A COUNCIL has refuted claims that it agreed a deal with a Middlewich driver who crashed his car into a lamppost after hitting a pot hole.

Mark Morris, from Mill Lane, Middlewich, told the Guardian last week about his ordeal with Cheshire West and Chester Council after his son, Elliott, crashed into a lamp post on London Road in Northwich in February last year.

Mark claimed that he had agreed with Cheshire West and Chester Council that he would not bill them for the car damage if he didn’t have to pay for the damage to the lamp post, but was shocked when he received an invoice 11 months later.

Cheshire West and Chester Council have rejected claims that a deal was ever made.

A council spokesman said: “At no point did the Council enter into any agreement with Mr Morris regarding the collision involving his son.

“As soon as the Council was notified of the police’s comments, which were received at the end of January 2014, we instructed our claims handlers to repudiate the claim.”

Elliot Morris, 19, was driving with his sister to St Nicholas Catholic School in Hartford at the time of the crash.

Elliot claims his car veered off the road because his steering stopped working after driving through a pot hole.

Mark said: “I’m waiting for a copy of the police report and obviously I don’t know what it states until I get it but the police officer said at the time that he thought the car had mechanical failure due to the pot hole.”

The council has also rejected the claims that a pot hole or any road defect was to blame for the accident.

The council spokesman added: “Our most recent highway inspection prior to the collision revealed no dangerous defects within the vicinity of the collision site and comments from the police corroborate this.

The council also told the Guardian that the pothole in question is 100 yards from the collision site.

Mark added: “My son was only going around 15mph and witnesses have backed that up so to say it was dangerous driving is ridiculous.”