POTHOLES Why you will never claim successfully

[@ForensicDetailing]

The eyes are in full turbo bulging mode today :)

[@kevinkvs9746]

The crazy thing is, the government make you get an MOT every year to make sure your cars road worthy, but they should now be checking that the roads are car worthy 😂

[@lucasmoreno5330]

The UK has roadside cameras everywhere. Why are they not being used to monitor road surface conditions, in the same way they're used to send penalty fines? To say "they didn't know" about the pot hole is a cop out. More like they don't want to know, all while road users wheels get trashed.

[@CBall8698]

Fed up of reporting them

[@robsx4280]

Me too, the Worthing council have had a couple of dozen reports from me.

[@penfold5095]

Great subject and information on potholes .

[@Nite-owl]

Whilst hitting a 10cm pothole is far from ideal, I'd have thought that hitting 50x 8cm potholes daily would be just as likely to cause terminal damage to tyres, springs, alloys etc, if not even more so.

[@andybrad4721]

Had this with calderdale council. The road was well photographed and even in the local newspaper. Had over 50 complaints. Head of highways said it was not fir for purpose. Two years , money and 2 different solicitors, different court dates from calderdale i gave up due to the impact on my mental health. Absolute bastard's

[@kwl189]

What gets me is the hypocrisy from the local authority / government the moment you stop paying council tax or income tax.

[@kwl189]

I’m loving these videos. So useful and a chance for you to pass on your experience and knowledge.

[@piratezippy]

that road was repair last october John , so 1950s tarmac lasted 30 yrs, modern tarmac 6 months, should have a guarantee on the works. Next time give us a wave as you drive pass....lol

[@andrewbaines8760]

I find getting someone to report the pothole, then waiting a week before claiming helps. Providing the pothole hasn’t been fixed.

[@davidsmith-py2xs]

Our council won’t accept a claim unless it’s been circled with yellow paint this shows council are aware. So if you hit a pothole with no circle around it you go and find one with a circle and take a pic

[@myfavs1972]

I found using the proper instruments for measuring the potholes a big plus for photos and knowing a bit about council highways helped me get a pay out.

[@jamesbaggaley1460]

Don’t get me started… Even if you hit one and it damages your car, if it hasn’t been reported and the council have been carrying out their “due diligence” and inspecting the road in the lawful time (which could be every 3 months or more), then it gets turned down (verbatim what my local councillor has told me). An absolute joke. It’s up to Joe Public to carry out a service and report the roads ourselves. Why is it our duty to inspect our own roads? I know austerity is mostly to blame, but something must be done. The whole idea of “preventative maintenance” (resurfacing roads) isn’t even on the councils radar… Looking at the road safety manuals for Wiltshire, the size of pothole in which they will intervene has actually increased over time, so potholes now have to be even bigger for them even to repair it…

[@colarthur]

The roads inspectors give the potholes a timescale for repair depending on the severity of them, anything from 24hrs for emergency repair and up to 28 days for minor ones.

[@ForensicDetailing]

yes. didnt know there was 24 hour one though. I thought 5 days was most severe. but it would kind of make sense if it was major hazard worse than pothole.

[@karlhulme8014]

I hit a pothole a long time back. Pulled onto a garage forecourt and found I’d buckled an alloy. While I was still looking at the damage, another car pulled in behind me, he’d hit the same pothole. I took the wheel in to get it fixed and asked if I could have a receipt to approach the council for compensation. The guy who fixed my wheel said he’d fixed dozens of wheels and only knew of one successful claim… by a guy who was on the council.😂

[@JB-996]

Good tip on the freedom of information stuff Jon. I hit one in Nov 22 which burst the tyre costing me 200 quid, and WSCC took 8 months to tell me to FRO they werent paying. I'm going to ask for these reports now.

[@79blustone]

Coming back from Gatwick Airport, I hit a pot hole blowing out both of my near side tyres. Whilst I waited for the AA to arrive I found a cheap secondhand set of tyres from a tyre fitter for £40 each. The AA took me round to get the tyres fitted as I was trading the car in a week later anyway. I just paid for the tyres and thought going through the claims process would be a nightmare and just didn't think it was worth it. The AA guy told me a story about a pothole so deep it twisted a cars chassis so badly the car got written off by the insurance company. The guy at the time of the incident left one of his knacked tyre and wheels in the pot hole so that it might prevent another occurrence until it was fixed. Apparently the Council 'filled' the hole and a few days later the council crew had to come back and do the work again, except this time it was a different crew and they pulled out the spare wheel from the pothole covered in tarmac and fixed it properly the second time, The AA patroller said he read the article in the local news paper.

[@Steve19055]

Hey John. I have a question i would like to hear your’e opinion on. I just bought a used 530 from 2016. When the car got delivered to me i noticed something strange with the paintjob on the hood and front bumper. After 1 week of detective work i now know it has been in a mild collision and got a new paintjob on the whole front, in the wrong colour… so my question is, is it worth trying to Get it re-painted with the right colour or is it a lost case for anyone who loves to detail their cars? I have only had the car for 2 weeks but i an seriously thinking about selling it with a big loss because i cant look at it everyday… and keep in mind it has been in a accident so there’s that aswell.

