Pothole caused a crash, can I get compensation?

jude2001

I was riding along and I hit a pothole which flew me off the bike and ripped my shorts, ripped my gilet, scraped my shifter, ripped my saddle, dented my helmet and caused road rash on my leg and arm. The pothole has been there at least since 2010 because I can see it on google maps and it goes as far as halfway into the middle of the road. There is really 2 consecutive potholes but this turned my wheel making me hit the ground. The pothole is on a busy road that leads to the station. https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@52.19449 ... 56!6m1!1e1
here it is, it's the one next to the puddle. Would I for sure be able to get compensation and would it help me to go through a company (cycle SOS) so the council doesn't just push me away or am I wasting my money by them taking a sum of it.

Thanks, Jude

jude2001

Oh yeah, forgot to say it's the pothole next to the big puddle.

scott_w1987

Yes. If you a BC member then you can use that for insurance claims, I believe they use digby brown. A guy in our race team has just recently had his 2 year on going claim settled out of court for a very large sum of money! His accident was considerably worse than yours, but the outcome should be more or less the same.

Photograph the hole, the damage to the bike, your injuries and the damage to the kit you had on. I'd probably take a screenshot of the googlemaps streetview picture with the date on it too, just to point out how long it's went unfixed!

If you aren't with british cycling you should definitely get in touch with a specialist cycling lawyer. I am in the middle of using cyclinglawscotland for an on going claim with a dog walker and so far they have been excellent!

redvee

Have a look on fillthathole.org and see if it's already been reported. There looks to be a couple along there but your local knowledge will be able to pinpoint them better. If they have been reported then your case is stronger. I killed a rim on a pothole as I was avoiding an errant car and reported the pothole and checking the caused damage box and the pothole was repaired within 36 hours.

jgsi

Whether you get anything is in the hands of the gods basically.
I actually went down a broken grid in 2008 ,a 180 or a 270 ? degree loop like I was, snowboarder, except it's feckkin tarmac ending up in walk in centre , with a what I thought was broken jaw,, it was a broken thumb... however, BC law firm didnt support me at all against the local Council to cut a long story short.
Council said they knew grid was broken... it was might fault for riding down it.

People ought to post pictures of the wads of money they got.. not ' my mate' got this and this ... ' third hand stories..

If you are not involved with an actual 3rd party person....as I said ... claim and be lucky .

ugo.santalucia

The pothole has been there but has it been reported to the council?

A claim for negligence can only stand if the council was aware of the issue but did nothing to address it

Sutton_Rider

With most councils it has to be at least 40mm deep in the road to be at intervention level. ie a pothole.

scott_w1987

JGSI wrote:

People ought to post pictures of the wads of money they got.. not ' my mate' got this and this ... ' third hand stories..

Not sure what difference a picture makes. It's your choice whether you believe me or not. Local council were being sued for £50,000 - they settled out of court for around half that figure.

fenix

I remember crashing when my wheel went down a grid in the road with the slots running parallel to the road. Ripped the tub off the front wheel and I went over the bars. I guess I should have claimed against the council but never thought of it.

Good luck with the claim.

keef66

We and several others had car tyres replaced at the council's expense; massive water-filled pothole opposite the school. Very hard to spot / avoid in the pre-school traffic melee. Reported weeks earlier and they just left it.

So if you can show that they've known about it for some time, you can at least try to claim.

(they also reimbursed me for the wheelbarrow tyre on the same invioce, but that's another story...)

The Rookie

Sutton Rider wrote:

With most councils it has to be at least 40mm deep in the road to be at intervention level. i.e. a pothole.

Whether the councils internal guidance says it has to be 40mm or not, its whether it was negligent not to understand the risk it causes that is the issue for a court. My council have dropped pre-empting what is a dangerous pothole based on depth.

The consideration councils use is whether it will damage a vehicle (often ignoring that cycles are vehicles and will clearly be put at risk or damaged by much smaller potholes than cars), that consideration in itself may well be negligent.

jude2001

I've looked on fill that hole and the pothole has been there since at least 2009 when it was reported.

ugo.santalucia

Jude2001 wrote:

I've looked on fill that hole and the pothole has been there since at least 2009 when it was reported.

