An uncovered drain gully or drain hole is an obvious hazard. Whether it’s out and about on the street or in a car park, or other privately owned premises, you may have a claim for personal injury compensation if you end up falling in one, either fully or partially, or if you fall in general as a result of the missing cover.
So who do you sue and how does a claim work in these kinds of scenarios? Read on for more advice…
Who’s Responsible?
To be honest, this can be difficult to answer at the outset of a case. If it happened on private land then we will generally go against the owner – so if it happened in a supermarket car park, we’d pursue the supermarket. Ultimately they’re the ones who have a duty under The Occupiers Liability Act to take all reasonable steps to prevent an injury on their premises.
However, if it happened in the street, it can be a little more tricky to find out who we should be claiming against. Unless there are any markings in the area that indicate who is responsible for the drain, we would likely just have to submit a claim to the local council.
Sometimes it will actually be the local council who are responsible, but sometimes it might not be. It could be a local water company or sewage company, but we may not know that if there is nothing around the area to indicate as such.
Therefore we sometimes have to submit it to the council and either await their confirmation that they are responsible for the drain, or wait for them to redirect the claim elsewhere. They will normally advise who should be responsible for the area so we can redirect the claim immediately.
As such, the initial investigation stage for these sorts of claims can be a little longer than other cases!
Will I Win a Claim?
It depends on how the drain cover came to be missing, and whether whoever is responsible knew, or ought to have known, about the hazard. If a supermarket was aware that the cover was missing and they failed to take action in time, you can win a claim. If it was a local council where it hadn’t been reported, then they can argue they had no knowledge there was a danger.
If it transpires there was no knowledge, we’d need to find out how it was removed and whether there is any system of inspection and maintenance. If the cover was removed by workmen operating in the area and they failed to make the area safe, the prospects of winning a claim can be good. But if the area is inspected at regular intervals and there really was no knowledge that the cover was missing, those responsible can defend the claim.
So, they are not the easiest ones to win – which is why it’s important to have a firm of specialist personal injury lawyers working for you on the claim.
