Potholes rules shock for Harrogate residents looking to make claims for compensation for damage

Although there are no exact figures for the amount of potholes on roads in North Yorkshire, whose highways authority is North Yorkshire County Council, it’s been reported that the UK's pothole problem has worsened in recent years.

In fact, in 2019, UK citizens launched a total of 700,000 complaints about potholes.

Amid budget cuts for local councils and more extreme weather, that figure is expected to have risen.

Hitting a pothole can not only lead to expensive vehicle repairs, but can cause personal injuries, not only to drivers but cyclists, too.The fact is, however, although all local authorities are subject to clear rules on potholes, the rules forcing them to pay compensation leave them with much leeway to emerge scot-free.

Partly as a result of this, in 2021 the Scarborough News reported that just 19 per cent of compensation claims made for pothole damage in North Yorkshire had been paid by North Yorkshire County Council, according to figures from a Freedom of Information (FOI) request.

Here is our guide to the known facts on potholes, potholes compensation claims and local authorities’ responsibilities as regards such matters...

What size does a pothole have to be to be a problem?

The single most important fact council tax payers need to know is there is no set rule for how deep a pothole has to be make a claim for compensation to the local authority responsible.

This is partly because even a shallow pothole can still cause an injury if a driver or cyclist is unlucky.

But most councils in the UK say that a pothole has to be at least 40mm deep to be considered as one.That’s about the height of two 20p coins.

If the pothole you accidentally hit wasn't that deep you can still make a claim, but it could be tougher to get anything back.

Is the pothole problem worsening?

In August 2022, the Local Government Association (LGA), which represents more than 350 councils in England and Wales, said many of its members had experienced a 22 per cent rise in the cost of road maintenance such as fixing potholes and relaying surfaces since the conflict escalated in February 2022.

Before the invasion, around 60 per cent of bitumen - a material used to repair roads across the UK - was sourced from Russia.

Councils now have to ration bitumen and find it from other markets, pushing up costs and delaying road repairs.

In North Yorkshire, the county council acknowledged in August 2022 that central government's road repairs settlement for the county had been fixed at £40m for the next three years by the Department of Transport.Speaking at the time, Coun Keane Duncan said road repairs had to operate within a financial straitjacket.

“We have a network of 8,500km of surfaced road,” said Coun Duncan.

"Very roughly, with the budget we’ve got we can treat 300km annually, through a combination of surface dressing, resurfacing and reconstruction.”

What to do if you want to make a claim about a pothole?

1 Report the pothole to the related council or highways agency

In the case of North Yorkshire County Council, this can be done via:

www.northyorks.gov.uk/potholes-and-road-condition-issues

2 Take photographs of the pothole, measure the pothole’s width and depth and note anything else about it, such as its position, was it hidden from view.

3 Submit a Freedom of Information Act to the relevant council or highways agency to find out how often the road is inspected and maintained.

What does North Yorkshire County Council say if you believe a pothole has caused injury or damage to property?

North Yorkshire County Council advises on its website – www.northyorks.gov.uk – that, if you suffer injury or damage to your property because of a highway defect, the law says that there is no automatic right to compensation and provides councils with a defence to claims which we are obliged to use.

However, by law, North Yorkshire County Council says it is obliged to maintain all highways for which it is responsible.

It says that, anyone who wishes to report a pothole or other highway fault, is encouraged to do so via the county council’s online reporting system.

It adds that reports made on its website are cheaper for the council to process and give a speedier resolution where it is able to repair the fault.

If you prefer, you can tell them about a pothole or road condition issue anonymously.

But to do so would mean missing out on the benefits of having an account such as getting progress updates.

What to do if you believe the pothole problem was caused by the local authority’s failure to maintain the highwayThe law sets out what is meant by maintenance, and some things are excluded, such as keeping a road free of mud.

In addition, North Yorkshire County Council says its inspection process on the roads exceeds national standards.

But, it adds, if you think it has failed to maintain the highway, you will have to prove this by showing that:

The highway has not been maintained appropriately with regard to its importance and use and was therefore dangerous; and that this was the direct cause of the incident and that you have suffered a loss as a result.

Even if you can prove these things, the county council does not have to compensate you if the council can demonstrate that it took all reasonable steps to ensure the highway was safe.

This means that all inspections and repairs had been carried out as planned or reported.

Where it has fulfilled its duty to inspect and repair but was unaware of a defect related to your incident - usually when it has appeared since the last inspection and it was notified - it is not legally liable.

How does North Yorkshire County Council decide which potholes to repair?

When the county council receives a report of a pothole, or when one of its highways officers identifes an issue during routine checks, the council will carefully examine the problem to decide how urgently it needs to act.

That usually depends on how serious the damage to the road is, and how busy the road is.

It also depends on what is the best use the council believes it can make of its resources, staff and repair vehicles.

The county council says it checks the state of current known defects during monthly safety inspections of main roads to ensure that they have not worsened to the point where they now pose a hazard to road users.

How does the local authority decide between making temporary and permanent repairs of potholes?

If the reported pothole does need attention but does not pose an immediate hazard to the road user, it may be more cost effective to plan longer lasting repair work

In wet or icy conditions a permanent repair wouldn't actually work; the hot bitumen would instantly cool before adequate compaction could be achieved and the ice or water would also prevent the repair bonding to the road.

But permanent repairs take more time and, depending on their location, may require a road closure or temporary traffic lights to be brought in.

This requires more equipment, staff and planning, particularly at times when the resource isn't available immediately.

Potholes, or a series of them, may be symptomatic of a more general, underlying problem on the stretch of road.

This requires further investigation and potential resurfacing of an entire road section.

The county council says this is a larger job and so it can't be done immediately.