In that case I would contact the council... if they ignore the repair, it's negligence... as you got injured, you are entitled to a decent compensation

fudgey

Look on martin lewis' money saving expert website and follow the guide.
Last January I hit a section if road in the dark, 1m in from the side of the road, 75mm deep where the road had sank for 18meters!
I wrote off a carbon frame, tore clothing, gravel rash and a sprained ankle. I was doing around 18mph at the time.
I claimed off the council, you need to request the freedom of information act for the section of road for the maintenance inspections, there is a letter template to use and take loads of photos and measurements.
I knocked on the doors of people that lived along the road who said its been like it for years, cars have hit it and span in the road etc.

I got a payout for the bike and clothing, and also some unexpected compo as I was only chasing the bike replacement.

Oh I also kept badgering the council to put up uneven road surface signs, which they did eventually and now there is a lovely smooth piece of tarmac there.
It took a good 4/5 months to sort out so don't expect a quick result.

Sutton_Rider

I don't think you'll get far with this claim. I used to work for a council in southern England teaching and auditing highways inspectors. That road would be inspected at least every 3 months and if that pothole was reported in 2009 that's around 30 inspections. So in all those inspections no job was raised to fix it. That means the pothole is / was not at intervention level (40mm deep) and therefore did not require a repair. Any councils can't repair every small hole, they neither have the money nor the manpower to do that. From the picture I can see that the re-enstatement that the pothole is on is begining to fail and will need to be sorted sometime in the future, but not yet. It is for these reasons I think your claim won't get far, but hay nothing ventured nothing gained, its worth a shot, it won't cost anything to try.

mac9091

Don't know how you can say its been there since 2010. From the link you give it appeared sometime between Sep 12 and Aug 14 (So a large window to narrow down)

It clearly has been caused by the underground work carried out probably shortly before Aug 2010. So the council may fob you off and say its BTs fault or whatever company was digging.

Clearly the drainage is inadequate in that area and is most likely prone to seasonal flooding, the nearest drain (to the left) is ineffective as there is a low point just to the right of it.

From the looks of it i'd say it was deeper than 40mm. If you want it fixed just draw a big willy round it.

Hope your ok though.

debeli

I'm sorry to hear you had a crash. It is rarely a pleasant experience and it can be painful, expensive or both.

Nonetheless, I am wary of the wish to claim compensation in this sort of case.

None of what resulted from the dismount seems terribly serious and bicycles (and bodies and clothing) do suffer wear and tear.

A cut saddle is a pain because of the issue with rain, but a scraped shifter.... really?

I'm not sure I one a bike with an unscraped shifter; and if I do it is only a matter of time before that is addressed.

If you ride a bicycle you are likely at one stage or another to dismount when you were not planning to do so. It happens.

You might want to ride in a style and on a machine appropriate to the road and conditions. There doesn't always have to be someone else to blame.

But do claim if it feels like the right thing to do. However, in all probability it is not..... And get well soon. That is the most important thing.

cycleclinic

you can probably claim but also it can be argued you were traveling to fast to stop in the distance that you could see is harrard clear.

kirkee

It could well be worth making an effort to claim. I crashed on my commute to work years back on a large round about due to an oil slick caused by the utilities companys plant and tarmac etc. I used a solicitor, they had an add in cycling weekly. The council had several contractors and separate utility companys working on site so they all denied responsibility. It was almost unprovable to which company was responsible. In the end my soliciter realised it was futile and went with a claim through the Motor Insurers Bureau. Id never heard of them, but it worked, i got 600 quid or so covered damages on bike etc.

paul_onabike

Have a read of this.

http://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/SN00739/SN00739.pdf

Gives a good overview of road maintenance standards and who is responsible for what. Covers the facts and not internet hearsay.

