You can use our online service to make a claim for:
- damage to a vehicle
- personal injury
- damage to property
For a claim against Devon County Council to be successful it would have to show that loss or damage was caused as a result of our negligence.
We have responsibility for roads, cycleways and footways (excluding Plymouth, Torbay, and the motorway and trunk roads maintained by Highways England), but we are not automatically liable for every incident which occurs on them.
The courts have long held that it isn’t reasonable to expect councils to repair each pothole or highway defect as soon as it develops or occurs, or remove every piece of debris from the road the instant it has been deposited. As long as we can show that we have a system of inspection in place that is reasonable, no liability would attach.
If loss or damage occurs due to situations beyond our control, such as severe weather conditions, this is not normally something we can be held responsible for.
Some claims will be passed to our term maintenance contractor, if we believe liability rests with them rather than us. You will be advised of this by our insurance section.
Before you make a claim
Please consider carefully whether to proceed with a claim. It may be more appropriate to approach your insurance company if you have suffered a financial loss. Your insurance company may take the matter up with the local authority if they believe there is a case to answer.
If you proceed with your claim we will undertake a full and thorough investigation for a decision to be made in respect of legal liability in accordance with the relevant highways law. This will happen regardless of the value of your claim.
These investigations take a substantial amount of staff resources away from delivering highway services, and although we have a public liability insurance policy, any successful claims under £250,000 have to be paid from our own funds which would otherwise go towards providing services.
Devon County Council has a system of inspection in place that allows many of the insurance claims we receive to be defended.
Claims where payment was made
Please note the following figures regarding payments made for damage-only and personal injury claims:
Year | Percentage of damage-only claims that were paid | Percentage of personal injury claims that were paid |
|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 19% | 9% |
| 2019 | 26% | 5% |
| 2020 | 31% | 12% |
| 2021 | 20% | 6% |
| 2022 | 20% | 2% |