Anybody been successful...?

LarWright

... in getting Meath Coco to pay out for wheel repairs from damage caused by their roads??

Long and short, I'm just home after sitting in my car nearly 2 hours waiting for the AA to tow me home.

I hit a pot/manhole on the R125 between the N2 and Ratoath. There is a crack in the wheel about 7 inches long. I don't even know if it is repairable or if I'll have to replace it, and I bet it won't be cheap to replace!

Any contact details of who to talk to will be greatly appreciated!

jamesO

Yea know a guy who did it, take a photo of the pot hole and the area leading up to it from both sides which should show no warning signs. Then take a photo of the wheel on the car. The AA man can act as a witness. I t took him about 9 months to get his dosh!

Harris engineering in Castletown Co Meath do repairs on alloy's don't have a number!

jO-)

Mr Magnolia

What jamesO said. I got money out of my local coco. Take photo's with a ruler or tape-measure. Submit them with a copy of the invoice and be patient but persistent. Let us know how you get on.

LarWright

jamesO wrote: »

Harris engineering in Castletown Co Meath do repairs on alloy's don't have a number!

jO-)

Dropped wheel to them today. Had work done there before. Dave's a nice bloke. Gonna collect it tomorrow evening so all good. Went to Meath Coco and the girl is gonna send me a claim form. She sounded confident that I'd be reimburssed!

Bandara

Lar

I think i may have hit your pothole today !

is it outside that yard where the trucks turn into on the side of the road going towasrds ratoath?

Its a nasty deep f**ker, nearly pulled the sterring wheel out of my hands !

LarWright

Hammertime wrote: »

Lar

I think i may have hit your pothole today !

is it outside that yard where the trucks turn into on the side of the road going towasrds ratoath?

Its a nasty deep f**ker, nearly pulled the sterring wheel out of my hands !

Yeah, think we're on the same hymn sheet alright! I only have a pic at night so gonna pop down and get one later!

Like the damage to my wheel!???



The dent doesn't look too bad, like it'd be easy enough to straighten out..... BUT then you see the rest of the damage!

Archeron

I say it again, What the F*ck is wrong with the council in this county that a serious accident waiting to happen is just left there to surprise motorists. I am sick of seeing sh*te roads and sh*te repairs all over this county, not to mention horrifically bad management of road works when they are being "repaired".

Ever notice the way when you cross any county border the roads get instantly better?

europerson

Archeron wrote: »

Ever notice the way when you cross any county border the roads get instantly better?

We do have to point out that the public sector makes up 63% of the Northern Ireland economy. That said, the lack of professionalism in terms of Irish roadworks is astounding.

marco murphy

Don't worry, the ''patcher'' will be around spitting out bits of tar. rolleyes

Archeron

Perestroika wrote: »

Don't worry, the ''patcher'' will be around spitting out bits of tar. rolleyes

LOL. I seen that thing for the first time a few weeks ago. It literally just spits out a ball of tar and then some guy stands on it. :rolleyes:

LarWright

Perestroika wrote: »

Don't worry, the ''patcher'' will be around spitting out bits of tar. rolleyes

Ah sure they got him in an ad already!

http://www.irishpride.ie/news/hero.swf

LarWright

Hello all....

Ok, here's my update.... Nearly 6 months on, I think I've gotten somewhere.

Meath Coco wrote to me late Novermber saying they "Weren't responsible for the upkeep of roads damaged due to general wear and tear".

I opened a claim with The Court Service in early December, through Trim District court. Cost €15 and I thought, if I get somewhere, great, if not, well, the Coco weren't gonna pay out anyway!

Early last month, I got a letter from Meath Coco, throught Trim District court, saying that they would pay my costs of damage as long as I signed the form enclosed (which basically said that I wouldn't take the issue futher and agreed that Meath Coco weren't responsible for the damage).

Now, I'm still waiting on the payment, but I am due it, or so the courts said!

Mr Magnolia

\0/

Fair play, keep at 'em.

