Update: JRA responds to April pothole claim
Local sales rep has to resubmit pothole claim as JRA's computers could not handle the documents she included in her first claim.
Penny Ellis has received acknowledgement of her pothole claim.
She received an email on 25 July which stated her claim had been acknowledged and submitted for investigation to the Joburg Roads Agency (JRA) region responsible for where the incident took place. The investigation will take approximately four weeks to complete.
Read more: Nightmare pothole causes damage to the tune of R4 700
Once the investigation is complete, her claim will be referred as required by the City of Johannesburg’s Metropolitan Municipality Policies to JRA’s insurance brokers for further assessment and/ or investigation.
The news came after she submitted a claim in April. Ellis is claiming for damage done to both the right-hand tyres on her car, which were damaged when she drove through a pothole on Constantia Drive in March.
“After three months, I have eventually got a reference number.
They say the reason it took so long was because their computers could not handle the documents that I had included in the email (pothole claim form with attachments), even though it was just all the documents they had asked for on their website,” said Ellis.
JRA media officer, Ntsikelelo Ngubeni, confirmed the complainant had been contacted by JRA’s legal department with a request to resubmit the pothole claim. Ngubeni added that the claims process does take time as JRA works with both insurance brokers and insurers in the processing of claims. Each claim is assessed on its merits and in accordance with their public liability policy, which means not all claims will be successfully paid out.
In assessing liability, the following factors (among others) are taken into account for each claim:
- Does the road and/ or infrastructure fall under jurisdiction of the City of Johannesburg, specifically the JRA?
- Was the JRA aware of the defects in the infrastructure and/ or could it have been reasonably expected of the JRA to be aware of the defects?
- Were any complaints previously received from the members of the public regarding the status of the road and/ or infrastructure?
- Has the JRA previously conducted maintenance of the road and/ or road infrastructure concerned?
- Was there another entity at the time or prior to the occurrence of the alleged incident which had applied to the JRA for a way leave in respect of the road concerned?
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