A FRUSTRATED driver is demanding compensation from North Yorkshire County Council after his car was damaged by potholes.

Craig Lidster, from Wintringham, claims the council's failure to upkeep Moor Lane in Brawby left his Honda Civic with a £700 repair bill.

However, the council's solicitors informed Mr Lidster that the road had been checked before the incident and their client was not at fault.

The 33-year-old, who works in horse racing, said others had previously reported the poor road surface in Moor Lane, but no action had been taken.

Mr Lidster was a regular user of the road, but on May 19 his car was damaged by some "appalling" potholes.

"I rang up and reported that my car was damaged," he said.

"It had knackered the shock absorber and left me with a £700 repair bill.

"I took photos of the potholes. They were five or six inches deep and three and a half feet wide.

"The following day, they came and filled them all in.

"They are claiming that they checked the road in March and it was okay.

"They can't get away with this. It is a lot of money."

Mr Lidster queried how the Moor Lane surface had deteriorated so badly between March and May.

"You're telling me that on March 4 those potholes weren't there?" he said. "It's unbelievable.

"They are trying to fob the motorists off. How much more compensation are they avoiding?"

North Yorkshire County Council's solicitors Gallagher Bassett wrote to Mr Lidster on September 29.

The letter stated: "Having checked our client's records, we note that they have in place a system of routine highway inspections.

"When the area was last inspected on the 04.03.215, the defect with which we are concerned was not actionable."

It continued: "If our clients can demonstrate that they do operate a valid and reasonable inspection system, and that when a location was last inspected a defect was not present then they will be able to put forward a defence to a claim of this nature.

"Accordingly we are satisfied that our clients have not acted negligently nor are they in breach of the statutory obligations and whilst we sympathise, we regret we are unable to offer any compensation."

A spokesman for North Yorkshire County Council said: “Effective highway maintenance is the County Council’s top transport priority and this year we are providing an additional £7m to bolster our existing highway maintenance capital programme.

"Despite this extra investment it is not possible to fix all problems on the network. As a result, we operate a robust highway safety inspection regime which seeks to ensure that we identify and repair safety defects as quickly as possible.

"Whilst it is always regrettable when road users suffer damage to their vehicles it is our view that this overall approach to highway maintenance ensures that we spend as much of our resources as possible on fixing the roads rather than paying out insurance claims.”