Taxpayers ‘losers’ as Fife Council pothole dispute sees authority pay double

Fife Council paid double the cost of a pothole compensation claim fighting it in court.

Consumer rights campaigner Scott Dixon says local taxpayers were the losers after the authority spent £1,835 on legal fees.

The claim had been for £890 of vehicle damage.

“There are no winners in this case.

“Fife Council taxpayers are the losers and may wonder why this had to go to court, given the sheer amount of money wasted in dealing with it.”

Freedom of Information challenge

The council only revealed the figure after two Freedom of Information requests made by The Courier.

At first, the council rejected our request.

But The Courier challenged this on the grounds the council’s information request team had quoted the wrong legislation in their response.

Council solicitor Ewen Robertson said: “The council was incorrect to process your request under the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulation 2004 and your request should have been processed under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.”

Initially, we were told the sum spent fighting the pothole claim could not be disclosed because of commercial confidentiality.

However, after we challenged them, the service was “happy to disclose” the amount.

Campaigner still not convinced about the maths

The £1,835 total for defending the claim in court was a smaller sum than anticipated.

Scott had predicted the cost of the legal wrangle would “easily exceed £10,000.”

And he still suspects the claim “will have cost much more than this”.

The pothole in question was at a junction in Dunfermline’s Pittencrieff Street.

A local mum drove into the crater in February 2020 and tried to chase the council for the cost of the damage to her vehicle.

Scott helped fight her case, which the council eventually won.

And the wrangle was so protracted he later said it had put him off fighting for pothole compensation for life.

“Fife Council wasted thousands of pounds of taxpayers’ money disputing a pothole claim for £890.

“There is never enough money to repair potholes to the correct specification and criteria, yet there is a bottomless pit of money to dispute any claims that go to court.”

Council response

Clare Whyte is risk management team leader at Fife Council.

She says the council pays out compensation where a claimant can demonstrate the authority “has been negligent or breached a statutory duty”.

“While we always try to reach agreement with claimants, this isn’t always possible, and some will choose to ask the court to decide.

“Where this happens, we’ll always follow legal advice and defend the case if there’s no evidence that we’re legally liable to pay compensation.”