Thanks for the update.

SueWho

Wow, let us know if they pay you. If they do I guarantee they will have the entire driving population of Skryne/ Oberstown queuing up for some compensation. The roads there are not fit for tractors...

LarWright

SueWho wrote: »

Wow, let us know if they pay you. If they do I guarantee they will have the entire driving population of Skryne/ Oberstown queuing up for some compensation. The roads there are not fit for tractors...

I called the court last week, and the woman was very helpful, saying she'd chase up the council. She just called me back about 20 minutes ago to say that she'd been onto the council, and the payment was being sent this week, so I should have it by the weekend or early next week as it has to come via the court!

I'll continue to update as I get info! It's ridiculous that the treat of legal action is the only thing that made them cough up!!!

Access

fair dues!

I have had so many problems with damage due to bad roads before and i got no where even after writing to them and sending photos.

I will now know for the future.

Could you go into further detail on how you started your claim... is it just a case of you walked into the court and made a small claims application or something... and did you have to resubmit all your pics and letters?

This info on how to claim will then be very handy to us all!

LarWright

Access wrote: »

Could you go into further detail on how you started your claim... is it just a case of you walked into the court and made a small claims application or something... and did you have to resubmit all your pics and letters?

This info on how to claim will then be very handy to us all!

Hi Access (and everyone else).

I still have to recieve payment, but it's on the way according to the court so this is how I went about it.

INITIAL CLAIM WITH COUNCIL

I took pictures of the damage to my wheel, manhole and drew a map (printed off Google Maps) of the approximate location of the offending manhole cover.

Sent these, a coverletter outlining what happened and a Public Liability Claim Form (from Meath Coco) along with all invoices for services paid for. These were, - Attemted repair to wheel, Replacement Wheel after repair failed due to amount of damage, and fitting / balancing the existing tyre which wasn't damaged (although after the claim, I realised it was and had to buy a new one, but it was too late to try and ammend the claim).

Meath Coco wrote back a few weeks later confirming receipt of claim, and stated an engineers report would be carried out on the road where the accident happened.

A few weeks after this, they wrote back "Without Prejudice" that the damage caused to my vehicle, was not their fault as the road was in a bad state due to "general wear and tear / weather conditions" and they weren't responsible, nor is it possible for them to know when and where every pothole appears. - Fair enough, but what I hit, wasn't "wear and tear", it was never laid properly to begin with!

CLAIM WITH COURT

I logged onto www.smallclaims.ie and opened a case there. You do this through your local court, in my case, this was Trim District Court. You have a box to fill in of (I think max 2000 characters) a brief outline of your claim. You can claim against an "Indvidual" or a "Company". As a council is neither, I selected "Company" as that was the best description.

I filled out the online form, stating I had tried a public liability claim directly and the council had said basically it wasn't there responsibility to repair roads, and I backed it up by saying that I believed the manhole was never laid correctly to start with, and had photographic evidence to prove this (a picture of the manhole / a picture of one laid correctly).

Paid the €15 by Laser and that was that!!

By the way, the court never asked me for this evidence afterwards, but maybe that's because Meath Coco (possibly) didn't dispute the claim.

HEARD BACK FROM COURT!

The defendant has 15 calendar days to respond to or dispute the claim against them, and if they don't, the court holds them to have admitted the claim.

Small Claims Procedure Guide is here.

I'm not sure if this is what happened with me, or if the council did reply, but deemed it to be too costly to defend themselves when they knew they would probably lose and end up having to fork out alot more than the €500 odd euro I was looking for.

I then received the letter from them to sign, saying that they would pay for the damage, but weren't admitting responsibility for damages. I signed it, sent it back to the court and that was that!

Hopefully this is help for someone, although once again, I must state that I STILL HAVE YET RECEIVE THE PAYMENT so here's hoping I do get it this or next week, as that's what the lady in the court said should happen!

poindexter

well done on that. don't konw if anyone else comes in via summerhill, but they were doing roadworks there over the last few months (seems neverending). the state of the roads there now are a disgrace, not a flat or even patch among the whole layout of the village.:mad:

can anything be done about this at all??

