Aberdeenshire Council has paid out £48,852.11 since 2014 arising from claims for compensation for damage caused by road defects.
Over the four years there have been 615 claims of which 146 were successful. Aberdeenshire Council maintains 3,425 miles (roughly 5,600 kilometres) of roads.
The local authority’s head of roads Philip McKay said: “Aberdeenshire Council consistently ranks within the top five of all 32 local authorities in the annual Road Maintenance Condition Survey.
“However, it is fact that potholes can appear at any time on any standard of road. All of Aberdeenshire’s roads are inspected on a regular basis in line with national standards, but potholes do appear between inspections.
“If members of the public make the council aware of a road defect we will arrange for it to be attended to and made safe or repaired. The best way to notify the council of road defects is online at www.aberdeenshire.gov.uk/faults or by phone on 08456 08 12 05.
“The council’s independent insurance representatives deal with all pothole-related insurance claims and each case is dealt with on an individual basis. However, claims are unlikely to be successful if clear evidence of a road defect is not subsequently identified, or if the council was not aware of the defect prior to the incident.”
Response times for pothole repairs are related to the severity of the damage and can vary from within 24 hours for emergency work to within one month or longer for minor defects. It is sometimes necessary to temporarily fill a pothole prior to making a permanent repair.
I must be soft natured.!! Two broken springs (front) Clean break right through . I approached Aberdeenshire council approx 2014 only to be told they had too many claims to accept any more. The fact that journeys started in Portlethen meant nothing . Most miles were on A90, phoned Angus Council, nothing do with them,!! Brecin bypass is and was a disaster.Even if I turned off at Forfar and went via Coupar Angus etc. Didn’t consider Dundee City Council for Kingsway part. BEAR had too many claims to accept any more at that time. Phoned Insurance, Engineer report – Despite obvious cause , cant truthfully declare it to be totally relevant to ONE particular incident.. Sorry
What now Still got springs in a box might be worth couple of quid scrap value ??????
PS Strong sturdy American Lincoln
If damage is caused to a vehicle travelling on the A90 then the responsibility may lie with BEAR Scotland who maintain the trunk road on behalf of Transport Scotland (an agency of the Scottish Government). Aberdeenshire Council, Angus Council and Dundee City Council have no responsibility whatsoever for the A90 road surface. If the springs had been broken within Portlethen, then indeed it would have been the right course of action to contact Aberdeenshire Council. As you rightly say, the difficulty can be pinpointing one particular incident.
My car failed it’s mot due to damage caused by potholes. Please forward a claims form as I was faced with a huge bill.
.
I’m sorry to hear that. However, I don’t have any claims forms. You need to contact the local authority which is responsible for the road where the offending pothole is located. You should be able to claim against the authority. Success depends upon the council already knowing about the pothole, but failed to take appropriate action.
If the pothole is in Aberdeenshire, contact the council using this form: https://online.aberdeenshire.gov.uk/apps/contact/