As a former Herts county councillor, Nick Hollinghurst, was interested in the recent report on potholes in the Hemel Hempstead Gazette – a never ending problem it seems.
There is, of course, one simple action we can all take to motivate the County Council to repair potholes faster – and that is to use the online HCC Highway Fault Reporting System!
The County Council has an inspection rota for roads, according to their importance and use – every 3months, every 6 months or annually. As long as they work their rota and stick to their schedule, then they have a statutory defence in law against negligence – and your claim for damages caused by road defects will automatically fail.
Unless… unless the pothole or other highway defect is serious, i.e. more than 50mm deep, it has been reported.
In this case the County Council is expected to take action within a “reasonable time”, which is taken to be a working week. To be fair to HCC they try to take action within 24 hours of the reported serious defect being reported, though sometimes the “action” can just be putting out a warning cone or two.
But the point is this. If we all report the defects, this will increase the pressure to get the problems sorted out.
If you don’t report them then you are relying on HCC to work its way round its inspection rota and a possibly serious hazard may be putting road users at risk for longer than is necessary. You or someone else may then suffer damage or injury.
So go to https://www.hertfordshire.gov.uk and you should find the “Report a road or pavement fault” box on the right hand side of the screen. Follow the menu and report the fault.
Don’t leave it to others and don’t leave it to chance.