Pothole perils! (Published 06/03/06)

Every now and again nowadays there seems to be a story in the paper about the council complaining about people claiming compensation for tripping up on a wonky pavement. And I always marvel at the brass neck of these council people.

The other day a bloke knocked on my door to offer me the bargain of a lifetime. By an amazing coincidence he was passing my house with a truckload of tarmac, and would I like my drive surfacing for 45p (or whatever it was). I like to go by the old adage that if it sounds too good to be true then it probably is too good to be true, so I politely declined.

But imagine I did want my drive resurfacing. I will probably get a few quotes, not hire the first guy to knock on the door. The bloke who gives me the highest quote by a mile, and insists I don't get any other quotes, and insists he will do the job whenever he feels like it (if indeed he ever feels like it), wants payment in advance and a guarantee that if he makes a mess of it I will pay him again to come and fix it, with no refunds even if he does not in fact ever come and fix it, is probably not the chap I will choose for the job, to say the least.

Now change the example to the street that needs resurfacing, paid for out of the council tax, and this is exactly what we get. We get our council tax bill and that is that. We cannot argue with it, and what we get for it is entirely down to the town hall lubbers, if indeed we ever get anything for it. If they do repair the potholes in the street then lucky us, but chances are they won't, or they will make a mess of it and then charge us again to come back and fix it. And now they start complaining that we ask for compensation when their neglect injures us. Shame on them.

There is one simple way to stop the claims. Do the job right. The council takes the tax from us so it should use it to give us safe pavements. Then there will be no claims.