So you’ve followed the green cross code and ensured there are no vehicles around to safely cross – but what you didn’t expect was to step off the kerb and in to a pothole, causing an injury. Perhaps you have stepped on the edge and that has caused you to stumble and fall or maybe you tripped when stepping on to it – what are your rights to make a claim for personal injury compensation?
Even if a pothole is right in front of you, the fact that you didn’t see it doesn’t normally stop you from claiming. There is a basic rule of thumb that says you cannot always be expected to watch your feet when you walk or you would be liable to walk in to obstacles in front of you, like street furniture or other people.
That aside though, it can be much harder to spot a pothole when it’s on a road and you’re stepping off a kerb with no knowledge it’s lying in wait for you!
Whether you stumble and injure yourself or fall to the ground, you may have a claim for personal injury compensation if you’re injured due to a pothole on the road. What we need to do is submit a claim to the local authority or council responsible and ask that they investigate the case and confirm if they accept or deny liability for what’s happened.
Will the council pay out?
Whether they agree to pay out or not can largely depend on if they have adhered to the law – which is The Highway Act 1980. They must have a system of reasonable inspection and maintenance to look out for potholes, so if they don’t have this, or they don’t have a reasonable one, or perhaps they have failed to adhere to their own inspection regimes, you may be able to win a claim.
Be warned though – if they can prove they have adhered to the law, they can very easily defend the claim as they have a special defence by law they can use to defend claims where they have a reasonable system of inspection or maintenance.
We can normally only find this out by actually pursuing the claim, so we would normally need to submit a claim form to them directly and see what their response is.
What to do?
Take photos, and seek medical attention as soon as possible. Take several photos and be thorough to take ones showing clear measurements of depth and width of the pothole, and to show the surrounding area so the location can easily be identified when investigating the case.
