Pothole damage in guess where - Meath!

opticalillusion

Oh the joys of Meath roads.

I'll try keeping it short: travelling navan to athboy, night time, huge f**k off deep pothole in road where tyres would normally cover, travelling under speed limit, hit it, car nearly careers across road, tyre and rim badly damaged, have to change the wheel myself in the pitch black (little 7 and half stone me!) Pothole is so deep it goes through TWO LAYERS of surface. (see below and yes that is a 30 cm ruler)

New tyre = (that I just so happened to have bought 2 weeks previously :mad:) = €75
Tracking = €45
Navan Coco = priceless

Letter and evidence and they reply 2 days later claiming non feasance. This basically states that a pothole is a feature which occurs naturally and the council cannot be expected to know about a hole immediately. However, there is a duty of care on the council if they have either been notified of the
pothole's existance (difficult to prove) or if the pothole has
appeared due to their negligence in repairing it previously (easier to prove). How do I get them to prove the latter?

He didn't even have the decency to sign it himself, and I get the impression that this is a template letter they send to everyone.

All I wanted was €120. I know people have got money from them for brand new alloys and tyres costing €1000, and that they get it too, as they put a fund away for this every year in their budget.

So my question is, Small Claims Court, threaten them with this action via a letter first, or count my losses. They are probabaly thinking to themselves 'ah sure she's just a woman she'll back down' They are messing with the wrong woman... Also, I have photocopies of my receipts, they have the originals, should I ask for them back before going further, or will the photocopies do in court?

What do you think folks? What the f**k am I paying my tax for?!!? :mad:
Any advice appreciated...

Archeron

Its infuriating. Tyres are actually my largest motoring expense after petrol, and even though I have emailed the council and written to them before expressing my disbelief at some of the road conditions in this county and pointing out areas of particular disgrace. I have never even gotten the courtesy of a response. People from all over the country agree that Meaths roads are the worst in Ireland, and having driven a good bit across the country, I would agree.
I also have a picture at home of a monster of a hole that a small car would disappear into, I'll post it later. I actually stopped took a photo of it because I was so impressed at the sheer scale of it. Meath has a grand canyon too it appears.

MEATH COUNCIL GET OFF YOUR ARSES AND DO SOMETHING ABOUT THE BLOODY ROADS!!!!

Its not only damaging the car you've to worry about either, its too frequent to come round bends and find there is a car on the wrong side of the road because they are trying to avoid a hole they know about. People are gonna be hurt because of these, and nobody seems to give a damn. Of course, we'll all be blamed for the accidents and it will go down as driver error, but I wonder how many people have actually lost their lives in Ireland because of crappy surfaces? I have had roads crumble under my car as I try to squeeze past large trucks on one particular road.

Some of the builders who are working on the roads around Meath need to cop on too. I have actually encountered construction vehicles speeding up while cars try to overtake them as the dudes in the vehicles break their hearts laughing. In fairness, some of the roadworks are being handled excellently, but acts of stupidity like speeding up to prevent overtaking is just pointless and dumb.

opticalillusion

Couldn't have put it better myself. Fair play!

Don't suppose you've complained about that stretch of road? Then I'd overrule their claim of non feasance and smack em one in court

Access

welcome to the club!

I have had a lot of experience of writing letters to Meath Coco for tyre/car damage over the past few years, and to be quite honest with you opticalillusion, (and this kills me to admit!), i have given up!

Approx 6 damaged alloys on two of our cars, same amount of tyres, one broken strut, one cracked shock, alloy repair fees and tow fees, evidence (photos, receipts, measurements and even witness accounts!)... and in all my time, i haven't got a penny back from Meath Coco!

You wont get anywhere via the legal route either, (im sorry to say) and it will end up costing you solicitor fees in the end if you press ahead... believe me, i know.

They will just claim non feasance (act of god). Give any local solicitor a ring on monday and they will confirm this.

One of my costly potholes was even marked for repair (yellow road paint circled) when i hit it but they still claimed non feasance

I would put it down to experience and move on unfortunately, as i can confirm that you wont see a penny from the feckers!

