I NEED HELP:( +pics+ check this out for scale!

turboestate · Post by **turboestate** » Sun Oct 24, 2004 2:05 am

i was travelling home tonight from work at around 1 25 am, and i decided to go down our lower high street when i went over the BIGGEST pot hole ive ever seen.

the end result 2 fecked alloys... i mean fecked..... and one popped tyre

i limped home and and was almost crying looking at the damage.... my 19s are knackerd..

i was travelling at below the speed limit ( admiring the honeyz ) and have two witneses.

am i able to claim from the fecking council??
i am on my way out as i speak to take photos of the hole and my wheels,
i was just wondering if they will argue the fact that they are aftermarket wheels on so make a fuss about paying out????

pics to follow

cheers in advance

a pi$$ed of shaun

Martin · Post by **Martin** » Sun Oct 24, 2004 10:36 am

I damaged a wheel last year. Got photos of the massive potholes on the road, proof of purchase of a new wheel and tyre, etc.

The council replied saying an investigation will take place, "please note that compensation can only be given if the council have been negligent. Guess what? They carried out an inspection 11 months, 10 days prior to my incident, therefore they could not have foreseen that the road would have developed holes over a 11 month period. As they had conducted a check of the road within a reasonable time period they were off the hook!

MGJohn · Post by **MGJohn** » Sun Oct 24, 2004 11:02 am

Bad Luck! Still pursue it though.

Gloucester apparently is the speed hump [traffic calming ..

] capital of the world. Don't really know why they waste so much of my and fellow taxpayers hard earned on these very annoying, damaging and stressful things...

THE WIDESPREAD LACK OF REASONABLE REGULAR MAINTENANCE RESULTING IN POOR ROAD SURFACES IN THE AREA ARE SUFFICIENT DETERENT FOR SPEEDING ON THEM...

When first installed a few years back, many of these humps showed much evidence of heavy grounding contact (=damage to vehicles) with passing vehicles. Plus, patients in Ambulances were tossed about like shuttlecocks apparently ...

. So, the work gangs moved in to modify these things - again at huge additional expense - so the humps were a little more shall we say less user unfriendly.....

Now, most drivers have sharpened up their steering skills so that most of these modified ones can be traversed with little or no adjustment to speed. In fact, my observations now show that many drivers now regard them as a speed skill test .... they really do. :roll:

Poor road surfaces maintenance may well be a deliberate traffic calming ploy - so that repair funds can be allocated elsewhere - no doubt as a nice little 'earner' for some entrusted with our hard to come by in ever increasing indirect taxes.

Post by **MarkCoupe** » Sun Oct 24, 2004 11:06 am

MGJohn wrote:Bad Luck! Still pursue it though.

Gloucester apparently is the speed hump [traffic calming .. ] capital of the world. .

Yeah i lived there for 4 years , and that was the thing i remember the most, speed humps round every bloomin corner, apparently Cheltenham is like the uk test bed for different types of speed humps, such as the longer less humpy american ones, to the biolent european ones!

Sorry to hear about the wheels matey i hope you get a full refund. :cry:

lee2003 · Post by **lee2003** » Sun Oct 24, 2004 11:54 am

ive had this to coming home from work at 2 in the morning it was raining and i didnt see the hole that appeared BANG holy fcuk 2 wheels and a tyre total write off.

ive taken a photo but the council had all ready filled it in so in my eyes that means that the road is unroadworty and shoud get me money back for these,only problem is the wheels are no longer made :cry:

lee

lav · Post by **lav** » Sun Oct 24, 2004 12:10 pm

my dad was on his push bike and hit a pothole, fell off and injured himself and complained to the council. So they quickly filled it in and said "what pothole?"

requestingaflyby · Post by **requestingaflyby** » Sun Oct 24, 2004 12:45 pm

go 4 it mate, never know ya luck :wink:

turboestate · Post by **turboestate** » Sun Oct 24, 2004 12:55 pm

cheers for the replies guys.
after further inspection when i went to take pics i found the hole is massive.
its where they have dug up the road re laid new tarmac and it has sank.

the reason its sank is because its right infront of the busyest bus stop in town.. a bus must park on in every 10 mins or so..

so im off to go and speak to a bus driver and find out how long its been their and hopefully try and pove neglagence??

i will also take more pics today.

i will post them up in a bit (after the footie )

hopefully united will win and i will be a little bit happier

shaun

turboestate · Post by **turboestate** » Sun Oct 24, 2004 1:22 pm

DanB · Post by **DanB** » Sun Oct 24, 2004 2:04 pm

Pics are good but get some with a tape measure in there.
Give it some scale.
Or put something in the hole that people can sense scale like a can of coke or similar.
If you can show the depth etc then yes the council or the contractors that did the work are negligent and you have a claim.
However the council WILL try everything to get out of it so it may take some time to get sorted.

