A DRIVER has launched legal action against Hampshire County Council after claiming a pothole caused several thousand pounds of damage to his £30,000 sports car Steve Thomas was driving on Hazeley Road, Twyford, when he said the back wheel of his Porsche 911 hit a pothole as he passed a lorry on the narrow road.

Debris in the hole punctured the tyre, with the force of impact throwing the car across the road narrowly missing the rear of the HGV as Mr Thomas wrestled to keep control.

“It’s only sitting here now that I realise how lucky I was,”said Mr Thomas, from Kings Worthy.

On returning home he reported the incident to the council and noticed that the pothole had already been flagged for repair.

Despite repairs to his brakes, and back wheel costing nearly £3,000, the managing director was only offered £300 by Amey, the company hired to maintain the road, claiming that his tyres were not within legal safety limits, and disputing whether the damage was as a result of the incident at all.

After six months of back and forth between Mr Thomas, Hampshire County Council and, Amey, he is no closer to being compensated for the damage.

Mr Thomas said: “I have been as transparent as possible from day one. Their foot dragging has been bizarre.

“It is a genuine shame that Amey LG Ltd have chosen to take this seemingly hard-nosed approach, which has left me no option than to seek my rightful compensation via legal channels.”

In 2016 13,485 potholes were reported across Hampshire, with a combined depth of 539m.

In the same year Hampshire County Council spent £3.25m on attempting to tackle the problem and £152,630 in compensation to drivers.

Councillor Rob Humby, Executive Member for Environment and Transport at Hampshire County Council, said: “We are unable to comment on any claim that may be in progress. However, we would point out that there is no automatic right to compensation - each claim is investigated to determine liability as it is essential to ensure that council taxpayers’ money is used appropriately.”