Wheel Damage cause by potholes

[wallyshrek]

Where I work I have to drive down a private track that is unsurfaced and, at best, downright dangerous with very depp potholes and ruts.
The land is not owned by our landlord and when I have tried to get the landowners details I received a very obtuse response basically saying that the damage could have happened anywhere.
My car is 12 months old and I have just been told that I need a new wheel as one is buckled and twisted probably as a result of potholes. The cost of the wheel and alignment will be approx �300. Do I have a reasonable claim against the landowner as they have never made any long term effort to improve the surface and I am convinced that this is the cause of the damage?

[bathtub]

Apart from proving that the potholes caused the damage, your main difficulty here will be the status of the track. If it's been in continuous, unchallenged public use for 20 years for reasons over and above access to properties fronting onto it, it would normally be considered a highway. There might then be a responsibility to maintain it to the standards laid down in the Highways Act 1980.
You also have a potential claim against your employer if driving along this track is necessary to the fulfilment of your contract of employment.
By all means explain the situation to the landowner and your employer, but something tells me it's unlikely anyone is going to respond to your claim by whipping out their chequebook.
You have to weigh up the cost of a new wheel against a potentially complex and costly legal wrangle and the continuing goodwill of your employer.

[derekpara]

For an authoratative answer may I suggest you send your question to Honest John's website. He writes for the Daily Telegraph and will anwer your questions promptly, either in the motoring section on Saturdays or via his website, which is excellent. (Don't know how to attach his link but just google Honest John)

He has quite a thing going at present over road humps and the lethal damage they are causing to suspensions.

My humble opinion is that your assertions are correct but proving liability will be very difficult, added to which is the fact that this is a private road and the owner probably has no legal requirement to maintain it, unless required to under some agreement or other. Also you are under no obligation to drive down it . Good luck, anyway.

[TWR]

Hi, check this out, Potholes.co.uk At the time I am pursuit of a claim against Network rail for a level crossing in our town It's like a roller coaster, This bloody thing has cost my �150 to repair I could have done the job myself but it was not me that caused the damage, I have taken Approx 8 pics of this crossing from all angles, at one point I was on the Railway line themselves, I pay road tax like the rest of us to travel on good surface road not a dodge the hole road, My advice to you, do As I have done take the Width + Depth Length of the holes, take as many pics as you can with a time dated Digi camera, get as many witness statements & ask them have long have they been travelling on this particular road & have they had any suspension problem with their car, but let me make a point they can ask for the wheel & get it tested to see if the holes could have damaged the wheel. The ongoing saga I have with Network although they are a BIG COMPANY, that is not the point, the point is they have had ample time from myself the sort this crossing out ( 8 Weeks as yet, nothing done) but I will still fight my corner it does not matter to me how big they are. do not take what has been said to you lying down In actual fact, that's what they want. Good Luck. T.W.R.