hi all just finally had a reply from devon county highways regarding a claim i put in for a new tyre and tracking damage caused by a pothole!!! this is what happened!!! beware
I was driving back from north devon to plymouth on the evening of 23rd dec 2019 i hit a pothole that took out the side of the tyre, lucky i had a space saver tyre as the glue/ tyre repair kit honda gave me would have been useless, or i would have had to wait for the AA, I changed the tyre and limped into tavistock ATS 4.15 pm said to the guy can you help me with a new tyre??? what time do you close he said 5pm but i am going home as i have had enough today i please for his help for a new tyre but he refused and started to shut up shop and told be to come back a 9am the next day, i then told him what an ****** he was being, i then the next morning christmas eve got into ETB tyres in plymouth they could not have been more helpful new tyre (DAVANTI) AND TRACKING RE-SET £86 they told me to put in a claim to devon county highways what a nightmare procedure!!!!
1) you have to possibly have a degree in computer science you have to report the defect online and verbally to obtain a reference number
2 download and print out the claim form the complete each box ( failure will make your claim invalid)
3 if the damage is over £100 you have to submit three quotes
4 you are asked to submit a photograph with a measure of the depth of the pothole ( not practical to drive back to north devon from plymouth)
5 they req a GPS CO ORDINATE IF POSSIBLE
6 they want a copy of your current mot
7 a current insurance document for the car
8 Proof of ownership
9 current registration document
10 a receipt for the tyre damaged where and when you purchased it make size etc
11 receipt for new tyre and any repair if under £100
when sending it off they then inform you that it will take a minimum of 90 days and if you are turned down there is no appeals procedure
So about three weeks ago (now march) i had an acknowledgement of my claim and then heard nothing until a week ago,
i had an email that was basically incomprehensible with legal jargon to say no!!! the reason why was basically they have a provision in place to repair road defects and this was checked a month previously and there was none and the defect i reported was repaired 2 weeks after they said the courts would uphold their decision and that was it!!!
I replied to say i was having none of it and wished to appeal on the grounds that they accepted liability by acknowledging the defect and repairing it!!! they came back a week later informing me they only work in the office on fridays (present virus situation accepted) and forwarded me a copy of the worksheet for the repair!!! but still saying they have a process in place that is adequate and would be approved by the courts, I enquired about small claims but they will not undertake anything under £100 the AA legal service were a complete and utter waste of time as well (thought they looked out for the motorist??? so what do you think of all that guys??/ any ideas or just write it off?
anyway keep safe everyone!!