Pothole tyre damage

[KingGazza]

My car finally succumbed to the innumerable potholes on our roads a week last Saturday when leaving Nottingham for home to Derbyshire.
The noise was unbelievable and I immediately knew I had suffered a blow out of the front offside.
Thankfully I had recently taken out a Green Flag breakdown cover as my car was just out of warranty, and so my Wife and I had to suffer a ride in the cab of a breakdown truck to home.
I sourced 2 x Pirelli P Zero tries for the front, not wanting to have an unbalanced front steering with the fns down to 4mm, and a few days later Green Flag arranged to pick my car up again and transferred myself and my car to my local tyre dealer.
So now I am £400.30 lighter in my pocket with no chance of reclaiming.
I know a few people who have tried in identical circumstances to claim off the local Highway Authority but without success.
My tyre dealer said it was down to the fact of low profile tyres when hitting a particular depth pothole squeezes and bursts the sidewall.
Why is nobody, the motoring organisation, MP’s etc not shouting really loud about this national disgrace which is causing so much harm and damage.
Worse still for the motor bikers who must suffer serious injury if the pothole they hit causes and accident.
Ideally we all need to stop paying Road taxes.
After all only 10% of Road taxes taken is plotted back into the roads
And all at our expense.
Will have to resort to driving my wife’s SUV more!
KingGazza
2020 F Type Coupe
P300 Elgin Grey.

 

[WShudds]

Feel truly sorry for you but worry not! Billions from the now cancelled HS2 are coming to the Midlands and North of England to fix our roads, so they say
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-68396567

Coming soon (2025-2032)

 

[Kev]

I claimed successfully last year from Chichester Council having hit a pothole descending Duncton Hill. I don’t know if you’ve got evidence of the pothole; location, size etc. as this helps. Report it on the Council’s website and see how you get on although they won’t pay for both tyres

 

[scm]

I claimed successfully from Hampshire County Council when I burst a front and put a bulge in a nearly new rear many years ago (they even had a claim page on their web site). I submitted my claim for the tyres and told them I hadn't yet discovered whether the wheels were damaged and they paid promptly "in full settlement" almost by return. The wheels did have very slight damage but were still fine.

 

[Anonymous]

Definitely file a claim with local council. Lots of successes for such claims.

 

[Pilot Pete]

I think a lot of councils now have a policy - if the pothole had been reported to them, assessed and deemed meeting repair criteria, and they hadn’t fixed it within a certain time scale (which they are contracted to do) then a claim will be honoured. If not they say no.

 

[stickshift steve]

isn't it funny how the councils will manage to find tarmac to put in sleeping policemen humps on a road that is riddled with potholes?

 

[Anonymous]

isn't it funny how the councils will manage to find tarmac to put in sleeping policemen humps on a road that is riddled with potholes?

We've just had 13 installed on a road near me - speed cushions ( :lol: ) is the term they used, and now they're looking to change them after 6 months - no wonder councils are going under left right and centre.

 

[KingGazza]

Just learned from my wife’s hairdresser that a friend of hers driving a VW T Cross (like my wife’s car) hit a pothole hidden in the last lot of snow on a country lane in Rowsley; Derbyshire and it threw his vehicle into a wall and the car is a write off
Wonder if the Council will pay for that if he claims.
It’s not just tyres at risk - it’s life and limb!

 

[cj10jeeper]

Today didn't start out well.
Headed to the MOT station and hit a pothole so tiny as to be a non event. Unfortunately it was enough to unbeknown to me de-bead the tyre momentarily and leave it near flat.

So there I am presenting the car for an obvious MOT fail. A sweaty time looking at options of RAC recovery to home, cheapo brand tyre for a few days until a PS4S can be obtained, leaving it parked in a town centre, etc.
Credit to Halfords (Autocentre) they put the car on the ramp, inflated the tyre, left it for an hour to ensure it held and did a detailed inspection (one tester checking it to be independent of the other who would test it) and said it was perfectly OK to MOT. Did so and duly passed with no advisories.

Have decided in any event to purchase a new tyre as I cannot risk issues of internal cord damage and have it fitted next week when they get it in stock. Probably just take the wheel in to avoid driving.

Worked out OK, albeit I'll be down £300 for a tyre and have an 8mm and 6.5mm, but could have been a real nightmare day....

 

[EnglishPhil]

You have my sympathies Gazza.
However it is worth the time and hassle to claim and I echo Pilot Pete's comments.
I successfully claimed against Hampshire CC after hitting one on the A338 south of Hungerford. Due to the number of claims they were experiencing (!) it took 5 months but I got 75% of the cost of the replacement - which was the max payout according to their policy.
Good luck!

 

[paddy1000111]

I tried to claim once and I was told that it wasn't noted by them so I wasn't able to claim. Next time I'll put in a report first and the second it has paint on it or its repaired I'll put in the claim. I don't get how we have to make sure our vehicle is fit for the road and we can't get out of bald tyres by saying "oh I didn't know". But the highways agency can get away with completely unfit roads and just say "we didn't know"

 

[scm]

I tried to claim once and I was told that it wasn't noted by them so I wasn't able to claim. Next time I'll put in a report first and the second it has paint on it or its repaired I'll put in the claim. I don't get how we have to make sure our vehicle is fit for the road and we can't get out of bald tyres by saying "oh I didn't know". But the highways agency can get away with completely unfit roads and just say "we didn't know"

It's a question of "reasonableness" - you know where your tyres are and there are only 4 to check. There are thousands of miles of roads and it's impossible to check all of them all the time. But I do sympathise with you as it really shouldn't be like that.

 

[paddy1000111]

I tried to claim once and I was told that it wasn't noted by them so I wasn't able to claim. Next time I'll put in a report first and the second it has paint on it or its repaired I'll put in the claim. I don't get how we have to make sure our vehicle is fit for the road and we can't get out of bald tyres by saying "oh I didn't know". But the highways agency can get away with completely unfit roads and just say "we didn't know"

It's a question of "reasonableness" - you know where your tyres are and there are only 4 to check. There are thousands of miles of roads and it's impossible to check all of them all the time. But I do sympathise with you as it really shouldn't be like that.

We should at least be able to claim though. Whilst it may not be reasonable to expect them all to be perfect, if the road is substandard it should be the council's responsibility. I can't really name anything else in life that people can get away with saying "I never noticed that" when it caused personal injury or property damage. Imagine if a roof tile fell off someone's house and injured someone and the insurance companies say "yea, no-one noticed that was loose" and the whole thing gets dropped.