You can read Suffolk County Council's statement on our website.
![Councillor Peter Gould](/image-library/peter-gould-ws-hr-1.xb6cb8b20.jpg?width=470&height=256&fit=crop&quality=75&format=webp)
You can read Suffolk County Council's statement on our website.
Incidents happen on the public highway network which can result in damage or injury. Sometimes these are caused by a highway fault and you may want to claim for compensation.
A defect on the highway does not automatically make us liable for the cost of damages or injury.
We are only liable to pay compensation if you can provide evidence that shows we have been negligent in the inspection, maintenance or repair of the highway network for which we are responsible. We rely on a legal defence under Section 58 of the Highways Act 1980 for the majority of highway claims we receive, and typically only around 15% of claims are paid, in part or full.
Before we will pay a claim, you will need to prove negligence by us and that at the time of the incident:
Contact Customer Services on 0345 606 6171 who'll take details of the defect then send you a leaflet telling you:
Our Customer Services team will also provide you with a reference number for your defect report and a separate reference for your claim (which will be used in any future correspondence between us).
If you decide to make a claim, to enable us to carry out an investigation into the incident, you'll need to complete a highway incident report form and provide us with supporting evidence.
Once we receive the completed form and all the required information as detailed in the relevant sections, we will:
We are unable to comment on whether or not your claim is likely to be settled until our investigations are complete.
Our claims handlers will contact you within 90 days to inform you if your claim has been accepted or not but during and following periods of severe weather it might take us longer to respond to your claim.
If your claim is successful, we may therefore email you to ask you to provide your bank details so we can arrange for a bank transfer.
This email will be sent from an @suffolk.gov.uk address but if you want to check that the email does come from us, please contact our Customer Service Team on 0345 606 6067. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.
You can contact Customer Service quickly and easily using live chat.
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