Page contents
- Your claim
- Before submitting your claim
- Timescales for your claim
- If your claim is successful
- If we reject your claim
Your claim
What you can claim for
You can only claim for property damage or personal injury that is caused as a direct result of an accident or incident involving the Council.
If a claim is successful, we will only pay for fair, reasonable and recoverable losses arising directly because of the accident. Costs relating to inconvenience or administration, such as postage and photocopying, cannot be reimbursed.
Money we use to pay your claim
The money is paid from Council funds. This can be from the Insurance Fund, which all of our services contribute to, or from the Highways Budget that is used for some highways claims.
Finding out if there have been similar claims
You can make a Freedom of Information (FOI) request to find out if any similar claims have been made in the same location as your claim. However, we monitor claim locations and will know if other claims have been paid out in relation to the same problem.
Before submitting your claim
Repairing property damage
If are making a claim for property damage you must keep your losses to a minimum and arrange for any repairs to be completed as soon as possible.
You must keep copies of all estimates and invoices for repair work as these will be needed if your claim is successful.
How to get money for the repair quicker
You may be able to recover your loss by claiming through your own home or motor insurance. Then they claim the money back from us.
Mandatory documentation for any vehicle involved
A claim can only be made when vehicle documentation is current, valid and you are able to provide it as part of your claim. This includes proof of ownership, insurance and MOT. If not, we will be unable to process your claim.
Sketches and photos of location
It is helpful if you can send a photograph or sketch of your claim's location, as we need to know precisely where the specific defect is situated to accurately investigate your claim. We cannot progress you claim without this information.
Submitting a claim if it is too dangerous to take a photo
If the location of your claim is a very busy road and it is too risky to take a photo, you can still submit a claim. However, you must provide an accurate description of the location, for example with reference to the address of a nearby house, or landmark or by using what3words.
Taking photos even if the pothole has been repaired since the incident
Please take a photo of the defect, even if it has been repaired, as this will help us identify the specific defect and its location.
Taking photos of your injury to support a personal injury claim
We accept photos of injuries as part of your claim, but a medical records are always needed to confirm details of the injury except in minor injury cases.
Timescales for your claim
Time limit for submitting your claim
For a property damage claim: there is a time limit of 6 years from the date of the incident.
For a personal injury claim: the time limit is 3 years from the date on which the injury was sustained.
When we will respond to your claim
Under the Court guidelines governing the claims processes, we are required to acknowledge receipt of the claim within 21 days. We then have a further 3 months to give you our decision on our liability.
The rules do not provide for updates, and if we were to do so, it would have a knock-on effect resulting in delays to the provision of our decisions to everyone. We keep records of dates claims are received so as to avoid delay in providing our decisions to you. Please be patient with us.
Why the claims process can take a long time
We have to comply with rules laid down by the Courts system which apply even before proceedings begin. These are called the Civil Procedure Rules and include a pre-action protocol for dealing with civil claims.
We will inform you of the decision on liability and your claim for compensation in writing, usually within 3 months, in accordance with the pre-action protocol. However, if are dealing with an extremely high volume of claims, this timescale may be exceeded.
If your claim is successful
Claims for damaged tyres
If we agree to settle your claim for a new tyre, you are unlikely to recover the full cost of the tyre purchased. We cannot offer to compensate ‘new for old’ on consumable items. This is due to the principle of betterment. Therefore, if you damaged an old tyre and claim compensation for a new one, a deduction will be made to offset the improved value of the replacement.
Claims for personal injury
If we agree to settle your claim for personal injury, we will need to ask you for consent to obtain your GP and/or hospital medical records. In some cases, we may also need to instruct a medical expert to meet with you and prepare a report.
If we reject your claim
Reasons we rejected your claim
We pay compensation out of Council funds, not from a separate Insurer. This means we have a duty to our Council Tax payers to only pay a claim where we are legally liable to do so.
For a claim to be successful, it must be proven that the Council has been negligent or in breach of its statutory duty to maintain the highway.
If you have unfortunately experienced an accident on the highway resulting in personal injury or property damage, this does not automatically mean an entitlement to compensation.
There may be one of several reasons why we reject your claim but most commonly we will rely on section 41 or section 58 of the Highways Act 1980.
Not all defects on the highway would be considered by the Court as being dangerous and that there has been a breach of duty by the Council.
If a breach of duty has occurred, we may still be able to rely on a legal defence to your claim. We do not have to pay compensation if we can prove that we have fulfilled our legal obligations by operating in accordance with our highway maintenance policies and procedures; by carrying out safety inspections, responding to reports of defects and undertaking repairs in a reasonable timeframe. This is a legal test established in legislation and considered by the Courts.
If you disagree with our decision to reject your claim
There is no formal appeals process within Surrey County Council following rejection of your claim. Our decision is final, however, if you have further information which we have not previously considered, we will review your claim.
If you are dissatisfied with the outcome of your claim, you may wish to seek independent legal advice from a Lawyer or your local Citizens Advice Bureau.
Why we don't have an appeals procedure
If you disagree with our decision and wish to pursue your claim then the appropriate course of action is to seek remedy through the County Court. Only a Court can ultimately decide if the Council has been negligence or in breach of its statutory duties and whether the Council is entitled to rely upon an available defence.
You may wish to seek independent legal advice from a Lawyer or your local Citizens Advice Bureau before issuing Court proceedings.