A council in the UK spent more than £2,000 in legal fees to contest a £190 compensation claim for a burst car tire caused by a pothole, a process that lasted nearly a year and a half. The claim was eventually settled just two days before it was scheduled to go to court.
Victoria Broadbent, 44, experienced a flat tire in her Volkswagen Golf in Cirencester in May 2023 after hitting a pothole. Her husband, Richard Broadbent, 54, submitted a claim of £189.60 to Gloucestershire County Council. The council initially rejected the claim, citing Section 58 of the Highways Act, which allows local authorities to avoid liability if they can demonstrate regular road maintenance and a lack of awareness of the need for repairs.
However, evidence indicated the council was aware of the pothole. A site history report revealed that another driver had claimed damages from the same pothole just three weeks prior to Ms. Broadbent's incident. That driver's claim was also denied, but the report showed the pothole was marked for repair the next working day.
Richard Broadbent, a former Metropolitan Police officer, pursued the claim for 15 months. He stated he offered dashcam footage showing the incident, but the council declined to review it. According to Broadbent, the council's legal team questioned whether the incident had occurred at all, despite the available video evidence.
Gloucestershire County Council ultimately offered a settlement before the case reached the small claims court. While not admitting liability, the council agreed to cover the full cost of the repairs and any court expenses. Broadbent described the council's expenditure of time and money on the case as "appalling" and questioned the organization's commitment to public service given its approach to the claim.
Nationally, only about 24% of pothole compensation claims are paid out by UK councils. In Gloucestershire, the county council's payout rate is significantly lower, with only 3.15% of the 2,539 claims filed over the past five years resulting in compensation. Experts suggest that councils often vigorously defend claims to deter future claimants and that the funds allocated for defending claims are disproportionately larger than those for road maintenance.
A survey indicated that only 21% of people in Gloucestershire are satisfied with the state of the roads, a figure below the national average. Satisfaction with how the council handles pothole claims was also low, at 22%, compared to the national average of 27%.