While the local government and social care ombudsman cannot rule on the pothole claim itself, you can ask it to investigate if you believe the council has not dealt with your claim fairly or has failed to follow its own published procedures (for example, the timeframe for repairs on A roads).

To be clear, the ombudsman cannot award compensation for the damage itself, but can recommend that the council revisit its decision if maladministration is found.

Also, like any money claim, you can pursue the matter through the county court small claims track which, in England and Wales, is for claims under £10,000. The limit is £5,000 in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

To succeed, you would need to show that the council knew or ought to have known about the defect, failed to repair it in a reasonable time, and that this failure caused your loss. FixMyStreet reports, local testimony and any additional FOI data could be instrumental here.

Given that we pay tax towards shared public services and infrastructure, when a pothole hits our pocket, we feel it’s a double whammy. As a taxpayer, you think ‘I thought I was paying for this road to be safe to drive on, yet driving on it has damaged my car and I’m expected to pay for the repair’. It’s frustrating, so I hope you will keep going.