A DRIVER who claims he was injured after suffering whiplash when he hit a pothole near Mersea says is going to take on Essex County Council so people can report urgent potholes more easily.
Chris Cawthorne, a former financial services officer who lives in Moorside, Colchester, had been driving in Mersea when he hit a pothole.
Only six months earlier, Mr Cawthorne, 56, had gone under the knife for a long-standing neck injury, but he says the whiplash he suffered after hitting the pothole brought his recovery back to square one.
Mr Cawthorne has said he is now taking the fight to Essex County Council so road users can contact the local authority more easily to report a serious road defect.
At the moment, he argues, the website layout directs complainants away from contacting the authority by phone, which would escalate the seriousness of a report.
Reporting pothole complaints via the website, Mr Cawthorne says, gives the council a longer timeframe of 28 days to respond.
He said: “The pothole I hit had been reported six weeks previously – there were orange marks around it.
“I put a claim in for personal injury and damage, but it’s been kicked out because the person who reported it did so online rather than doing it by phone.”
He continued: “The council has a completely different set of procedures to potholes reported on the phone to those reported on the online ‘please report a pothole’ page.
“The crux of that is the council can claim to have no idea about the pothole because it’s sat in their inbox for six weeks – they’re getting people to make online claims without telling them it won’t get any priority.”
Mr Cawthorne also quoted the statistic which shows Essex County Council paid out to just 1.22 per cent of claimants in 2021 after potholes damaged their vehicles.
“It feels like they’re giving me the middle finger, and I don’t like it when council’s do that.”
Bosses at Essex Highways have now responded.
A spokesman said: "We are sorry to hear about this gentleman’s accident and wish him a speedy recovery.
“We encourage members of the public to report road defects through our Tell Us tool at essexhighways.org/tell-us. However, on this webpage, users are specifically asked to report any risks to public safety by calling 0345 603 7631.
“When raised on the phone, risks to public safety can be triaged by our customer service team and escalated directly to the relevant response teams.
“We aim to assess and visit urgent issues on the same working day and non-urgent issues within an average of 28 days. We also carry out routine inspections across the highways network, with priority routes inspected monthly and local roads inspected annually.
“While there is no legal timeframe, we hold ourselves to a code of practice when repairing potholes. More information can be found within our maintenance strategy at essexhighways.org/roads-and-pavements/roads-strategies."
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