Pothole in darkness

by Jay2Xkr

10 Apr 2011

On 21st Feb '11 I was driving down the B269 towards Westerham at about 7pm in darkness at approx 45mph. This is an unlit road and I did not see the pothole that I hit. There was a huge bang and I remember thinking at the time that if a motorbike had hit this pothole it would probably have thrown them off. The next morning I inspected my car and could see no visible signs of damage. On the 15th March '11 I put my car in for an MOT and service and was very surprised to recieve a phone call from my garage to say it had failed the MOT because of damage to the inside of my front passenger side wheel and tyre. Also the rear wheel on the passenger side had been damaged on the inside. Obviously the front wheel and tyre had to be replaced and my garage strongly recommended the rear wheel be replaced as well, which I agreed to. The garage also carried out a check on the steering geometry and reset the tracking. This all came to a sum of £1650.17 The following day I went out in daylight down the same stretch of road with a camera hoping to take photographic evidence. Unfortunately this stretch of road has now had considerable repairs and no evidence remains of the pothole that caused damage to my vehicle. Is it still possible to claim compensation from Surrey County Council ?