Damaged roads cost council £1m in compensation

Posted: October 21, 2015

Posted in: Pothole Injuries Road Traffic Accidents 

It has been revealed, following a recent Freedom of Information request, that a county council has had to pay out over £1million in compensation to injured residents as a result of poorly maintained roads. A total of 1,228 residents have been awarded compensation by Hertfordshire County Council in the last two-and-a-half years because of injuries sustained through road defects. The payouts have cost the council a total of £1,014,926.

Liberal Democrat Councillor Stephen Giles-Medhurst said that these figures suggest that the council has to have a ‘total rethink’ with regards to their highway policy. This came after it was revealed that the council’s highway contractor, Ringway, was fined £670,000 for failing to carry out a number of repair jobs.

Heavy investment

Mr Giles-Medhurst stated: “Clearly, hundreds of Herts residents are being injured owing to highways defects and bad paving, and it’s costing the Council a lot of money that should be spent on fixing those defects before people get injured”.

HCC’s cabinet member for highways, Terry Douris, defended the road damage, saying that the county’s 3,000 miles of road are some of the busiest in the country, on which over 5billion vehicles travel every year. He said that because of this, the damage is inevitable. However, he added that heavy investment continues this year, with millions due to be spent on repairs over the coming months.

If you have suffered a road traffic accident, and are looking to claim compensation, please contact us. 

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