MOTORISTS have been urged to make claims against a council for damage caused to cars by potholes.

Pendle councillor Yasser Iqbal said he has been ‘inundated’ with calls from residents left out of pocket due to the ‘poor state’ of the roads in Reedley.

He has offered to help his constituents for free in taking Lancashire County Council to court if they fail to deal with the claim.

According to Cllr Iqbal, some people have had to pay huge sums of money to repair their vehicles and have suffered significant financial hardship due to a lack of maintenance by the council.

Mr Iqbal, who represents the Reedley Ward, said he will ‘not charge a single penny’ to help people in taking the county council to court if they fail to deal with claims for pothole repairs.

He said: “Due to the unprecedented number of people contacting me I have been left with no option but to advise people to make a claim against the council.

“The issues have been raised by my colleagues at county hall, and the leader of Lancashire County Council, Geoff Driver, is well aware of the potholes crisis here in Pendle, but it seems that our concerns are not being taken seriously.

“Hopefully if people start complaining and making claims against the council they will wake up and start repairing the roads.

“I will help my constituents in taking the county council to court if they fail to deal with the claim for repairs and I will not charge a single penny for my services”.

He said that Pendle received just £11,000 of an additional £3 million for highways which was approved by the county council to deal with damaged roads.

It comes as similar complaints have been made about pothole-ridden roads in Nelson.

Wilpshire Road in Rishton, Hyndburn Road and Lancaster Road in Accrington and Warwick Drive in Clitheroe have also angered motorists.

A spokesman for Lancashire County Council said: “Councils have a duty to maintain roads but are not automatically liable for every incident which occurs on them.

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“Councils must take reasonable action to inspect and repair roads, however Section 58 of the Highways Act sets out that as long as councils can show they have a system of inspection in place and have followed it, they are unlikely to be liable for any damage caused.

“We have 10 highway inspectors working year round to check roads are safe and respond to reports from members of the public.

“We spend however much is necessary to ensure that roads are safe and are working hard to get on top of the winter potholes. We committed an extra £5m to repairing potholes in the annual budget agreed last week.

“As soon as the weather improves we will see fewer potholes appearing, as in other years, and we’ll be able to make good-quality patch repairs where there are damaged areas, and begin our annual programme of resurfacing, which will make a real difference to the condition of our roads.”

To make a pothole damage claim, the AA said people can write to the council responsible with all the details they have collected, including copies of quotes, invoices and receipts.

Although people may be able to claim for the cost of any repairs, the highway authority does have a statutory defence.

They can’t be held responsible for a pothole they don’t know about if it hasn’t been reported to them or because it wasn’t picked up by them during their regular checks.

Email highways@lancashire.gov.uk or write to Highways Customer Service Centre, Lancashire County Council, Preston PR1 8RD.