if you do as amberp has done with the pictures
you should get a pay out. legal term iirc is an
"unisured loss" but i have heard many of
unsuccesful claims where the councils gets
out by saying they was not aware of the hole.
there must be a time scale in which they
have to act, so if you inform them by recorded
delivery of the hole and its not repaired within
a few weeks hit them with the damage bill.
you could try this too.
.
http://www.potholes.co.uk/?p=how_to_claim