Inspection & Maintenance – Pothole Repairs
Claims for compensation for personal injury relating to pothole accidents are normally taken up against the local council. A council is expected to regularly inspect their pavements and highways in order to identify defects and thereafter is expected to rectify faults within a reasonable of time.

The council may be liable for any accident caused if they knew about the problem or pothole and had failed to act on the information. Pavements and highways are not expected to be totally smooth and level and there is usually leeway for uneven pavements. In normal circumstances in order for an accident on a normal pavement to be actionable there must have been an uneven area with a ‘depth of trip’ of at least 2cms.

Most potholes will clearly be in excess of this and it is therefore only necessary to show that the last inspection was outside of the accepted parameters or that a repair has not been effected within a reasonable time scale if the council already knew about the defect.

It is a complete defence to legal action in a pothole accident claim if a local council can prove by virtue of inspection records that the location has been visited in the recent past at which time there was no evidence of any defect. The local council’s inspection records are open for public scrutiny.