This year, since February we have managed to totally destroy 3 perfectly good tyres on our Kia Sportage.
1 in a pothole in February… For which I persuaded Staffs council they were liable as the pothole was there because the road flooded because of a broken pipe they knew about and hadn’t mended.
We had to change both front tyres to keep them safely balanced but they only paid for one. The tyres are Continental and about £165 each. Ouch.
We then replaced the two back tyres in September as the treads were getting a bit low.
So this morning our car had 4 perfectly good and really quite new expensive tyres all round.
Tonight on the way to a family party dinner we drove through a puddle on the edge of the dark country road, 10 mins from home, and hiding in the puddle was a piece of sharp metal . A blown over flood sign possibly.
We saw it just as we drove over it and the two nearside tyres went BANG BANG.
So 3 hours
and an AA man and a mobile tyre man later, we had two more new tyres and were Another £454 worse off… Plus we got no dinner but at least we only paid a deposit for that.
We moved here to these dangerous wet dark country roads of Staffordshire exactly 20 years ago today.
Is our car trying to tell us we made a mistake 20 years ago ?
If we had not moved I would not have joined the local WI and would not have done a glassing course And I would not have a handy garage with big light window, perfect for glass making.
… So all in all I suppose the glass wins over the tyre splitting roads round here …
I just need to sell more on here to pay for all the tyres !!
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So sorry Joy, we had to have 1 replaced when the mot was due, again due to a pit hole. The expense at this time of year is not good.
We used to have continental on the RS Turbo, brilliant tyres but kept getting people say our tyres were flat, no just the very wide width and built that way for speed. Had to replace 2 in the cars time with us both just under £1K. Luckily persuaded Lee after the V6 to grow old gracefully and have a car that does not eat petrol, cheaper to insure and £35 car tax.
Loads of us reported a bad 1 on a bend in the village, now filled. A few more need doing but not as bad.
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My local garage says hes replacing tyres and bits of suspension far more than he used to, due to the state of the roads and the speed control measures. In our village, the main danage is caused by buses and bin lorries. Our streets arent built for cars, never mind these massive vehicles. They drive on the verges, making these subside, because the roads arent wide enough for them.
I have absolutely no idea what else they can do though. Some houses here have 3 or 4 vehicles cos the adult kids are still at home.
I would claim the deposit off the council Joy plus stress and disappointment at not being able to go.
Ok - so you jinxed me … read this first thing before heading off to craft fair. Arrived at destination with … yes, a flat tyre!! RAC came out and plugged it - just hoping it will hold long enough to get home! Guess where proceeds of this fair are going!
Sadly I can’t really get the council for this one. No idea who that piece of metal belonged to. We managed to move a bit further aling the road, driving on the wheel hubs to a little pull off and i flagged a car down, with my phone torch, going the other way and asked them to move the metal whatever it was. No other cars came up behind us with slashed tyres so i think they must have moved it.
Oh Roz, I am so sorry and apologise if my sorry tale caused yours. At least yours was plugable… sadly ours were ribboned !!
Hope you plug holds and that you have a brilliant fair with an astonishing amount of sales 
you can claim compensation for pothole damage from the authority responsible for maintaining the road:
- Local council: If the pothole is on a local road, you can claim from the local council.
- National Highways: If the pothole is on a major road, you can claim from National Highways.
- Other national authorities: If the pothole is on a road maintained by another national authority, such as Transport Scotland or the Welsh Government, you can claim from them.
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Take photos of the pothole as soon as possible, and measure its width and depth if it’s safe. You should also keep any original receipts or estimates.
Contact the relevant authority as soon as possible, including the date, time, location, and any witnesses. You can use websites like potholes.co.uk or fillthathole.org.uk.
- Find out when the road was last inspected
You can request this information from the authority responsible for the road using a Freedom of Information request.
Include as much detail as possible to prove that the authority was negligent and the pothole caused the damage.
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Thanks Maddie… I did claim the one in February. Several people claimed for the same hole but i had a witness and well as solid determnation. I reported the fault with photos as soon as we had the car on the road again and followed up with my claim. Took 6 months but I got it.
I was not exactly speeding as i was about to drop my friend off at the house on the left just after the hole. She witnessed my Very bad language !
I know several others hit the same pothole but not aware of anyone else dogged enough to force the council to pay up .
Sadly last nights was not a pothole and nobody’s fault really unless you blame Bert for blowing the metal under our wheel.
I sent the council this at one point
~
As well as picture of my hand holding a 1/2 litre water bottle submerged !! Did the trick.
I did put a bunch of dead daffodils in the cone at one point just to pretty it up a bit.
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