# has anyone ever brought the county council to (the small claims) court? :-pot holes



## docman (5 Jan 2010)

Just wondering has anyone ever brought the county council to the small claims court? 

A week before the vast flooding back in November I hit a very large pothole and blew out my tyre. A new tyre set me back €100. 

I sent in a claim to the county council along with photos of the state of the road (which on a scale of 1-10 is very bad 10/10. I clearly photographed the pot holes including the one that caused by blow out about 17 inches in diameter and 4-6 inches deep in the middle of the road. 

I also got a witness to the incident.

They denied my claim full stop. I pay large amount of road tax and I think I am entitled to put in a claim for this and at the same time entitled for them to repair the road which is still in a bad state!

Anyone have any thoughts on this?


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## jhegarty (5 Jan 2010)

*Re: Small Claims Court...*

Was there a (bad) repair job done on the pothole ?


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## docman (5 Jan 2010)

*Re: Small Claims Court...*

yup, filled in with grit within a week, the road is still in a bad state, 7 weeks on! The whole road needs to be re tarmacadamed badly


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## jhegarty (5 Jan 2010)

*Re: Small Claims Court...*

I think there needs to have been a repair job done prior to your accident to have a claim, not after.


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## docman (5 Jan 2010)

*Re: Small Claims Court...*

but you pay road tax for the maintenance of the roads and it is quite clear that this road in not being maintained properly


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## so-crates (5 Jan 2010)

*Re: Small Claims Court...*

Not sure you could even take a small claims case in this instance. Have a read through the Courts.ie website for some information. 

[broken link removed]

From the above website  - "To be eligible to use the procedure, you, the "consumer" must have bought the goods or services (or the service) for private use from someone selling them in the course of business."

Which I don't think you would qualify under.


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## NovaFlare77 (5 Jan 2010)

*Re: Small Claims Court...*

Did the council specify why your claim wasn't considered?


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## docman (5 Jan 2010)

*Re: Small Claims Court...*

I read that alright but you also qualify for ...

(b) a claim for minor damage to property

This is minor damage to my car which is my property.


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## WaterSprite (5 Jan 2010)

*Re: Small Claims Court...*

OP, see this thread for more info.


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## docman (5 Jan 2010)

*Re: Small Claims Court...*

They said its not their policy to payout for claims against wear and tear of the roads! But that being said I know several people have brought the state of this specific road to one of the local politicans. I guess I should contact him and get it in writing from him that he has brought this up with the council and then go ahead with the claim. I was just wondering if anyone else had any similiar experiences?


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## tommysmith (5 Jan 2010)

*Re: Small Claims Court...*

Normally for the councils to be liable they need to do something wrong, eg fill in a pothole the wrong way, however if they built the road the wrong way, perhaps with wrong type of road drainage, it could possibly cause a problem for them.  

also look up Office of the Ombudsman.


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## Complainer (5 Jan 2010)

*Re: Small Claims Court...*



docman said:


> I pay large amount of road tax


No, you don't. You pay motor tax.

On the original question, this article might be of interest to you;

http://www.goreyguardian.ie/news/car-damaged-by-a-pothole-take-it-up-with-god-1639372.html


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## docman (5 Jan 2010)

*Re: Small Claims Court...*

thanks tommysmith, just checked out the Office of the Ombudsman and I think I'll start there! As an independant third party they might be able to identify if the claim is valid or not. I'll be contacting the politican first though to beef up my case


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## docman (5 Jan 2010)

*Re: Small Claims Court...*



Complainer said:


> No, you don't. You pay motor tax.


 
You know I meant motor tax! and why do we pay motor tax ... "The revenue from this tax is used to *maintain* and upgrade the road network in Ireland



Complainer said:


> On the original question, this article might be of interest to you;
> 
> http://www.goreyguardian.ie/news/car-damaged-by-a-pothole-take-it-up-with-god-1639372.html


 
Interesting article!


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## shesells (7 Jan 2010)

*Re: Small Claims Court...*



docman said:


> You know I meant motor tax! and why do we pay motor tax ... "The revenue from this tax is used to *maintain* and upgrade the road network in Ireland



Oh no it's not, well not specifically anyway. In other countries, income from motor taxes are ringfenced for spending on the road network, improvements, upgrades etc. But in Ireland, motor taxes are part of the total tax take, and a proportion is allocated in the general budget for roads. In recent years when motor tax has been increased there has been no corresponding increase in the budget allocation to roads.


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## Marietta (7 Jan 2010)

*Re: has anyone ever brought the county council to the small claims court? ot holes*

I may be jumping in here but a few evenings ago on my way home after visiting relatives, I went into huge pothole in the road and blew front tyre. As it was dark I couldn't very well take photoes of the hole and in addition to that it was so cold that it took all my strength to change the tyre and get the hell home asap.  The thing is the damage to the wheel and tyre came to 150 euro, I was of the opinion the council paid these bills but then again they must be thousands like me who have had to face the annoyance and expensive costs of repairing burst tyres over the recent cold icy snap, it has left the roads are in an appalling state and I would imagine the poor government are too broke to have to pay for it all.


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## Henny Penny (8 Jan 2010)

*Re: has anyone ever brought the county council to the small claims court? ot holes*

My local radio station had a pot-hole campaign last year ... encouraging people to make claims against the local council for damage due to pot-holes. If I rememberg correctly, the general gist was that a fault in the road (pot-hole) must be reported to the council, if they do not fix the fault within a reasonable time frame and then you damage your car, you have a case ... sorry I can't be more specific, I only caught a bit of it while driving (avoiding pot holes)


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## 7seats (8 Jan 2010)

*Re: has anyone ever brought the county council to the small claims court? ot holes*

Is making a claim against the councl for not maintaining roads a bit like claiming against the government for not maintaining banks?

