Pothole claims double as council pays out £219k to Essex drivers

Figures obtained via a Freedom of Information request show County Hall paid £219,387 to 139 drivers in 2023 – a huge increase in the £50,075 paid out in 2022.

Despite this, the chances of drivers receiving a pay-out remain extremely remote, with only 139 out of 2,713 drivers receiving money from the council last year for their damaged cars.

With Essex's roads and pavements in a state of “managed decline” according to councillor Martin Goss, there are fears the number of claims will increase further.

Decline – Martin Goss says Essex County Council have admitted its roads are in 'managed decline' (Image: Newsquest)

And although the number of drivers who pursued Essex County Council for damages jumped from 1,277 in 2022 to 2,713 in 2023, the number of successful claimants only increased by a fraction.

In 2022, 58 claims out of 1,277 were successful, which makes for a proportion of 4.5 per cent.

In 2023, that figure rose to 5.1 per cent after 139 drivers out of 2,713 managed to receive pay-outs from County Hall.

And on average, Essex County Council paid out £1,578 per motorist in 2023 compared to £863 per motorist the year before.

One driver whose car fell victim to dodgy roads in Essex is Nick Barrance, from Wivenhoe.

Over the last couple of months he has had to replace three tyres which became unroadworthy after hitting potholes. 

He says he has encountered three large potholes which damaged his vehicle, in Rowhedge Road, Brightlingsea Road and Cymbeline Way.

Victim - Nick Barrance, from Wivenhoe, had to fork out £1,000 after potholes damaged his car (Image: Newsquest)
Deep - a pothole in Brightlingsea Road, Colchester (Image: Public)
One impact with a pothole even resulted in one of his alloy wheels being damaged which he has not been able to get repaired.

Despite having to fork out £1,000 in repair bills, he says claims for damages have been “default refused” despite “obvious negligence” by the council in carrying out “adequate repairs”.

Essex’s road network is seeing more and more potholes because of the authority’s falling highways budget.

In 2016-17, Essex County Council put £60.4million towards road maintenance spend, but the figure this year is projected to be £40.75million.

Claim – Martin Goss has taken Essex County Council to the small claims court over a pothole which damaged his car (Image: Newsquest)

Councillor Martin Goss encouraged residents not to be put off by the council if their claims are rejected, adding he is taking Essex County Council to the small claims court after a pothole damaged his car last year.

He said: “County Hall has admitted for the first time in the last 12 months the roads and pavements are in managed decline, and you can see that by the amount of potholes that don’t get repaired.

“Filing claims is dead easy – it takes ten minutes and costs £35.

“Essex County Council denied my claim so I took it to the small claims court – don’t let them get away with it, because they think that after they reject you, you will just forget about it.”