[@ForensicDetailing]

if you bought it from a dealership you should take it back and discuss it mate. If it was BMW used approve they should also really look after you very well. could always get it painted mate but that can be expensive.

[@Steve19055]

@@ForensicDetailing i tried but they deny that anything is wrong with the paint. The thing im worried about is that if i Get it re-painted it might still not match the rest of the car. I have never had to respray parts of a car before but i know its tricky to match the colours. So its like, should i pay allot for a new paint and they might Get it right, or just sell it without spending more money on it. Its a hard dilemma for me.

[@danstanford89]

Here in Cornwall I have successfully reported and claimed before. They come out and measured the pot hole and asked for the invoice.

[@James_08_07]

What gets me is the repairs don’t even last the winter themselves because they do such a terrible job. What service are the councils actually requesting?

[@kwl189]

Pure corruption. They just use it as an opportunity to funnel money away from the taxpayer.

[@robsx4280]

I claimed against East Sussex CC pothole in the A21 north of Hailsham, new alloy, tyre and shock. I completed the form they sent me the Inspection Report and allegedly within 5 days so i got nothing. That day had driven 700m from Austria and no issues until a few mikes from home,😮

[@Nite-owl]

This is what happens when you give the contract to repair/construct the roads to the lowest bidder. Corners inevitably get cut in order to eek out every last penny of profit.

[@Pete.Ty1]

👍👍👍. Thank you

[@kwl189]

No wonder Birmingham City Council are bankrupt. They’re besieged by pothole claims from how shite the roads are.

[@AnonymousAndy2]

Last year new tyre, wheel and alignment £720. Council refused claim! This year opposite corner rear spring broke! 4 year old car. Not even bothering claiming. Waste of time 😢😮

[@TobyKnights]

Love a story time with Jon 👏

[@UKAviationMovies]

Bloody brilliant information! Forensic pothole information channel to the rescue! 👍

[@esoteric_chaos]

Absolutely loathe all Councils

[@BionicRusty]

3 burst tyres and 2 smashed wheels over the past few years. My local council’s insurer, Zurich, state that, 1) The council is not liable if they don’t know about it. And 2) They are not liable if they do know about it and plan to fix it sometime in the future. Appeals are immediately dismissed with a ‘go ahead, sue us’ attitude. You cannot win.

[@ForensicDetailing]

you have been given false info. with point 2. they are liable if its reported and not fixed within that time criteria.

[@TheCarNutzGarage]

You HAVE to persevere 👍 They reply on you giving up

[@spook6668]

Number 2 is wrong! Go and sue them in small Claims Court, they're trying to make you believe they are in the right; call their bluff and sue!

[@kirkoid722]

When I pressed this issue I was advised independently that 'they will claim it's within their turnaround time' so playing chicken taking measurements on the main road was all for nothing The vast majority of people haven't got the time/resources to pursue this whether it's true or not. Which they know full well

[@derekregan6926]

Isn't their duty of care to maintain the road surface, take any road in the UK and you will find potholes in all shapes and sizes Far as I can remember road tax has never gone down and also the thing that I don't find funny is since the level of quality road surface has gone down the level of potholes has gone up.cant remember having the choice of the contractor or level of standard to how it's done, oh yeah that was the councils choice... Like I said, every road will have potholes of various magnitude on them, never seen a council inspector looking at road surfaces and I'm on them everyday Duty of care...they take the duty(road tax) ( council tax) but none of the care or responsibility

[@kingdom200]

I literally had my tyre burst on a huge pothole out on a 60mph country road and there reason for not paying for the damage is because they already knew the pothole was there and plan to fix it. Such a scam

[@darrenb7372]

Great content. Still bugs me that councils hide behind this duty of care tosh. If the councils claim they don’t know about ‘recent’ potholes it’s certainly not the tax payers fault! It’s a case of chronic shoddy long term maintenance they wouldn’t appear. Half the pot holes near me are on well maintained and surfaced roads by terrible utility company goons not repairing the holes properly. Councils need to care more about this angle. Recall some poor cyclist died in Surrey years ago. Council came in to repair it almost immediately - quite rightly I would take the view it was a crime scene Guess they were keen to avoid corporate manslaughter charges!

[@ScottPC]

Claimed last year no problems. Just be detailed with your measurements, pictures, dates ext.

[@excaliber32]

I claimed a couple of months ago £265 for 1 tyre on my a7.its a faf filling all the paper work out but everyone should do it to get there money back off there local council as its not on.

[@JonathanTyas]

Then the roads will get worse if everyone claims for idiotic tyres.

