You may have heard of, or understand, the concept that a pothole has to be of a certain size in order to make a claim for personal injury compensation. This is true – Section 41 of the Highways Act says that those responsible for an area only need to take action if a defect is deemed to be of a reasonable danger. What’s classed as reasonable is a grey area, and most lawyers use the “one inch rule” to say that the defect has to be of at least one inch in depth / height to have a good chance of succeeding.
So what happens if you trip and fall due to a monstrosity of a pothole in the road? I’m talking maybe six or more inches in depth, and a huge width as well? Do you have a better shot at winning the claim because it’s bigger? Or would it be harder because you should have seen such a huge hole in the road?
Where you stand
In reality, the fact that the pothole is huge doesn’t necessarily give you any better or worse shot at winning a claim for personal injury compensation. The minimum size rule will apply for whether the council or a highways authority ought to have taken steps; but just because it’s massive doesn’t mean you have a better chance of winning. On the issue of whether you should have seen it, that isn’t normally an issue. You can’t be expected to look at your feet all the time or you’d be liable to walk in to street furniture and things in front of you. There is case law that supports that.
Whether you can win the claim or not still comes down to the same old thing – Section 58 of the Highways Act 1980. This says that whoever is in charge of the area has to have a reasonable system of inspection and maintenance when it comes to preventing defects on the highway. That word reasonable is used again – which makes it a totally grey area.
But to put it in to perspective for you:
- A busy city centre high street may be inspected every month.
- A frequently used town area may be every three months.
- A cul-de-sac in the middle of the countryside may be every 12 months.
So if your monster of a pothole appears in between inspection periods, they can defend the claim. Just because it’s massive doesn’t mean they cannot use their common defence of having a good enough system of inspection and maintenance.
Advice
If you have been injured due to a giant pothole, we can probably take the claim on and we can usually offer a full No Win, No Fee service and 100% compensation if you win. So get in touch on 0800 634 75 75.