P.s. Jesus, that is quite a bad hole! are they burying anyone in it? (its fecking deep enough!)

is_that_so

Was on that road today and I have to say I didn't notice anything like that, although I don't really know the road that well so I could have missed it. That said there are some parts of that road which are abysmal. Where exactly is/was that hole?

Archeron

Here's my favourite pothole. I call it Old Cracky after the noise that came from my car as I drove over it in the dark one night. Even those huge construction vehicles slow down to go over this and those things can drive over cars without noticing. For scale, that black and silver square thing is a CD album cover.

Ruu_Old

They just fill them in with stones along our way, no tar or anything else. Just a few chippings.

opticalillusion

is_that_so wrote: »

Was on that road today and I have to say I didn't notice anything like that, although I don't really know the road that well so I could have missed it. That said there are some parts of that road which are abysmal. Where exactly is/was that hole?

That's because this is what the cute whores did...
(It's the navan to rathmore road (the small village before athboy)






Well I'm fooked now, how am I going to argue that? They filled in every other pothole on the road too...

pdmc

2 years ago I was driving from Duleek to Navan via the country roads from Duleek to Navan that cross the N2. As I approached a recently built development on the left hand side of the road in Kentstown (just before the entrance to the housing estate) I hit a large undulating ripple in the tarmac.

This was not a pothole in the typical sense, but a wave in the road surface close to the kerb. It was a small depression in the road surface, followed by a crest and then a much larger depression, another crest and then it levelled out to a normal surface again. I didn't see the thing because it did not look like a pothole would, a pothole being an obvious crater in the road surface. As this was in a village, I was travelling at about 30kmph, not a speed you'd equate with danger.

The front of the car bounced quite badly and very unexpectedly, so I braked... but when the back wheel on the passenger side hit the undulations, there was an horrible metallic bang and then a rapid hammering noise from the back of the car. I knew something was seriously damaged.

The undulations in the road had caused the rear suspension of my car to compress and extend more rapidly and with far more severity than it was built to withstand. The shock absorber burst and spewed its oil. The weld at the top of the shock absorber failed and the shock absorber was ripped from its mounting in the wheelarch. Each subsequent bump made the wheel bounce on the coil spring and as the shock absorder was still attached to the rear suspension assembly it punched the wheel arch as it continued to bounce. The car was a '96 Mazda 323F which in my experience is a very well built, reliable car and had recently passed the NCT with flying colours. Prior to this there were definately no issues with the suspension.

I emailed Meath CoCo detailing the damage caused to my car and the cause of the damage being that fault with the road surface. As I expected, my email was ignored. I never received a response. I took this as a signal not to pursue the matter because I did not have a camera or any evidence that the damage was caused at that location as a result. I did not know what else to do, so I drove the short distance back to the N2 and took the car home (limp home mode) to Dublin 15. I ended up paying for the repairs myself of course. It was some months later that I passed that way again and, quel surprize, the undulating tarmac was nowhere to be seen.

The point of my post is this: If something like this should happen to you, do not move the car unless you need to move it to a safer spot on the road. Take photos (keep cheap disposable camera in car) and call the A.A. or RAC. They could act as a witness to the incident and could testify as to the presence of the offending imperfection in the road and the damage caused. You could possibly also ask for a report on this. I had never heard of such a thing but this was what was suggested to me at a later date when I was talking to someone about the incident.

I am not sure of the AA/RAC's stance on this, but if your car is crippled by the roadside and you call them out, there will be records of the event that the local authorities cannot ignore.

Archeron

pdmc wrote: »

The point of my post is this: If something like this should happen to you, do not move the car unless you need to move it to a safer spot on the road. Take photos (keep cheap disposable camera in car) and call the A.A. or RAC. They could act as a witness to the incident and could testify as to the presence of the offending imperfection in the road and the damage caused. You could possibly also ask for a report on this. I had never heard of such a thing but this was what was suggested to me at a later date when I was talking to someone about the incident.

