From today's Daily Telegraph (24 November):
In December last year, my car hit a pothole measuring more than 4ft long and 2ft wide. It was up to 6in deep. I wrote to the local council, claiming damages for two new tyres and one new wheel. All I received was a letter stating it had a statutory defence. Further correspondence produced further denials of liability. Undeterred, I issued proceedings in the county court. By way of evidence I produced three witness statements that the hole had been there before the council's last inspection and a copy of a case before another county court where the district judge had ruled that, in the case before him, on the balance of probability, a hole of such size could not have arisen between the date of that council's last inspection and the date of the accident. On seeing my evidence the council paid my claim in full, plus the £50 court fee.
P. R., via email