Claim against the council

Welcome to the website of Boris Kremer, a UK personal injury solicitor.

If you would like to claim compensation against the council following a pavement tripping accident or bicycle accident caused by a pothole, please either:

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Overview of claims against local councils

Since qualifying as a solicitor in November 1993 I have handled a number of pavement tripping claims, against local councils.

To win this type of claim, we have to meet certain criteria.

First, we have to establish that the spot where the accident happened was "maintained at public expense".

Sometimes the involvement of the local council is disputed. This is especially so in the case of private access roads.

Another potential difficulty is where gas, electricity, telecoms or water companies have been working in the area.

Provided there are no difficulties in that regard, then the claim against the council is based upon an alleged breach of the Highways Act 1980.

To rebut the claim, the local council must then prove it had an appropriate system for inspecting the pavement and undertaking repairs.

If the local council can produce evidence of unsatisfactory system for inspection, maintenance and repair, then the claim will be successfully defended.

In many cases, the solicitors acting for local councils try to blame the injured person.

Even if primary liability is admitted, the local council and its solicitors will often try to reduce the compensation by saying that the injured person was drunk or "failed to keep a lookout".

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Pavement tripping claim - case study 1

I previously acted for a client living in Leamington Spa, who was injured outside his flat.

Leading from his flat to the pavement was a path. At the point where the path met the pavement, a large tree root had created a "hump". This was an obvious tripping hazard.

My client tripped and fell to the ground. He suffered a fractured ankle.

Just a couple of days before the accident, my client had set up his own business. The accident severely disrupted his activities for the first year of trading.

To claim compensation against the council, I wrote to the relevant local authority, which in this case was Warwick District Council.

The local authority's solicitors alleged that the accident had taken place elsewhere. This was because the hospital records contained an error, stating that the client's accident had taken place "in his shed".

Overturning this false allegation involved obtaining photographs inside the shed. The photographs showed that the shed was so full of equipment, that nobody could have got inside.

Shortly before trial, the local authority advanced acceptable compensation proposals.

Two years on from the accident, the pavement had still not been repaired.

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Pavement tripping claim - case study 2

The next case study is from Kings Heath, in Birmingham.

In that case, the tripping hazard consisted of a protruding manhole cover. All round it, the pavement was broken.

Obviously, the water company had installed an inspection box, so they could check the mains. But they had failed to repair the pavement afterwards.

The photograph on the right shows the result.

My client tripped and sustained a fractured ankle. She was taken to hospital, where she had an operation to insert a plate and pins.

Following her operation, my client was effectively housebound for several weeks. This was particularly inconvenient because she had 3 young children. Her mother and two sisters had to help around the house, until she had made a reasonable recovery.

I made a compensation claim against the council. I also claimed against Severn Trent Water.

Clearly one of them was to blame, but despite this, both of them denied fault.

I therefore issued proceedings in Birmingham County Court.

A single firm of solicitors was instructed to represent both defendants. Shortly afterwards, liability for the accident was admitted.

Eventually sensible compensation was offered.

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Pavement tripping claim - case study 3

Kingstanding, a run-down area of North Birmingham, is the location of the third case study.

In that case, the council had installed a large manhole cover.

Despite the size of the manhole, no attempt had been made to make it level with the surrounding paving slabs.

My client uses a walking stick. He was going home from a friend's house, in the dark.

He tripped over the manhole cover and fell to the ground.

Afterwards he managed to get home.

Next morning, however, he had severe back pain. In fact he was unable to move. He called an ambulance, which took him to the Good Hope Hospital for treatment.

I advanced a personal injury claim against the council, Birmingham City Council.

Unusually in a compensation claim against the council, the relevant loss adjusters made an early admission of liability.

Appropriate damages were negotiated without it being necessary to issue court proceedings.

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Pavement tripping claim - case study 4

Next we have another claim against Birmingham City Council. This time, the accident took place in Erdington.

In this case, the hazard was a hole in the pavement.

The hole was an unguarded water mains access chamber, where the lid was missing.

The gap measured roughly 4 inches square.

When her accident happened, my client was walking home from the pub, with some friends.

failing to notice the hole, my client's foot became caught. As a result she fell to the ground. Her ankle was hurting badly, so she went to the accident and emergency department at Good Hope Hospital.

Upon arrival at hospital, X-rays were taken. Unfortunately, the hospital failed initially to diagnose a fractured ankle.

I commissioned an independent medical report from an orthopaedic opinion. Luckily her prognosis was for a complete recovery.

After that, I made a compensation claim against the council and also against the water company, Severn Trent Water. The two of them agreed to compensate my client, and to share liability between them on a 50/50 basis.

After some dispute about the valuation, appropriate compensation was eventually agreed.

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Making a claim against the council - tactics employed by local authorities

In my experience, claims against local councils after a pavement trip or fall accident tend to be contested.

Presumably this is because local authorities are anxious about the "floodgates" opening.

I have seen previous cases where the council has alleged:

• The land was private
• The claimant was under the influence of alcohol
• In the case of elderly clients, maintaining a failure to wear spectacles
• Utility companies or construction firms were to blame
• As the defect arose suddenly, it was not caught by the inspection system
• The injured person lives nearby, so should have been aware of the hazard
• The injured person "failed to look where he was placing his feet"

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Obtaining photographic evidence

In a compensation claim against the council, it is always helpful to obtain photographs.

Sometimes the accident is caused by depression in a tarmac pavement.

If so, then it is necessary to find out the depth of the depression. I normally place a metre rule over the top. This allows the distance to the bottom of the dip to be measured.

On the right is a photograph showing this, from an ongoing claim against Weymouth and Portland Borough Council, where liability has been conceded.

Distance photographs are also helpful. These should show the hazard in the context of nearby street names or house numbers.

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The final word

If you would like to discuss making a claim against a local authority following an accident, please either: Thank you for visiting, Boris Kremer

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