themackay":2qvu0ymk said:
If the councils did not spend so much on their obsession with political correctness,human rights,equality etc and departments to deal with every minority in the country there would be plenty of money to actually fix the potholes.If I think back its only in this last 10 years that potholes have become a major problem despite the inceases in taxation at all levels.
Alan
The reason they have to spend so much covering themselves in those fields is to try and avoid Litigation. Councils have a 'pot' of cash put aside to cover claims and it is a lot of money, there are a lot of 'Professional Claimants' out there, searching for 'trips' and holes where they have a 'fall' and injure themselves and anything else where they might be able to make a quick buck , when a council lays a new Sleeping Policeman or any other traffic calming device the claims flood in.
Road and footpath defects have certain limits which when exceeded must be repaired, inspectors log these and they take priority if and when time and money is available, once upon a time Councils had their own workers for this sort of stuff and then it was farmed out to private companies,
ccasion5: kerching!!!
The reason these pothole repairs fail so quickly is because the Asphalt used to repair them is not being being put in at the correct temperature, it must be above a certain temperature otherwise it must be dumped (can you see that happening?) and is being laid too thin, the hole should be dug deeper but usually it is only the thickness of the existing hole. When a gang goes out to repair these holes they have a lot of distance between these repairs and their trucks should be fitted with 'Hot Boxes' to keep the Asphalt at the correct temp. On motorways you will see steam coming from the backs of these lorries, (not so in town) the reason is the motorway ones are monitered by supervisors and checked with thermometers,,,, serious money, guarantees and penalties are involved here. Footpath repairs are a different kettle of fish and councils struggle to get firms to do these small but plentiful repairs because of the numerous different types of material used.
I was involved in laying cable (Fibre Optics) supervising the civil engineer (sic) gangs doing the actual laying, this included correct configuration and depth of the pipes, correct reinstatement, HSE, signing and guarding and "dealing with claims from the public" oh boy!
Before the start of every build, every street, footpath etc was video'd, as soon as we started the build in came the claims, when faced with photographic evidence the usual reply was "Well it was worth a try," amongst many other untold claims we even broke someones toilet which was upstairs at the back of the house.
I am not saying they shouldn't pay for genuine cases, just trying to show why they are reluctant to cough up at the drop of a hat, ask any council how many claims they have coming in on a daily basis.
Andy
