Taxi driver John Fleming faced a bill for £769 and lost £300 in business after his taxi was damaged by a city centre pothole The offending pothole was filled with water when John Fleming drove over it. Beneath the surface was an upright metal pipe which caused £760 worth of damage
The potholed state of Glasgow’s roads could put some taxi drivers out of business, the Evening Times has learned from drivers.
Cabbies in the city are increasingly being hit with huge repair bills to fix taxis damaged by potholes.
Taxi driver John Fleming, 57, had to fork out £760 in August to repair the drive shaft of his Hackney cab. He lost an extra £300 in business while the car was in the garage for three days.
Mr Fleming, a cabbie for 15 years, did not see the 6in deep crater on the corner of Argyle and Hope Street.
He said: “It was lashing with rain – I had no chance of seeing it. It nearly put me out of business. I lost over £1,000 through no fault of my own. I thought at the time, ‘I can’t take any more of this.’”
And he knows he isn’t the only driver suffering.
“Every cabbie in Glasgow will tell you their repair costs are way up,” he said. “Everyone has spring damage, suspension damage, drive shaft damage, wheel damage, all caused by the roads. It’s a daily occurrence.”
Mr Fleming made a claim to Glasgow City Council. But they refused to compensate him or admit negligence saying the pothole had not been reported to them.
But Mr Fleming obtained a council report under the Freedom of Information Act that highlighted potholes in the area, though no specific locations.
He explained: “On their report the area around the pothole is highlighted. That part of the road had been damaged and repaired before so they must have known about it. Whether it had been reported before is another story.”
Even the local police knew about the hole so the council must have, reckons Mr Fleming.
PC Victor Dodds, who filed the report of the incident, said to Mr Fleming that it was a ‘really bad hole’. “So obviously it had been there some time,” adds Mr Fleming.
The council later repaired the hole. But over the next two months Mr Fleming watched as it reappeared and got bigger until eventually underlying pipes were exposed.
Mr Fleming is still pursuing his compensation claim against the council, and has asked Glasgow Taxis, a mutual co-operative representing 700 taxi owners, to help him.
Director of Glasgow Taxis, Kevin Deane, thinks drivers should be compensated in cases such as Mr Fleming’s.
He said: “If the damage was cased by a massive hole in the road and there was no warning, then it’s unfair the drivers have to pay out of their own pocket.
“We get daily reports through the radio system warning drivers about potholes. The condition of the roads is absolutely disgusting, the worst I’ve ever seen.”
And they are not being fixed fast enough: “We recently reported two massive potholes in Hope Street,” Mr Deane said. “They are fixed now but only days after being reported.”
The Evening Times revealed this week, as part of our Pothole Watch campaign, that there are gaping holes, some up to 12in deep, all over the city.
Taxi driver Bill McColl, 55, who has been a cabbie for 18 years, said: “At the moment you’re hitting bumps all day long. It’s atrocious.”
Mr McColl recently had to pay out £497 for repairs when a wheel bearing collapsed after hitting a pothole in the West End.
Another driver, Jim Rodden, 61, paid £300 on Monday to repair ball joints broken after driving over the same huge pothole at Gibson Street and University Avenue. Mr Rodden reckons road repairs are not done to a satisfactory standard.
Mr Rodden said: “They throw ready-made tarmac on the hole and don’t hammer it down enough – half an hour later, the hole is back.”
Mr Rodden, a taxi driver for the last 23 years, said: “These are the worst roads I’ve seen in my whole life.”
Last year our Ripped Off Glasgow campaign revealed the extent of botched repair jobs by utility firms. Last week these same companies were given a final warning to repair roads properly – or face a hefty fine.
According to Glasgow City Council, with figures validated by Audit Scotland, the city is rated the 6th best performing council in Scotland for the percentage of repairs to the network that should be considered for re-repairs. But it acknowledges there are still problems.
A spokesperson for Glasgow City Council, which has paid out £40,000 a year in compensation in the last few years to road users, said: “We pay compensation where we are liable.
“Provided the authority can demonstrate that there is a reasonable system of inspection and repair in place, and that the system was adhered to, the authority will not normally be liable.
“Although our roads have stood up very well to higher traffic volumes we are now seeing signs of stress.
“The city is disadvantaged by the way central government allocates funds – one that recognises the length of a road; not its use.
“The Council is increasing its own investment and has trebled budgets for the coming year.”
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