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Old 21-03-18, 06:02 PM   #21
maviczap
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Default Re: Vehicle Excise Duty Petition (Road Tax)

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No disrespect intended mate but how do you not see a pothole big enough to have you off? I was only slightly tongue in cheek with my earlier post, I do wonder if we're going just a little bit to far with this trend to absolve drivers and riders of all responsibility for their own safety. We all know the roads are traditionally worse at this time of year, we also all know that potholes are not being fixed as quickly as we like. It follows that we should be driving and riding with that in mind and acting accordingly.

It may be that my view is a little distorted having grown up and learnt to drive in South America in a time and location where tarmac on the road was a real bonus, or it may be the thirty years I subsequently spent listening to all the excuses people offer as to why it wasn't their fault they crashed, but I'm definitely not as sympathetic to these issues as some would like.

Rather than jumping up and down and firing off e-mails every time you hit a pothole why don't we just tell ourselves what a muppet we were for not paying attention and resolve to do better next time. It's generally a whole lot more rewarding an approach! I particularly enjoy seeing the hole early and then deviating at the very last moment so the plonker tailgating me gets it full on......
None taken Red, it was a stealth pothole but in the lanes I ride, they can appear without enough time to react. I forget the exact circumstances as to me hitting it, but on 25mm tyres it doesn't take much to cause a crash. I had a double blow out, which were both pinch punctures caused by the sharp edges of this particular pothole.

Believe me if I could have avoided the pothole and subsequent trip to hospital, I would have, bicycles don't have suspension to cope with potholes.

Those potholes that are under tree cover can't be be seen on dull winter days.

Many potholes are in the cyclists line on the road, so can't always be avoided with a quick swerve, as you've got a car blocking you swerving space, we get enough hassle from drivers if we ride too far from the curb.

Plenty of drain covers with collapsed tarmac round their edges, which are especially deep, and just perfect to catch a Cyclists wheel and send them flying.
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Old 22-03-18, 11:41 PM   #22
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Default Re: Vehicle Excise Duty Petition (Road Tax)

If you suffer damage or injury due to a pothole you can pursue a Public Liability Claim against the responsible council. The kicker is, is the council is not responsible if they are not aware of the relevant pothole and the claim will be denied (I used to work in a councils insurance department).

So, report every pothole that you see to the council so they don't have a get out excuse. At least someone else may get a payout.
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Old 23-03-18, 08:27 PM   #23
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Default Re: Vehicle Excise Duty Petition (Road Tax)

Yup, and if they know about it and can say that repairs were scheduled within a reasonable time they don't have to pay you either, which seems quite sensible to me....... Of course, if they weren't so busy paying out loads of dosh to people who want to replace their tatty alloys and worn out tyres with nice new ones wearing top spec Goodyears they might actually have some money to repair the roads....... If everybody knows that the roads are knackered and full of holes then drive according to the conditions, you'd have a far better reason to complain if the roads were actually very good and you had no reason to expect that rare pothole to suddenly appear in front of you. I know I'm in a minority here but seriously, is it always somebody else fault?
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Old 25-03-18, 09:53 AM   #24
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Default Re: Vehicle Excise Duty Petition (Road Tax)

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Let's redirect government funds towards potholes and away from the health service and social care.
Let's replace seatbelts with a 8"spike in the middle of the steering wheel....
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Old 26-03-18, 12:53 PM   #25
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Default Re: Vehicle Excise Duty Petition (Road Tax)

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Of course, if they weren't so busy paying out loads of dosh to people who want to replace their tatty alloys and worn out tyres with nice new ones wearing top spec Goodyears they might actually have some money to repair the roads.......
Of course, if the councils took it upon themselves to monitor and fix the things they were responsible for, they wouldn't have this issue in the first place...
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Old 26-03-18, 02:55 PM   #26
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Default Re: Vehicle Excise Duty Petition (Road Tax)

ophic, the rules are that a council should have an inspection system in place and that any potholes found are recorded and acted upon within a time frame appropriate to the class of road. A roads very quickly and C or unclassified roads longer. All these rules are set in stone and if a council doesn't have such a scheme in place, it really can't defend any PL claims. Potholes reported by the public go into the same database. Also in the rules is a definition of how deep a pothole or defect has to be to be classified as such. I can't remember offhand how deep a pothole has to be to be repaired but I think it was 70mm for roads and less for pavements. The council I worked for had a scheme in place and was able to reject over 70% of PL pothole claims and won most of the few that went to court.
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Old 26-03-18, 04:39 PM   #27
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Default Re: Vehicle Excise Duty Petition (Road Tax)

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ophic, the rules are that a council should have an inspection system in place and that any potholes found are recorded and acted upon within a time frame appropriate to the class of road. A roads very quickly and C or unclassified roads longer. All these rules are set in stone and if a council doesn't have such a scheme in place, it really can't defend any PL claims. Potholes reported by the public go into the same database. Also in the rules is a definition of how deep a pothole or defect has to be to be classified as such. I can't remember offhand how deep a pothole has to be to be repaired but I think it was 70mm for roads and less for pavements. The council I worked for had a scheme in place and was able to reject over 70% of PL pothole claims and won most of the few that went to court.
Either the roads are fit for purpose or they're not. If they are, then there would be no big payouts and RH's claim would be false. If they're not, then perhaps they're not doing a very good job. I can see that under the current system, there's no incentive for the councils to notice potholes because as soon as they do, they're liable for it.
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Old 27-03-18, 10:45 AM   #28
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Default Re: Vehicle Excise Duty Petition (Road Tax)

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I can see that under the current system, there's no incentive for the councils to notice potholes because as soon as they do, they're liable for it.
That's not true of the council I worked for. It's cheaper to pay for a crew of inspectors than having to deal with thousands of pothole claims. I read that a few years ago, Stockport Council had no inspection scheme in place and paid out over £6 million in 1 year for pothole and tripping claims.

I retired 3 years ago and when I left the council, they had just reduced the number of inspectors as a result of the government massively reducing the central grant and costs needing to be reduced. I suspect that other councils have had to do the same. Fewer inspectors means the frequency of inspections is reduced, meaning potholes are not noticed as quickly.
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Old 27-03-18, 10:49 AM   #29
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Default Re: Vehicle Excise Duty Petition (Road Tax)

Councils here are just paying the claims these days
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Old 27-03-18, 11:42 PM   #30
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Default Re: Vehicle Excise Duty Petition (Road Tax)

Create a new Potholes Agency (that will generate another 5 or 6 thousand jobs for civil servants), offer everyone on the dole a mandatory 'Pothole Fixing Course' or a cessation of benefits then employ them all (at minimum wage of course) to go fix the potholes.

Fixes both the roads and the benefits issues in the UK, win win!

Also will see a staggering number of people suddenly finding work, anything to avoid the hell of fixing pot holes day in, day out.
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