£24k council bill over repairs due to city’s potholes
VEHICLE damage caused by potholes in Birmingham has led to more than 100 successful claims for compensation in two years.
Birmingham City Council paid out £24,986.70 in total during 2017/18 and 2018/19, although the authority was compensated by its roads contractor Amey.
A Freedom of Information (FoI) request revealed the council received 23,218 reports or complaints about damaged roads in 2017/18.
There were 136 claims for compensation, 43 of which were successful, resulting in £9,745.88 being paid out.
There was an increase in pothole reports to 26,936 in 2018/19, prompting 183 vehicle damage claims, 61 of which were successful costing £15,240.82 in compensation.
Bristol Road prompted the most complaints in 2017/18, while Tyburn Road generated the most reports last year, the council said.
The latter route leads from Castle Vale towards the M6 via Spaghetti Junction and is used by a high amount of heavy goods vehicles.
Cllr Mike Sharpe (Lab), whose Pype Hayes ward contains part of the Tyburn Road, said: “It seems to be getting worse again.
“They [Amey] did fill a few potholes but they seem to be breaking up again. It is the amount of traffic on the road heading towards the M6, it’s colossal.
“It gets a lot of buses and HGVs. Residents on mobility scooters tell me they don’t feel safe when they are trying to cross because of the potholes.
“I speak to Amey about it and they are very good. But I think they need to find something better than the material they use at the moment.
“I have seen it break up five or six weeks after being repaired.”
An Amey spokeswoman said: “Amey manages the Birmingham Highways Maintenance and Management Service with the safety of highway users as its primary concern.
“Claims history and their trends form part of the service intelligence used to guide service improvement activities.
“The number of carriageway patch repairs undertaken in Bristol Road and Tyburn Road have increased in response to safety inspector’s risk assessments.”
Earlier this year the council and Amey agreed to end their roads maintenance contract just nine years into the deal which was supposed to run for 25.
It followed a number of disputes over the standard of work. Amey has agreed to pay a multi-millionpound sum to settle the disagreements.
The council confirmed none of the rows related to who was responsible for compensation claims saying the “contract is clear on this matter”.
Amey will continue to maintain the city’s roads on an interim basis until at least April 2020 or when a replacement contractor is found.
A full re-tendering of the contract will take place in 2020/21.
Residents on mobility scooters tell me they don’t feel safe because of the potholes.
Councillor Mike Sharpe