LarWright

poindexter wrote: »

well done on that. don't konw if anyone else comes in via summerhill, but they were doing roadworks there over the last few months (seems neverending). the state of the roads there now are a disgrace, not a flat or even patch among the whole layout of the village.:mad:

can anything be done about this at all??

Dunno where you mean but my understanding is:

If a road is cut up and "repaired" (for cables or pipes or repair to potholes etc...) and you damage your car, you can claim, as they it wasn't fixed properly.

If you hit a pothole that was never repaired, tough, the council can't possibly know where all the potholes are.

During roadworks, I'd say it's the same, or they'd argue there are signs in place stating that roadworks are being carried out so you should be driving slowly / with caution in these areas.

I know near where I am in Ratoath, they made mince meat of the road outside the Supervalu, and it's still like a patchwork quilt a few months after putting a footpath in and is full of lumps and bumps. I'd say if you hit something like this you'd have a strong case, as it's a classic "the contractor / council not re-laying the road" to a high standard scenario.

LarWright

The cheque arrived today at long last!

So there ya have it, you can successfully claim against damage to your property due to the lack of care / maintenance to the roads!

Mr Magnolia

Glad you got sorted in the end.

hblock21

I got €200 last year form South Tipperary Coco after going into a pothole.

It felt great!

donmaga1

LarWright wrote: »

"Weren't responsible for the upkeep of roads damaged due to general wear and tear".

LOL. I find it so funny. We pay Road Tax for what??? That right for the roads. If the CoCo. are not responsible for the roads who is and can I stop paying my road tax????:P:P:P

chewed

The worst road I've seen is the Bective Road off the Trim/Navan road. This is an absolute disgrace. The potholes keep appearing, being filled in (after a few weeks!) and then appearing again. There is no proper drainage on the road and it's constantly being used by trucks taking short cuts to Drogheda. on numerous occasions I've seen cars pulled in changing damaged wheels. I've written to the council but have heard nothing.

I'm sick of paying road tax. I think Meath and Fingal Co Co are the worst in the country...they don't give a s**t about maintenance.

LarWright

donmaga1 wrote: »

LOL. I find it so funny. We pay Road Tax for what??? That right for the roads.

I thought this too, but upon more research, it's "MOTOR TAX", not road tax.

So it's just another source of income for infrastructure, healthcare, education, (not that much goes on these, instead it goes on.....) overpaid ministers, overpaid junior ministers, too many civil servants, independent bodies set up to do the jobs the civil servants should be doing etc etc etc (rant over now)

Not actually money specifically to be spent on roads.

alscrxangels

Have to agree with ye all on the condition of the roads in meath. They're some of the worst around. Just a few points though. I know all about how the councils run and how these roadworks suffer because of it. Meath Co.Co. are given funding by the government from tax revenues (i.e. road tax) to maintain the roads. The problem with Meath as with some other counties is it's size. It's proximity to Dublin has lead to greater traffic of householders as well as lorries, especially in the past few years(quarries etc), has put geater wear and tear on the roads. Because the county is so large it doesn't get enough funds to stretch to do the maintenance and repairs let alone the reconditioning works. So every time the council gets its funds in meath it tries to do a couple of roads that are maintenance free for at least 10 years. Other counties have been o.k becase when times were good they done the roads up to a good standard and now they cost very little to maintain.

In Meath, because of the urban sprawl, they have had to spend their capital budget on part financing new roads that they couldn't afford and now they don't have the money to even maintain them.

In relation to the roadworks in Summerhill they are a disgrace. The reply I got from them was that the road cuttings need 6-8 months to settle before the road can be resurfaced. This is correct as look how much it has sunk in place already from what the contractor has done. They should still have dress-coated it for the time being to make things better.

I think that the big boys in the council are mis-managing money and resources badly though and that's a big problem.