Mr M was driving to work on the motorway when his car hit a pothole. Although Highways England offered Mr M some compensation for the damage, he came to us because he thought it was not enough money.
What happened
When Mr M's car hit a pothole on the motorway, it caused serious damage to his car, affecting both the suspension and a tyre. As a result Mr M could not continue his journey.
Mr M found out that repairing his car would cost too much money, so he bought a new suspension part and a new tyre and fixed them himself. He then complained to Highways England (then the Highways Agency) and asked it to compensate him for the new car part and tyre.
Highways England originally decided it would not compensate Mr M. When he told it he was unhappy about its decision, it looked at his complaint again. Highways England decided it was likely its contractors had missed the pothole during the last motorway inspection before Mr M's accident. It therefore said it would compensate Mr M and pay towards the cost of the car part and the tyre. Highways England's original offer to Mr M was for 80% of the cost of the car part and tyre (approximately £96). It said it would not pay 100% of the cost because the part and tyre would have had some fair wear and tear to them before the accident.
Mr M was unhappy with this offer, and so complained to us.
What we found
Highways England's investigation of Mr M's accident was reasonable, and it was right to compensate him. However, Mr M had been greatly inconvenienced by sorting out this problem and Highways England's compensation offer of £96 did not recognise this. Mr M was also able to prove to us that he had only recently fitted his tyre before it was damaged, so it was unreasonable to apply a reduction to this. Mr M could not prove when he fitted his suspension, and we considered it was reasonable to agree to the reduction for that part.
Putting it right
Highways England paid Mr M £250 for the inconvenience he suffered. It also paid the full price of the car tyre, along with its original offer for the suspension parts. This came to about £110, so in total, Highways England paid Mr M approximately £360.
Highways England
UK
Came to an unsound decision
Did not apologise properly or do enough to put things right
Compensation for non-financial loss