Dave400 · Post by **Dave400** » Sun Oct 24, 2004 3:29 pm

Looks as though that hole hasbeen filled in before, council obviously haven't reinfoced the rest of the hole to stop it collapsing.

retro620ti · Post by **retro620ti** » Sun Oct 24, 2004 6:50 pm

personally i would be a barsteward and go to the docs and say that your lower back is extremely painfull( due to the impact on your cocsix when you went in the hole) and when you lie down it causes loss of sleep due to uncomfortability and once that is registered go to if theres blame theres a claim gits and get em to sue the council.

DOM_COUPE · Post by **DOM_COUPE** » Sun Oct 24, 2004 10:26 pm

tbh, you'll get nowhere with the council, i've tried before look around leeds mate everyones got square wheels lol

Hyper · Post by **Hyper** » Sun Oct 24, 2004 11:24 pm

It might be worth a visit to your local Police station - try and speak to someone from Traffic ,explain how you think it should be brought to Police attention imminent danger of death to cyclists/motorcyclists etc take the officers name, see if he'll come and see the hole ( don't show him pics unless he sees the hole first) Tell him you want to make an official/ written complaint and you need him as a witness.
If you can win over a traffic policeman as a witness it will help you with any further action you take.
Regards
R

weirdjam · Post by **weirdjam** » Sun Oct 24, 2004 11:25 pm

dont give up hope

like has been said get tape measure in the to give it scale, We have sh!t loads of potholes round here the bad thing is they have signs up warning you that the road has failed (its cheaper to put up 2 signs the re tarmac the road! but its also a blessing coz if a pothole on a non signed road gets yer they havnt warned you so can claim!

Its all down to each council, being down south i'd say were not as mean as the yorkshire folk!

:twisted:

Good luck bud

dares_uk · Post by **dares_uk** » Mon Oct 25, 2004 12:29 am

ffooking hell, thats a biggun, n i thought we got it bad down ere,
if they dont pay out for that, kick up big logger m8, i wud,

Steve · Post by **Steve** » Mon Oct 25, 2004 8:50 am

Dont know if anyone has replied to this one...

If you can, avoid digi photographs and prop a 10p in the hole so you can gauge the depth, as Photo's arnt ideal without out anything as a reference..

HTH

madhaggis · Post by **madhaggis** » Mon Oct 25, 2004 9:48 am

Up here the little neds have started nicking the drain covers! Wouldnt like to think of the damage that could be caused if you didnt notice it. One of my mates are going through the process of claiming for a damaged alloy due to a massive pothole. Will take a while but he is fairly sure he will get payment. Dunno what the council are like down South.

Bob.

talkingcars · Post by **talkingcars** » Mon Oct 25, 2004 9:55 am

A mate of mine came off his motorbike on a raised manhole cover on a busy dual carrageway locally when he was 19, he sucsessfully claimed compensation from the council. He was 41 last week and the council still haven't altered the cover.

I agree with what the others have said about scale, a tape measure is good as it will show clear dimensions.

Good luck.

turboestate · Post by **turboestate** » Mon Oct 25, 2004 10:45 am

how about this for scale then!!!
i have taken alot of pics now and spoken to the feds. he couldnt act as a witness as hes not aloud but did give me some advice.. citezens advice etc and said i was going the right way about it. he agreed it was very dangerous with it being in the middle of town etc and the danger to motorcycles.

shaun

DOM_COUPE · Post by **DOM_COUPE** » Mon Oct 25, 2004 10:48 am

thats huge

i retract my earlier statement claim claim claim

kenny · Post by **kenny** » Mon Oct 25, 2004 10:50 am

bloody hell. theres a lot of pot holes around my way but nothing like that. deffo get a claim in!!

kenny

iainp · Post by **iainp** » Mon Oct 25, 2004 11:01 am

bother

Any larger and you'd lose the car down there.

I love the state of Britains roads :evil:

Iain

Greg 214 · Post by **Greg 214** » Mon Oct 25, 2004 11:35 am

Bloomin' Eck! Kick right off about the fact that you pay Â£160 in Road Fund Licence and yet you still have to drive on surfaces like that! That is bloody unacceptable!

Just for the fact it's so bad, I'd feign an injury too. That'll teach the barstewards.

bigfoot217 · Post by **bigfoot217** » Mon Oct 25, 2004 12:23 pm

DOM_COUPE wrote:around leeds mate everyones got square wheels lol

Gotta agree with him about the state of roads around Leeds. I thought the roads in B'ham were in a bad state but in Leeds it's far worse. To avoid one pothole you have to swerve then swerve back to avoid the next one! :evil:

turboestate · Post by **turboestate** » Mon Oct 25, 2004 3:03 pm

quick update..
spent nearly all of today trying to sort out who is responsible.
turns out its severn trent water, the highways agency have had several complaints today alone,
severn trent have been summonsed to the hole and they have filled it now!
so it looks like i have to sue them.
shaun