Unfortunately we live in a country with less than perfect Government/Services etc.  I sympathise with the OP but if we all start making claims for everything that is wrong with Ireland today it becomes a bit of a farce.


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## ajapale (17 Jan 2010)

*Re: has anyone ever brought the county council to (the small claims) court? ot hol*

Moved from  Consumer Issues and Rights to  Cars & Motoring which is where this kind of question is discussed on AAM.

I have heard people who have persued the CoCo through the regular courts for damages but I dont think the small claims court is the appropriate place for this type of claim.

As an aside I came across some truly lunar sized craters in the roads around Mallow over the last few days.


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## klin (10 Feb 2010)

*Re: has anyone ever brought the county council to (the small claims) court? ot hol*

I have just hit a massive pothole which has busted my front shock, bent my alloy, taken a chunk out of my tyre in addition to taking a chunk out of my rear alloy and damaging my rear tyre. I priced a new shock for the car and was told I have to buy two, that you're not supposed to replace one on its own. I have been reading on other forums about how to go about claiming for the damage and it seems that the pothole must have been recently repaired but not sufficently for a claim to be made. I'm not familiar with the road in question so how would I know if an attempt had be made to repair it?


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## ollie323 (11 Feb 2010)

*Re: has anyone ever brought the county council to (the small claims) court? ot hol*

Quite simply, it's a disgrace. We've all been abroad and we know how well the roads are repaired in most western countries. 
I've seen council workers in NZ marking a mere scrape on the road for repair. In the back of beyond. It got fixed too, and properly. None of this patch malarkey. We have the money and we are pumping it into the govts coffers left right and centre. Just where is it being spent? We even have to get private companies to do the big projects. Its a joke.


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## RedTop (12 Feb 2010)

*Re: has anyone ever brought the county council to (the small claims) court? ot hol*

Yes, I made a successful claim. It was the third time I had hit a pot hole and the most recent time I wrecked the wheel bearings as well as the tyre.  Previous times, I just bought new tyres myself but this time I had enough.  I took photos and kept receipts including taxi to/from dealer.  It took 6 MONTHS of calls and emails to the local council office before I got my cheque for the full amount to cover New Tyre, Wheel Bearing, Taxi to Garage etc.  I was fobbed off so many times, that I nearly gave up but glad in the end that I persisted. Good Luck !


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## Sherman (12 Feb 2010)

*Re: has anyone ever brought the county council to the small claims court? ot holes*



7seats said:


> if we all start making claims for everything that is wrong with Ireland today it becomes a bit of a farce.


 
Strongly disagree. If we all started making claims they might actually bother themselves to fix the roads, or more usually (in Dublin anyway) enforce proper road repairs against utilities who dig up a strip of road and 'repair' it in the most rudimentary fashion.


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## Caveat (12 Feb 2010)

*Re: has anyone ever brought the county council to (the small claims) court? ot hol*

Unless the situation was extreme I would be wary about making claims.  Councils could make things difficult for you and your name could be dirt.


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## Mpsox (12 Feb 2010)

*Re: has anyone ever brought the county council to (the small claims) court? ot hol*

interesting article here on this topic, note the last paragraph
http://www.advertiser.ie/mayo/article/21360


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## Complainer (12 Feb 2010)

*Re: has anyone ever brought the county council to (the small claims) court? ot hol*



Caveat said:


> Unless the situation was extreme I would be wary about making claims.  Councils could make things difficult for you and your name could be dirt.


Are you posting from the 1960's?


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## pudds (12 Feb 2010)

*Re: has anyone ever brought the county council to (the small claims) court? ot hol*

The only reason the roads are cracking up since we had a wee bit of snow recently is because of poor road resurfacing work carried out by contractors on behalf of the councils.  You *never* hear of the road newtwork in Russia cracking up even after tons of snow and -20 plus degrees.

Don't you just love this little country


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## ajapale (12 Feb 2010)

*Re: has anyone ever brought the county council to (the small claims) court? ot hol*

Poor sub base construction, Poor drainage, Poor surface sealing of the road plus the freeze thaw cycle have contributed to the current situation.


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## Caveat (13 Feb 2010)

*Re: has anyone ever brought the county council to (the small claims) court? ot hol*



Complainer said:


> Are you posting from the 1960's?



No.

Are you posting from the 19th century with your continuing stoic denial of any skullduggery whatsover in all things 'public service' ?


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## DeclanP (13 Feb 2010)

*Re: has anyone ever brought the county council to (the small claims) court? ot hol*

A Director of Services with Galway County Council was reported as saying that it was up to the motorist to drive with caution in the aftermath of the floods and frost when it came to potholed roads. He said that the onus of responsibility was with the motorist rather than the local authority. But then, he would say that, wouldn't he.


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## Complainer (13 Feb 2010)

*Re: has anyone ever brought the county council to (the small claims) court? ot hol*



Caveat said:


> No.
> 
> Are you posting from the 19th century with your continuing stoic denial of any skullduggery whatsover in all things 'public service' ?


I'm leaving in 2010, and I deal with local authority staff most days of the week. Your conspiracy theories have no connection with the real world. Local authority staff have greater things to worry about than holding grudges.


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## AlbacoreA (13 Feb 2010)

*Re: has anyone ever brought the county council to (the small claims) court? ot hol*



ajapale said:


> Poor sub base construction, Poor drainage, Poor surface sealing of the road plus the freeze thaw cycle have contributed to the current situation.



Thats simply it. Too many times you see a road repaired in this country and a few months later its as bad as ever.


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