Chichester-area mum's fury as council refuses to pay off pothole damage

Community nurse Diana Crump said she was driving down Crooked Lane, in Birdham, on November 24 last year, when she hit a large pothole and punctured her tyre.

"It just happened to be dark and raining and as I was driving down, another car was coming up the other way, I didn’t see it but I had no choice but to fall into it. the tyre just went totally flat in a couple of seconds. I wound up having to roll the car round the corner and park in a friend’s drive because there was no way I could get it back home.”

Working in the community, Miss Crump said the incident cost her more then the price of a repair – it caused her considerable distress.

"It’s not just the damage. It’s time. I’m a single mother and I need my car for full-time work. I had to get the AA out initially because the locks wouldn’t come off my tyres, and then they couldn’t find the actual lock so I had to go to a special garage to that sorted – and that’s more money. I had to use annual leave to sort this out, and it just feels really unjust. I pay my taxes, I work really hard – why should I have to go through all this?”

Miss Crump says the pothole was unmarked at the time of the accident, despite reports from locals, and has been fighting for compensation from West Sussex County Council ever since.

Responding to a request for comment, a spokesperson for West Sussex County Council said: “We take the maintenance and repair of roads in West Sussex very seriously and have a duty to take reasonable steps to maintain our highway network. Claims for damage are processed in the order they are received, and every effort is made to consider them fairly and on their own merit.

“Where public funds are being used to settle claims, we must ensure that approved claims meet the necessary criteria and clearly demonstrate that the council has been negligent or has breached its statutory duty to maintain the highway.”