A FRUSTRATED motorist has been refused compensation after bolts from a speed hump punctured his tyres.
He is the second driver to have suffered damage at the spot in a month.
Lee Batley, 36, of Juniper Way, Hayes, asked Hillingdon Council for compensation after driving over the hump in Wood End Green Road on September 29 and damaging two of his tyres.
He said: "I was going over the bump and I felt something buckle. I got out of the car and saw that some of the bolts securing the bumps were sticking out.
"They were being propped up by stones that had been stuffed into the holes. I tried to dig the stones out and put the bolts back to make it safe for other drivers."
Mr Batley inspected the tyres on the driver's side and found a four-inch gash on the front tyre and a hole the size of a 50p piece on the inner wall of the rear tyre.
The cost of replacement tyres - more than £200 - was born by Mr Batley at the time, and he then applied to council for the money back. But the council denied liability. It said that short-term defects were inevitable and there was nothing the authority could do about them.
The letter went on to say that the area was not hazardous when an inspection took place on July 1, and by carrying this out, the council had 'fulfilled their statutory duty'.
Mr Batley, who has since noticed one of the panels on the hump is completely missing, says he intends to appeal.
He said: "It is just a fob off. The state of the roads is clearly the responsibility of the council. This stretch is on my normal school run so I can't avoid it, and as it is, it's dangerous for both motorists and pedestrians. It is clearly going to continue to be an ongoing problem until it is dealt with properly."
Mary Worrall, the council's head of highways and green spaces, said: "We regularly inspect roads in the borough. Speed bumps are an integral part of our inspections of the highways, and repairs are carried out where necessary.
"We would encourage anyone who wishes to report a problem with a road in Hillingdon to notify the council."
On October 22, the Gazette reported on a near identical incident at the same spot. Motorist Nicola Jackson was left shaken after a bolt on the speed bump shot through her tyre.
