‘Tyre was shredded but I got no compensation’
CLAIRE Cox from Wadhurst, East Sussex, had her claim for compensation rejected after her tyre was ‘completely shredded’ by a ‘huge pothole’.
The 61-year-old was driving home with her elderly mother after visiting her father in hospital on a cold, dark, rainy evening in March 2020 when she felt an ‘almighty bump’. The mother-of-two had driven into a ‘huge pothole’, she said: ‘It was completely dark and filled with water, we weren’t going fast.’
They made it home but had to pay £115 for a new tyre.
The next day Mrs Cox went back to the pothole to take photos. She said: ‘It was well over six inches deep... and obviously filled with water.’
She sent the photos to East Sussex County Council along with a claim form – but did not hear back for weeks and when she did, she said they asked her to ‘jump through endless hoops’.
Three months after the incident she received a letter from the council rejecting her claim on the grounds the council had checked the road three weeks prior and it had been fine.
She said she ‘didn’t have the energy’ to appeal the decision as her father was so sick, adding: ‘This is what they bank on, that people will give up, because it’s too much effort.’
An East Sussex Highways spokesman said: ‘We do understand it is frustrating when motorists sustain damage as a result of a pothole, and whilst we cannot comment on individual compensation claims, we would assure the public that every compensation claim we receive is carefully assessed.
‘All claims are acknowledged within 21 days and determined within 90 days.’