A DRIVER whose work truck was destroyed by a pothole has had his compensation claim rejected as the defect is “not seen to be dangerous”.

Levi Harris, of Colchester Budget Skips, was driving along Berechurch Hall Road, Colchester, in his skip truck.

He was on his way to deliver a skip to a client when the front of his truck went into a pothole.

He said: “The road narrows and there is no avoiding the pothole. I hit it at 30mph.

“It made a huge bang and I realised the front of the truck had dropped and it was pulling me towards the kerb.

“The whole front suspension broke, and it was dragging across the floor.”

Mr Harris managed to pull up but realised the truck was no longer roadworthy.

He took pictures of the damage and the pothole to send to Essex County Council.

Mr Harris said: “It lost me two jobs as I had to get the truck repaired. I took photos of the pothole, the truck and my surroundings, I even took photos of the lamppost number I was near.

“I also took a video and called the council that day.

“On their website it says they except ten per cent of claims if you can prove the damage was caused by the road defect.”

He sent off all his evidence, but received a letter from the council saying his claim has been turned down as there is not enough evidence to suggest the pothole is dangerous.

Mr Harris said: “Of course it is dangerous, it caused damage to my truck.

“Other people have complained about how dangerous that pothole is.”

Essex County Council says in order for a claim to be successful, it must be proved the highway was in such a condition that it was dangerous and the dangerous condition was created by the failure to maintain the highway.

The council said a routine inspection was carried out on March 6, at which time the highways inspector found a defect but did not consider it to be dangerous.

A letter to Mr Harris said: “When completing the risk assessment, the inspector takes into consideration a multitude of different criteria such as the size and location of the defect, the type of road or footpath on which the defect is situated, and the traffic which is likely to encounter the defect.

“The risk factor is determined by taking the impact contact with the specific defect will have and multiplying that by the probability of traffic encountering that defect.

“The impact and probability are determined on a scale of one to four with one being the lowest impact and probability.

“An ad hoc inspection and risk assessment was made of the location on April 16 and it was found whilst the impact score had risen to three, the probability score remained at two.

“A post-incident inspection was made of the location on October 18 but the defect was not considered to require regrading.”