Holes, Holes, bloody holes

[esprit22]

Roads are a bloody joke at the moment, more pot holes than on the moon! Went down one the other night which instantly destroyed a front tyre....

[Kato]

Take a pic of the damage and of the pot-hole and write to the council. You can get refunded for the damage normally.

I'm sure others here have better experience with these matters than me and can advise more, but it's worth pursuing.

Edited February 17, 2009 by Kato

[Laura]

Ah but that's the thing isn't it, there's no such thing as road tax it's Vehicle Excise Duty which as I understand just goes in to the coffers along with every other tax. I believe your local council is responsible for the roads so I guess it's your council tax that pays for repairs.

I also remember reading (possibly on here) that some local councils pay out more each year to drivers who make claims for the damage to their cars than to do on making repairs to the roads.

[Dave Freeman]

I have very stiff suspension, when I go down a hole I am not sure what bit will fall off first, either mine or the cars.

[molemot]

Used to be the Road Fund License...self explanatory. Came from Lloyd George in 1910...was supposed to be used only for road building, thus making the road system self-financing..but every chancellor used to , ahem, borrow from it..in 1937 any pretense of it being specifically for road building was given up, although it wasn't until 1955 that the Road Fund itself was abolished. Now, as mentioned, it should be called Vehicle Excise Duty and it goes into the common tax pot.

Now, the real iniquity is the VED exemption for vehicles over 25 years of age...this was intended to be a rolling exemption, once your car got over 25, it would qualify. However, in 1997 this was changed and it is now only "pre-1973" cars which qualify...so that's yer lot for us Esprit types. My brother has a Triumph Stag - well, it's his wife's car, he's not a hairdresser - and that misses the cutoff date by days. He's been back to the original build documents to no avail.

[abrussich]

Good luck with getting money from the gov. I hit a pothole with my old TR 3 a time back and was told by some lazy, ignorant civil servant that the pothole was an act of god and therefore the city was not accountable. I almost dropped the phone on that one.

And what is wrong with a Stag? Had one and it was a blast. It is still running around today and being thoroughly enjoyed by the present owner who happens not to be a hair dresser. Is this some relationship to an old movie thing? Not to worry, no angst here, just curious.

[molemot]

Whats wrong with a Stag? Hmmmm..apart from that unfortunate V8 engine, nothing much. This one has been in the family so long it's on it's fourth engine...I even had to resort to a hardpoint woodsaw to saw the cylinder head off one of them when it became immoveably attached to the block. My sister-in-law loves it...she makes a good looking combination with the car! As for hairdressers...well....

[mangel]

I have claimed for a wheel in the past from Cov council.

Basically I put together e series of photos illustrating the hole and its size (use something to give it some proportion and provide dimensioned picture). Then you need to provide pictures of the damage to your vehicle along with a quote or receipt for the replacement item/work.

Like I said i have done this and it did work.

[tonyp]

Mechanic who hepled with my rear wheel bearing said he'd never seen so many bust springs before. Worst ones apparently are 7 series BMW's because the broken spring then shreds the tyre ..... Bit worrying when even new fiesta's & Peugeot 207 etc. break them regularly.

[Mark Blanchard]

The roads where I live are dreadful, they're littered with pot holes. I've taken the spare wheel out of the front which has made a difference. The Locals in Henley-on-Thames don't seem to mind the pot holes as most of them drive 4X4's. Amazingly the Council did resurface one of the roads last year, but just as they'd finished it, it was dug up again to sort out a gas pipe .