[@glynjohnson7126]

Majority of the detail here is variable and will depend on the council. 10cm holes, inspection regularity, 5 days to repair etc are all different based on the council, size and nature of the road etc. As you've said though, the gist is right. This stuff comes down to 'reasonableness', a judge will be happy with a council checking the road less regularly or taking longer to repair if its a less frequented road for example. Final point, and I say this as a long standing fan of the channel and former Patron, it's a bit click bait-y to give the video this title when you have a 100% success rate in making pothole claims! Keep up the good work, good to have interesting videos on different topics

[@xlitre13]

A friend of mine had his car written off by a pothole recently. Renault twingo rs - cracked the wheel, ripped out the driveshaft and set off the airbags on the passenger side

[@ForensicDetailing]

Should buff out!

[@danielshephard5332]

Use what 3 words to accurately report the location

[@andygriffiths9916]

When there is money for endless phoney wars, but your roads are like something from the third world you know that you are being governed by criminals

[@ForensicDetailing]

the money tree is empty! Oh wait I just found a billion :)

[@CAPTJ696]

Jon...pleeease...2x in February 2024 Geeez!

[@greymark420]

£5000. BMW= very deep pockets.🤨

[@neilrwoods]

After 2 weeks of daily calls and emails I gave … my time was worth more than the repair.. and thats the issue. 😂😂😂😂

[@kevinkvs9746]

In Scotland the pothole must have been reported to give them the chance to fix it, if it hasn’t been reported then they use the argument that they never knew about it, so wasn’t given a chance to fix it, so if it’s never been reported and the council hasn’t had a chance to fix it then you won’t get a pay out, so what you do if you hit one, is get a friend to call up and report it 😂

[@ForensicDetailing]

thats what I said :) but you missed the point kevin. if you hit it. Then phone up and get your friend to report it. Your claim will still get rejected. Unless you then lie about when you hit it and add 5 days ontop of when your friend reported it. (and that they dont fix it within 5 days). They must be in breach of their duty of care. They cant be expected to instantly fix it when your friends calls.

[@jamiejack764]

My Hyundai coupe siii is now £360 a year absolutely shameful for a 2L basic car from 2008

[@DjNikGnashers]

Taking a photo of the pothole, doesn't prove how deep it is Jon, so unless you photograph a ruler in the pothole showing the depth, the council will just estimate it as the lowest severity. They know taking a photograph is dangerous, as you have to literally stand in the road for a while to be able to get the right shot. I work in the road daily (water utility company), and have to use my van as a shield, with hazard lights and beacon flashing, and wear bright orange PPE, and it's still a dangerous job. I would not expect members of the public to just crouch down trying to photograph a pothole without any safety gear on or protection, and neither should the council.

[@lickyagyalcuz]

We can tell that’s not a road. It’s far too flat.

[@RobertSmith-di5ll]

Interesting

[@TheCarNutzGarage]

I’ve won 3 out of 3 claims

[@user-wd3kv2jg7p]

The title is'you will never claim successfully and yet you have??

[@ForensicDetailing]

You failed to even quote the title correctly lol.

[@OraEtLabora0]

0:43 have i mis-heard Allah? 😉

[@--Nino--]

Hang on, so if you hit a pothole and your car gets damaged BUT, the Council are not aware of the pothole, you canot make a claim? That seems backwards... Isn't it their responsibility to ensure the road surface is of satisfactory use? So because they haven't found out about it seems like a them problem to me, not sure why the poor victim whos car is now broken has to foot the bill?

[@ForensicDetailing]

Correct. They cannot instantly detect or repair potholes. So their duty of care has what's considered reasonable timeframes around time to repair from the moment they become aware of it. If they did not have this then the system would be ripe to be exploited. They use the system to filter out 99% of incidents , primarily because most are too lazy to fill out the form, after that most are too lazy to chase them. Knowledge is power, without it you become part of the herd.

[@--Nino--]

@@ForensicDetailing I can somewhat understand that. But technically speaking, would they then become aware at the time of the incident being reported? But yeah, likely had to draw the line somewhere. As ever in favour of them but they got to do something seeing as council budgets are so bad.

[@darrenb7372]

They should be aware of them as they happen due to chronic neglect. They should be inspecting roads 24/7 - my local council has mobile cctv (to make a few quid)

[@IMon503]

If they maintained the roads they would have to pay out. The state of the roads is shocking. The amount of money the government make from road tax, premium car tax, fuel duty etc should be ploughed into the roads.

[@ForensicDetailing]

the roads are gridlock and plastered in heavy commercial goods vehicles. population is ramping up by 750k a year. housing estates being rammed into all towns even though the local residents are pleading with the councils not to do it because its already congested... very little investment in infrastructure. we are close to gridlock in west sussex. and every conceivable resource and cost has sky rocketted in price in the last few years.

[@RyanAMG]

The uk roads are awful. It is embarrassing. The police should be doing more about it I believe. After all is it not road safety?

[@garrytalbot3456]

They’ve got enough on their plate. It’s the highways department s responsibility.

[@ForensicDetailing]

All the police are out with speed guns trying to find smooth bits of roads...

[@01123581321341]

Hit a rain filled pothole recently. £2000 damage (that’s with me doing some of the work). Council said on your bike as it had been reported previously so drivers ‘should be aware of it’……..