Thats a good idea, but the problem is that I would spend a lot of hours waiting for the AA to come and act as proof, as damaged wheels, or at least punctures are at least a weekly occurrence for me. One of the more memorable ones was during the last snowy period we had. After I changed the wheel in Dunderry, it took 15 minutes for me to be able to feel my hands again when pressed against the heater.

You are right that we need to do something to make evidence of these woeful roads, but I wouldn't be able to spend that much time waiting for the rescue companies as I am generally on the way to/from either work, or to visit relations in hospital when these things occur.
What happened to you sounds nasty alright. I hate when you hear one of those "this is gonna cost lots" noises.

Thing is though that some roads even in large towns are abysmal, and if they cant be arsed fixing those, then the backroads are even less likely.

Driving from Navan shopping centre towards the road that leads uphill to the hospital has for over 4 months now had a hole in it exactly like the nasty one in the OP's photo. Its still there, and this is on a busy street with shops on it.
Perhaps we could shame the eejits who are supposed to be looking after this with threads like these.
For shame Meath Co Co. FOR SHAAAAAAAAME!!!!!!

Suzette

They cannot claim non feasance as it is clear from the photo's you have supplied that there is evidence of previous pothole repair.

You can only base your defence on nonfeasance if there have not been any previous repairs to the pothole.

It is clear from the photo that the pothole in question was repaired at some point and it is the repair/reinstatement that has failed.

I would get back onto them and say the above, they should sort you out.

opticalillusion

Thanks Suzette, I will!!

Going to send Joe Duffy an email too!

Will keep ye updated!!

gipi

opticalillusion, if you're feeling "pothole withdrawal" after the CoCo filled in the demon you photographed, take a spin on the road to DonaghPatrick from the Kilberry-Kells road - it's definitely a piece of moon surface, not an earth road at all! The CoCo dryfililed the worst of the craters at the junction, I'd give it about a week before cars start disappearing again!

opticalillusion

gipi wrote: »

opticalillusion, if you're feeling "pothole withdrawal" after the CoCo filled in the demon you photographed, take a spin on the road to DonaghPatrick from the Kilberry-Kells road - it's definitely a piece of moon surface, not an earth road at all! The CoCo dryfililed the worst of the craters at the junction, I'd give it about a week before cars start disappearing again!

I think I'm ok thanks... I just discovered yesterday that the back wheel is f**ked from it too, I've been driving around for 3 weeks with a huge bulge in my sidewall! I was so concerned about the front wheel I never bloody checked the back!!!

ARGHHHHHH!!! Another new frikkin tyre that I can't afford!!!!

opticalillusion

Well, after a second letter and after stating the obvious, they have refused to pay up again.

Small claims court, what do you think? Who am I bringing it aganst, Navan coco or what?

Lobster

And they expect our cars to be near perfect for the NCT. I drive a passat and as much as I try, I can't avoid hitting the bottom of the car of some roads. Thats just not right.

Archeron

I drove through the town of Summerhill today, and can only say one thing.

WTF?????

In the very centre of the town, there appears to be a bowl shaped dip of about a foot in the road, and in the middle of this dip is a big huge lump of tar poking out about a foot and a half over the bottom of the bowl. I hit it today at a very low speed (Thanks be I seen it), and actually pulled in just after it to make sure my dad was okay as he had bonked his head when the car jerked violently to the side.
Summerhill has never been graced with the most even road surfaces in the town centre, but this is seriously like something from the third world.


I've said it above and I'll say it again,
MEATH COUNTY COUNCIL. PLEASE TELL US WHY YOU DO NOT SEEM CAPABLE OF MAINTAINING STANDARDS OF ROAD SURFACES IN MEATH. ON NUMEROUS OCCASIONS I HAVE DAMAGED MY CAR, AND RISKED MY PERSONAL SAFETY ON SOME OF THE WORST ROADS I HAVE EVER SEEN IN IRELAND. I WOULD BE 99.9% SURE THAT THESE ROAD CONDITIONS ARE LEADING TO ACCIDENTS AND DEATHS.

Grrr, this really annoys the hell out of me.