Shropshire Star

Just £6,000 paid out for pothole damage on Shropshire roads

Fewer than 10 per cent of claims for pothole damage repairs have been successful so far this year in Shropshire.

Published

In the Shropshire Council area, only 32 of 422 claims have been successful.

A Freedom of Information request by the Shropshire Star revealed the amount of successful, open and closed claims there have been for vehicles being damaged by potholes in 2018.

The 32 successful claims has led to council paying out £6,164.38 in compensation. Individual requests for repairs among the 422 requests ranged from £38.40, to as much as £9,780.

Figures revealed a number of the claims rejected were due to the maintenance section 58 defence, which states the claimant needs to prove that the highway in question was not maintained appropriately, was dangerous and that this was the direct cause of the damage.

Jonny Keeley, a councillor from Bridgnorth, said: “The council is making it unnecessarily difficult for people to be compensated for damage to their vehicles. It’s difficult to fix every single road, but not to process claims made for damaged cars and bikes.

“I understand not every claim is going to be legitimate, but I can’t believe such a large number of people have been refused compensation. It’s definitely a national problem, but they need to either fix the roads, or deal with the damage caused to the cars.”

Despite constant cuts to council funding, the council estimate it spends £1.5 million on repairing potholes in Shropshire ever year.

Angie Beechey, Shropshire Council’s risk and insurance manager, said: “Unfortunately there has been an increase in the number of potholes throughout the county and this has led to an increase in the number of claims received.

“Each claim is investigated on an individual basis and where a legal liability exists, reimbursement is made.”

James Smith, 43, a salesman for Motorcycle Mart, from Bridgnorth, said: “It’s got to the point where people aren’t bothering to report damage to the roads because they feel like it’s not worth it.

“Most recently I reported a pothole that nearly took me off my motorbike near Bridgnorth.”