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A Buxton school worker has been locked in dispute with Derbyshire County Council for over six months after a huge pothole caused £600 of damage to her car, and says the authority’s refusal to pay compensation illustrates a negligent approach to road safety.

Sue Waldron, business manager at St Thomas More Academy, was commuting home along Flagg Lane on a dark evening in early March when she hit a pothole measuring eight square feet and seven inches deep.

She said: “It’s a narrow country lane but still a main road, so when I reached a bend with a car coming the other way I moved over a little and immediately heard a huge bang.

“I pulled over to look and saw two of my tyres had gone. After it had been towed, I had to replace the tyres, rims and get the wheel alignment repaired, which added up to about £600.”

The impact tore through two of Sue's tyres, damaging the wheel rims and tracking.

She added: “I reported it to the council straight away too, I tried to phone but there was no answer so I went on the website. It was a massive hole. Any cyclist or motorcyclist who hit that at night would have been in real trouble. I was more worried that someone would be killed.”

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As well as reporting the pothole, Sue filed a compensation claim to the council assuming that her case met all the necessary criteria, only for it to be rejected due to a policy clause.

Sue, a member of Flagg Parish Council, said: “I was told that after a pothole is first reported, the council has a nine day grace period to fix it. I put in a Freedom of Information request and discovered that someone had the same issue four days before me, and they’d still done nothing. To me it seems negligent that they could wait so long to fix something so serious.

Sue Waldron's car had to be towed away for repairs after she hit the pothole in March.

“They did come out to fix it the day after I reported it and sent photos so obviously they could see the danger, but since then they’ve just kept sidestepping all the time so they don’t have to pay anything out.”

She added: “They’ve wiped their hands of it. I’m not concerned about the money now. My issue is that they act like this when the roads are so terrible in that area that there could be a fatality.”

A spokesperson for Derbyshire County Council rejected the suggestion of negligence and stood by the decision to refuse a payout.

They said: “Despite our best efforts to maintain Derbyshire’s roads, potholes do appear and we have procedures in place to repair them.

By Sue's reckoning, the hole was four feet long, two feet across and seven inches deep.

“It’s not possible to mend every pothole on the day we find out about them and in this case we mended it in accordance with the timeframe in our policy.”

They added: “Where a vehicle is damaged it doesn’t automatically mean that the council is liable to pay compensation and each case is considered on its merits and in accordance with our policies.

“As public money is used to pay compensation we must be able to prove that we are at fault and where drivers are not happy with our decision they can take legal advice on pursuing a claim.”

“In these confusing and worrying times, local journalism is more vital than ever. Thanks to everyone who helps us ask the questions that matter by taking out a subscription or buying a paper. We stand together.” – Louise Cooper, editor.

Council refuses pothole payout for Buxton school worker after £600 repair bill

“In these confusing and worrying times, local journalism is more vital than ever. Thanks to everyone who helps us ask the questions that matter by taking out a subscription or buying a paper. We stand together.” – Louise Cooper, editor.