FOI release

A38 Junction (Tyburn Road Exit) – Pothole Incident

This request was refused in part, so we didn't provide some of the information the requester asked for. This may include information where we can neither confirm nor deny that we hold it.

Case reference FOI2025/00693

Received 9 April 2025

Published 3 July 2025

Request

I am writing to request information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 regarding a pothole incident that occurred on the A38, shortly after joining from the exit on Tyburn Road, Birmingham (location reference:

what3words poppy.played.broker) on 7 January 2025 around 8:30am.

Please could you provide the following information:

  • Inspection Records

Copies of all inspection records (both routine and reactive) for the section of the A38 at or near the Tyburn Road exit for the period 1 December 2024 to 8 January 2025, including the dates and times of inspections, details of defects found, and any actions taken.

  • Maintenance and Repair Records

Records of any maintenance, defect reporting, or repair works carried out on that section of road between 1 December 2024 and 10 January 2025, including pothole repairs and their classifications (e.g. safety critical or not).

  • Public or Third-Party Reports

Copies or summaries of any public, police, or staff reports relating to potholes or road surface issues at this location received between 1 December 2024 and 7 January 2025.

  • Photographic Evidence

Any photographs taken during inspections or repair works on or around the specified location and date range.

This request specifically relates to helping understand whether National Highways had prior knowledge of the defect that caused damage to my vehicle, or if there were any delays in repair despite earlier reports or inspections.

Response

Inspections records:

This section of the network is typically inspected every 7 days on a Thursday, additional inspections were undertaken on 23 and 30 of December 2024, to account for the lack of an inspection on Thursday 26 December, due to the festive period.

Inspections were carried out on: Thursday 5 December Thursday 12 December Thursday 19 December Monday 23 December* Monday 30 December* Thursday 2 January

Please find attached: Inspection records_Redacted.pdf for records of our inspections on these dates. No recordable defects were found on 30 December, therefore there is no inspection report for this date.

These inspection records are for a designated inspection ‘route’, which includes but is not limited to the A38 at or near the Tyburn Road exit. As these are images of paper documents, we have been unable to filter the information to exclude the remainder of this route.

The defects identified in the document titled Defects.pdf and Defect 49442023 _Redacted.pdf are at or around the location you have specified and can be cross referenced against the inspection records by the job number/defect number provided. Additional location information is also available in the Defects.pdf report.

Maintenance and Repair Records and Public or Third-Party Reports:

Please see the document titled Defects.pdf

There was one further defect recorded during this period, which we are not able to provide in the same format. Please see the attached document titled Defect 49442023 _Redacted.pdf for details.

Photographic Evidence:

Please see the document titled Defect photos.pdf

Information withheld

Personal information has been withheld under Section 40 of the Freedom of Information Act.

Documents

This is National Highways' response to a freedom of information (FOI) or environmental information regulations (EIR) request.

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