Fife Council has been accused of wasting thousands of pounds in taxpayers’ money fighting a pothole compensation claim.
Motoring disputes specialist Scott Dixon is helping a Fife woman take the authority to court over a £890 bill to repair damage to her car caused by hitting a pothole.
Mr Dixon says the council should be investing in road repairs rather than forking out for legal fees.
‘A complete and utter waste of taxpayers’ money’
He claims the council must have spent in excess of £10,000 trying to avoid paying the three figure sum.
“The amount spent by Fife Council in contesting this case far outweighs the claim.
“This claim has been ongoing since February 2020 and the cost of dealing with freedom of information requests, reviews, investigations, legal fees and reports will easily exceed £10,000 to date. The claim is £890.
“It is a complete and utter waste of taxpayers’ money that would be better spent on repairing the roads to an acceptable standard.”
The hearing will take place at Dunfermline Sheriff Court on October 12.
Fife Council would not reveal how much it had spent to date on legal fees in relation to the case.
The authority said it was unable to comment pending the outcome of the hearing.
Council compensation payouts plummeted by 78%
The amount Fife Council has paid out in compensation for pothole-related damage to cars has plummeted.
Figures obtained through freedom of information reveal that reports of potholes remained steady around the 24,700 mark between 2018 and 2019.
But in the same period the amount the council paid in compensation to motorists fell from £29,088 to £6,467.
Mr Dixon added:Â “Fife Council’s taxpayers deserve much better than this.”
He said the council was using “default excuses” to reject motorists’ pothole compensation claims.
And he encouraged anyone out of pocket because of pothole-related damage to “vigorously pursue their pothole claims through the courts”.
Backlog of outstanding compensation claims
Between April last year and May this year, Fife Council handled an eye-watering 51,534 complaints relating to potholes.
But during the 2020-2021 financial year just £597 in compensation was paid out.
This followed the processing of 64 claims.
At the time, the council had a backlog of 381 outstanding claims.
Meanwhile, the council blamed Covid-19 restrictions for a backlog of carriageway repair work.
But it gave an assurance that teams were working to address the pothole legacy resulting from lack of maintenance.
Mr Dixon said: “Most road users will agree that the state of the roads leaves a lot to be desired.
“This has been the case for many years. Blaming Covid and bad weather simply doesn’t cut it.”
Fife Council’s risk management team leader Clare Whyte said the authority assesses each claim on its own merits.
“We can’t comment on individual cases.
“It would also be inappropriate to comment on a case when it is still before the court.”
