It’s been a cold few months – and the roads are littered with defects and potholes. Common defects arise from the areas around drain covers, manhole covers, and similar such holes in the ground will often have defects around the edges due to adverse weather conditions. As soon as a cover like this gets sunken in to the ground, a tripping hazard ensues due to the surrounding sunken ground. That or just the general ground being rough and defective which causes instability and a hazard as equally as dangerous.
So the big question is this – can you make a claim for compensation if you end up injured due to sunken ground around a drain or manhole cover? It all depends on who has the responsibility and whether they have complied with the law.
Commonly its local councils who have the authority. If the hole in the ground is for utilities and therefore “privately owned” so to speak, then it is common that they allow the authority for it to rest with the council in any event. When it comes to the highways, whoever is responsible has a duty to take all reasonable steps to ensure that the highway is safe to use. Councils usually uphold this with regular systems of inspection and maintenance. If the company who owns the hole and the cover has a deal with the council to include their hole and cover within these inspections, then it may well fall within their responsibility.
If not, it’s probably down to the company responsible for the hole to make sure it’s safe. It can be a grey area because who has the responsibility for the area directly around the cover could be open to question. Is it just the cover and the hole below that may be the responsibility of a private company, therefore meaning the surrounding ground falls within the realms of the council jurisdiction. Or the actual ground around it may be the property of the company. It can be a tricky situation.
If it falls under the Highways Act 1980, the claim could be difficult to pursue because councils have a special defence which means they can usually avoid paying out for a claim if they can prove that they have a good system of inspection and maintenance in place. Some areas may only be inspected annually, so if the ground becomes defective within this year timeframe, you may be unable to make a claim. If the responsibility lies with a private company, they too have a duty to inspect and maintain the area under their jurisdiction of course.