Downloads as a PDF directly from the link.

cycleclinic

the problem with claiming of MIB is that we all pay for it through our premiums. Now it certainly was not mine or anyone fault on here that you crashed but we all chipped in.

I think if we ride and crash and it was not someone crashing into us through neglegance there should be no claim for losses.
It is not someone else fault that all the crashes mentioned here happened. It is not the riders fault either so much except we can always ride a bit slower and more cautiously to avoid this problems in the first place. So why claim. I have crashed many times on ice and diese, damaged wheels in potholes e.t.c and ripped clothing got bad road rash. Not once did I think to blame someone else and claim. Even if I could I would not as I think it morrally wrong to make others pay. If we ride we accept the risks to clothing and equipment that go with it and the risk of road rash. If you can't accept those risks ride slower like a CTC member or stop riding.

The someone is blame culture is a real problem. We could ride cheaper kit. Is it the councils fault we choose to ride expensive bikes quickly over road surfaces they cant really cope with. Would you have crashed if riding an MTB on the same road. We know what the roads are like so our bikes should be up to it.

scott_w1987

Roads shouldn't be like that, end of story.

If I smashed a 20" alloy with a £200 Michelin super sport tyre I'd fully expect the council to pay for the damages. What difference does it happening on a cycle bike make?

Matthewfalle

Is the bike ok now?

Sutton_Rider

scott_w1987 wrote:

Roads shouldn't be like that, end of story.

We live in the real world - they are like that - there's no money for anything different.

+1 thecycleclinic

jgsi

They've done it with social care, so add another 10% to the Council Tax for road upkeep.......... and so it goes on.... add another 15% to energy bills so that we can all have smart meters telling we cant afford to keep the heating on.... and so it goes on.. and on...
Yes, the roads used to be wonderful .. I think it was March 21st 1964... the last time most of them were re surfaced properly.

meanredspider

In a democracy, we'll get what we put up with. If we put up with crappy roads, that's what we'll get. Sure, we need to pay more but that's a choice that all of us make everyday. And it's also a choice we make in the polling booths.

jude2001

The pothole is 60mm deep and I can see the pothole on google maps from an old Streetview picture which is from 2010. They can't say I was traveling too fast because I have strava to prove my speed was 14mph. Also if cars are passing you have to go over it. Although I would agree it is a bit morally wrong to sue the council.

jude2001

Sutton Rider wrote:

scott_w1987 wrote:

Roads shouldn't be like that, end of story.

We live in the real world - they are like that - there's no money for anything different.

+1 thecycleclinic

But on roads that are used by lots of road users, it should be fixed. country roads obviously should be less of a priority since you can avoid them and are used less but big potholes that have been there for a long time like this one should be fixed. I don't care if they don't resurface the road but they could easily put a pothole filler into the biggest pothole in Cambridge IMO.

cycleclinic

To have holes fixed more money will have to found and to be honest the health service, social care and the military all need big budget increases.

Maybe petition your mp and local council to divert the new road budget to road maintenance.

If i trashed my car wheel and i have in hole i went and bought a new one. I did not think to claim of anyone, i am not rich but i dont ride or drive something i cannot afford to replace. My car cost me £500 5 yesrs ago and the new wheels cost £50 second hand. I see no reason why others should pay for my misfortune.

Maybe scott dont drive around on 20" alloy with painted on tyres. That to me is asking for trouble. That is your choice not mine why should we all pay for your choices.

Sutton_Rider

If indeed it is 60mm deep you are quite correct Jude2001 and it should be fixed within 2 to 3 months of it being reported. Pothole do get bigger over time, maybe at the last inspection it was not at intervention level. Have you measured it and reported it at 60mm?

jude2001

Sutton Rider wrote:

If indeed it is 60mm deep you are quite correct Jude2001 and it should be fixed within 2 to 3 months of it being reported. Pothole do get bigger over time, maybe at the last inspection it was not at intervention level. Have you measured it and reported it at 60mm?

I've measured it at 60mm deep, 170cm wide. Not yet reported it as that deep, I think the idea of spraypainting a big willy around it sounds good