FOI request by broker AJ Bell.

Assuming this figure has stayed consistent, taxpayers who paid their bill late were charged an average of £247 each in interest last year and £456 over the past three years.

HMRC announced last week that almost 45,000 people had set up a repayment plan since April 2023 because they could not afford their tax bill.

The cost of delaying payments has soared as interest rates have risen.

The taxman charges interest based on the Bank of England’s rate (currently 5.25 per cent), plus an extra 2.5 per cent.

This is despite HMRC paying only 4.25 per cent interest on sums owed to customers.

If you are struggling to pay, set up a “Time to Pay” plan with HMRC to give you longer to do so. Call 0300 200 3820 or apply at gov.uk/difficulties-paying-hmrc.

An HMRC spokesman said: “The interest we charge and pay is fair. It ensures people are not encouraged to overpay their tax to secure a higher interest rate than available commercially, while those paying late don’t get an unfair financial advantage over those paying on time.”

Laura Purkess

This post first appeared on thesun.co.uk