HOW very sad that Cheshire East Council is devoting scarce resources to employ a barrister to contest a claim from one of its own council tax payers in respect of damage caused to his vehicle arising from the poor state of the roads (‘Ken, 89, wins pothole fight’ – Knutsford Guardian October 26).
Even more depressing, it appears from your report that the council is proud of its record in fending off 97 per cent of the 150 claims it has received since the beginning of the year. While not all claims end up in court each one will have involved council resources funded by the public.
I suspect that those who chose to claim represent the tip of a very big iceberg with most road users taking the hit on their own pockets from damage caused by defective road surfaces.
I suggest council tax payers would prefer the council to be proud of the state of its local road network by spending its scarce resources on proper resurfacing rather than repudiating claims arising from its own inability to maintain the local road network to a satisfactory and safe standard.
JG Heselwood Over Peover Knutsford
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