Driver annoyed at potholes sends council £300 bill to fix his car
26 May 2021, 12:34
Al Mitchell has demanded Plymouth city council pay for the repair of his car.
A furious driver from Plymouth has sent his council a hefty bill after his car was damaged by potholes.
Al Mitchell has demanded his City Council pay for the repairs to his vehicle, after mechanics suggested they may have been caused by potholes.
He lives in Penrith Gardens in Estover and became aware of the damage to his Nissan Qashqai when he took it in for its MOT and ended up with a £300 bill.
When he then asked the manager at the garage, he was told it had ‘likely been caused by potholes’.
Al told Plymouth Live: I asked the manager down there for the workshop, and he said it had likely been caused by driving over potholes regularly.
“It’s absolutely ridiculous, we’ve been on to them for the past four years about it. We’ve filled in about five forms, rung them a number of times, and all we get is “oh the road’s fine”.
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“We sent them (the council) the MOT bill in the last complaint but we haven’t had anything back from them yet. I highlighted on the bill the repairs I’d been told were likely caused by the potholes. It all just falls on deaf ears.
“Over four years we’ve been on to them about it, and they’ve partially filled some in once, and then now they’re even worse.
“It needs the whole stretch redoing, especially with the amount of traffic that comes down here now. It’s just constant.”
The council has since responded, acknowledging the damage but stating it is not bad enough to warrant repairs.
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A spokesperson said: "Our Highways Safety Team regularly inspect the city’s road network and carry out repairs as soon as potholes at intervention level are identified,” he said.
"We have recently inspected Penrith Gardens and although there is surface damage to the road there have been no potholes identified that would require immediate repair.
"We have an agreed safety inspection process for potholes and anything that requires intervention is at least 40mm and at least 300mm wide.
"In the past, the road was resurfaced using a technique called ‘overlaying’, which is placing a new surface directly onto an old surface, without replacing the core.
"However, we are looking at alternative longer-term solutions for this type of deterioration."
