Friday
19
April
Council pays out over £45,000 in pothole compensation
06/01/2020 @ 12:37
More than £45,000 has been paid out by Powys County Council to motorists after their vehicles were damaged by potholes.
The last three years have seen Mid and North Wales councils fork out over £120,000 on compensation payments since 2017.
According to the AA, 88% of drivers said that roads are in a worse state now than 10 years ago, with the Federation for Small Businesses finding that English authorities had paid out more than £1.9million in compensation to claimants over the past year.
Potholes – collapsed areas in the tarmac resulting from the pressure of traffic and bad weather – are said to be a “menace,” with 24% of claims for vehicle damage being successful, and the average pay out per claim in England standing at £257.
Janet Connor, director of AA Insurance, said: “Drivers are hitting potholes and ruining their suspension, steering, the underbody of the car or axles, and are occasionally being knocked off course and hitting other vehicles, kerbs or a lamp posts.
“This year we’re seeing a growing number of pothole claims described as ‘car severely damaged and undriveable’, which didn’t happen at all last year.
“The pothole epidemic has become nothing short of a national disgrace.”
While main roads and motorways in Wales are maintained by the Welsh Government, county councils are responsible for the upkeep of local, typically more minor roads.
A freedom of information request by the Local Democracy Reporting Service found that since 2017 the eight North and Mid Wales authorities have paid out a total of £124,841 on payouts to motorists whose vehicles fell victim to holes in the road – on top of the hundreds of thousands spent every year on their ongoing maintenance.
Such claims were made against the councils for vehicle damage or personal injury caused by potholes on roads.
Section 58 of the Highways Act 1980 provides councils with a statutory defence if they can show that reasonable care was taken to secure the road and that it wasn’t dangerous to traffic.
But if road maintenance guidelines have not been followed by authorities, this opens up the possibility of a successful claim.
Powys paid out £45,856 – mainly attributed to the fact that the county has the most miles of road of any Welsh council.
According to the council, since 2017 it has received a total of 1,124 complaints relating to potholes, with the main offenders being the A490 Nant Rhydymoch to B4392 Groeslwyd, and the B4580 at Llanrhaeadr.
But the cabinet member for highways pointed out that successful claims were on the downturn – from a payouts high watermark of £23,285 in 2017/18 down to £22,570 in 2018/19 and just £4,711 this financial year as of September 24, 2019.
“It should be remembered that our highway network is much larger than any other council area in Wales at over 5000 kms, ¼ of the land mass of Wales and more than 2000 kms more than that of the next largest council area,” said Cllr Heulwen Hulme.
“Much of our network is very rural minor roads, which present a particular challenge in terms of maintenance when faced with a very limited budget.
“However, we are pleased to see that the trend in compensation claim numbers is going in the right direction and that our investment in new technology to repair minor roads, along with improvements to our processes are showing dividends.”
The last three years have seen Mid and North Wales councils fork out over £120,000 on compensation payments since 2017.
According to the AA, 88% of drivers said that roads are in a worse state now than 10 years ago, with the Federation for Small Businesses finding that English authorities had paid out more than £1.9million in compensation to claimants over the past year.Potholes – collapsed areas in the tarmac resulting from the pressure of traffic and bad weather – are said to be a “menace,” with 24% of claims for vehicle damage being successful, and the average pay out per claim in England standing at £257.
Janet Connor, director of AA Insurance, said: “Drivers are hitting potholes and ruining their suspension, steering, the underbody of the car or axles, and are occasionally being knocked off course and hitting other vehicles, kerbs or a lamp posts.
“This year we’re seeing a growing number of pothole claims described as ‘car severely damaged and undriveable’, which didn’t happen at all last year.
“The pothole epidemic has become nothing short of a national disgrace.”
While main roads and motorways in Wales are maintained by the Welsh Government, county councils are responsible for the upkeep of local, typically more minor roads.
A freedom of information request by the Local Democracy Reporting Service found that since 2017 the eight North and Mid Wales authorities have paid out a total of £124,841 on payouts to motorists whose vehicles fell victim to holes in the road – on top of the hundreds of thousands spent every year on their ongoing maintenance.
Such claims were made against the councils for vehicle damage or personal injury caused by potholes on roads.
Section 58 of the Highways Act 1980 provides councils with a statutory defence if they can show that reasonable care was taken to secure the road and that it wasn’t dangerous to traffic.
But if road maintenance guidelines have not been followed by authorities, this opens up the possibility of a successful claim.
Powys paid out £45,856 – mainly attributed to the fact that the county has the most miles of road of any Welsh council.
According to the council, since 2017 it has received a total of 1,124 complaints relating to potholes, with the main offenders being the A490 Nant Rhydymoch to B4392 Groeslwyd, and the B4580 at Llanrhaeadr.
But the cabinet member for highways pointed out that successful claims were on the downturn – from a payouts high watermark of £23,285 in 2017/18 down to £22,570 in 2018/19 and just £4,711 this financial year as of September 24, 2019.
“It should be remembered that our highway network is much larger than any other council area in Wales at over 5000 kms, ¼ of the land mass of Wales and more than 2000 kms more than that of the next largest council area,” said Cllr Heulwen Hulme.
“Much of our network is very rural minor roads, which present a particular challenge in terms of maintenance when faced with a very limited budget.
“However, we are pleased to see that the trend in compensation claim numbers is going in the right direction and that our investment in new technology to repair minor roads, along with improvements to our processes are showing dividends.”
By Gareth Williams, Local Democracy Reporting Service
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