An aggrieved driver identified as Al Mitchell has sent a bill of £300 (N174,670) to Plymouth City Council in the United Kingdom, for the damage on his car as a result of a neglected pothole on his street in Penrith Gardens.
Mitchell was charged £300 for the repair of his car but having discovered the cause of the damage, the infuriated driver sent the bill to the council, MetroUK reports.
He says the state of the highway has now caused significant damage to the ball joint of the suspension arms on his Nissan Qashqai.
Further reports revealed that the car which Mitchell bought last June was deemed to be in full working order before the damage, according to Ministry of Transport.
He accused the government of negligence of the pothole that eventually caused significant damage to the ball joint of the suspension arms of his car.
Mitchell, who lives in Penrith Gardens in Estover, says has been riddled with gnarly gaps and holes for four years and has complained to the council.
Speaking to Plymouth Live, the car owner said;
I asked the manager down there for the workshop, and he said it had likely been caused by driving over potholes regularly.
It’s absolutely ridiculous, we’ve been on to them for the past four years about it. We’ve filled in about five forms, rung them a number of times, and all we get is “oh the road’s fine”.
We sent them (the council) the MOT bill in the last complaint but we haven’t had anything back from them yet. I highlighted on the bill the repairs I’d been told were likely caused by the potholes. It all just falls on deaf ears.
He explained;
Over four years we’ve been on to them about it, and they’ve partially filled some in once, and then now they’re even worse. ‘It needs the whole stretch redoing, especially with the amount of traffic that comes down here now. It’s just constant.
The council in a statement to PlymouthLive said it recognised Penrith Gardens was damaged but that it’s not bad enough to warrant repairs.
It said that it has an ‘agreed safety inspection process‘ for potholes and ‘anything that requires intervention is at least 40mm and at least 300mm wide.’
From indication, the damage to the road could have been caused by the technique used in repairing the road called “‘overlaying’, which is placing a new surface directly on to an old surface, without replacing the core, causing it to resurface.
The council added that;
We have an agreed safety inspection process for potholes and anything that requires intervention is at least 40mm and at least 300mm wide.
Yet photos of the surface of the surface show several potholes, some that appear to have been patched up previously. The surface of the road appears loose, and there is damage to the road markings and lines on the street.
While the council did not state if it was going to meet Mitchell’s £300 demand for damages on his car, the man says he thinks roads should have to undergo an MOT test each year, like cars, in order to make sure the road is fit for purpose.
