No win, no fee news
20/03/2009

Pothole claims figures revealed

Statistics obtained under a Freedom of Information request have revealed that councils in the Black Country and Staffordshire spent a combined total of more than £100,000 settling no win, no fee pothole claims in 2007/2008.

Although around two-thirds of this money was spent on paying out accident compensation, evaluation of the figures reveals that the remaining third was mostly spent settling no win, no fee solicitor fees.

However, despite these revelations, a spokesperson with one of the councils involved, Sandwell, denies that the no win, no fee figures indicate the existence of any serious pothole problem. "There are occasions when cars drive over footpaths which might do damage and there has been occasions when somebody has dropped a load and damaged the footpath. We are well geared up when people report these issues and look into them as soon as possible. I don't think potholes are something we've got a big problem with," he said.