Potholes, protruding pavements, and poorly maintained pathways; they are all things that local authorities have a clear duty to ensure to protect the public from. But what is the extent of the duty the council has, and when can a claim be brought against them? To be honest, it can be somewhat of a grey area…

If a person is injured due to the state of the highways, then it is possible that they have a claim for compensation. Generally speaking, the defect has to be sufficient enough to warrant action from the local authority. It’s difficult to gauge – but if a hole is deep enough or a pavement is raised enough, and work clearly needs to be done, then a claim can be brought against the relevant authority.

So, what are the ins and outs of what has become the big battle between lawyers and councils?
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Twenty one passengers have been seriously injured and two are in a critical condition after the train on which they were travelling collided with a sewage tanker at a railway crossing.

The accident happened at approximately 5.30pm on Tuesday, 17th August 2010, near the small village of Little Cornard, Sudbury in Suffolk when the two-carriage train hit a large sewage tanker lorry which was stationary on a ‘user-worked’ railway crossing.  A total of 21 people suffered injuries in the accident and two of these have been taken to Colchester General Hospital with serious injuries, one of which, a 58 year old man is in intensive care and it is not yet clear whether he will survive his injuries. The other 19 injured passengers suffered less serious injuries in the form of cuts, bruises, back and neck pain and broken ribs.

It is understood that the sewage tanker split open upon impact causing sewage to spill over a wide area and the train was then de-railed however, it did not tip over. Witnesses described how they heard a loud bang when the collision occurred and then saw a number of distressed passengers wandering around the area in a daze covered in blood. One witness, a 65 year old man said “There was a very, very loud bang. I’ve never heard anything like it. I thought it was an aeroplane crash or a bomb going off.”
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Motorcycles can be dangerous vehicles; without the added protection a car offers, coming off of a bike can lead to serious injuries. And unfortunately, the police are often powerless to pursue thieves if it is deemed that the rider could come to harm – even when the concern is for a thieving menace to society!

Now, I’m not having a dig at the police here. This story from the Daily Mail can be seen from both sides of the coin. According to the report, police were ordered not to pursue thieves making away with £20,000 worth of motorcycles because a chase would put the lives of the criminals in danger.

Police had to watch them ride in to the distance for fear of their safety, given that the thieves were not wearing helmets or protective gear. The officers involved were reportedly following protocol and procedure in not initiating a pursuit after the robbery at the Manchester Motorbike Store in Altrincham.
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In recent news, it has been reported that a taxi driver reached speeds of 100mph in freezing conditions whilst he had passengers in his vehicle.

Neil Colquhoun told his two passengers, Victoria and Louise Guthrie to “shut up” when they asked him to slow down, as he raced along at dangerous speeds. Mr Colquhoun reached speeds of up to 70mph in built up areas that have a speed limit of 30mph. He then went on to overtake another vehicle on a blind bend. The two sisters were left feeling very “shaken” and to make matters worse, they recently lost their brother in a motorbike crash.

The sisters must have been terrified by the speeds that Mr. Colquhoun reached as he sped past the scene of one of Scotland’s worst road accidents. As they left Perth, Mr. Colquhoun overtook the vehicle on the blind bend and then went on to reach speeds of 100mph on the Burnbrae Straight near Methven where five people died in 2007 in a road accident. The sisters told Perth Sheriff Court that they watched the speedometer as Mr. Colquhoun continued to drive at speeds of 70mph as he drove through the village of Methven.
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We are all aware that there is a lot of controversy around in today’s society about what ‘can’ and ‘can’t’ be done and I have to say that on occasions I read some shockers and today was no exception.

Whilst browsing the Daily Mail’s website this morning I came across an article regarding the theft of 3 ‘high powered’ motorbikes from a store in Altrincham, Manchester. The robbers raided the store and fled at high speeds on the stolen bikes.

Accordingly, the store owner had called for police assistance only to be astonished when the officers in attendance were ordered not to give chase as the criminals were not wearing any safety equipment! The store owner had to literally stand by and watch the bikes be driven off into the distance with nobody able to do anything about it.
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I recently wrote a blog about the Daniel Ubani case. He was the German surgeon who came over to the UK to do a GP out of hours shift and ended up killing a patient by prescribing a huge amount of the drug diamorphine. This was a very sad case, but it was hoped that the media prominence of the events would ensure that reforms were brought in and that this tragedy was never repeated.

However, on the 12^th of August, the Guardian newspaper published figures from the NHS that they had obtained under a Freedom of Information request. These are extremely disturbing. They noted that, in less than a year, health workers made 1,300 errors related to opiate analgesics. These resulted in 2 patients suffering “severe” harm and 3 patients actually dying.

In addition, the report revealed that two other GPs working for the same company as Dr Ubani , the ironically named ‘Take Care Now’, had also been involved in errors related to diamorphine prescribing. Fortunately, these events were not fatal.
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Paria and Galia Najmi, twin sisters aged nine, were on holiday with their parents in Spain when the fatal accident happened. The Volvo that the family were travelling in overturned on the motorway as the family were travelling along the motorway in the South of Spain. According to local Police the twin girls had not been wearing their seatbelts. Sadly Paria died at the scene of the accident and Galia later lost her fight for life in hospital.

The twin’s parents were also injured in the accident which happened yesterday evening near the city, Zaragoza which is approximately 200 miles from Madrid.

The girl’s father, Homayoun Najmi, is in the intensive care unit.  He is believed to be unaware of the death of his two girls.

Farzaneh Heidari, the girl’s mother is in hospital being treated for shock and minor injuries. Relatives were at her bedside comforting her over her tragic loss.
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A cyclist has been accused of assault even though he claims the events of the incident are completely inaccurate. 39 – year – old Jared Kelly, a screenwriter, has been accused of assaulting a taxi driver in Oxford.

According to Mr Kelly, he was cycling west along Oxford Street on Tuesday 9^th March between four and five in the afternoon.  Mr Kelly reports that a taxi driver over took him and proceeded to cut up his path of travel when the taxi driver pulled over to pick passengers up, this resulted in Mr Kelly running into the back of the Taxi.
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I’m sure many of you reading this are aware of the Toyota troubles with several models of their vehicles being recalled over alleged safety concerns. For those of you who are not aware of this, Toyota has recalled millions of vehicles after concerns were raised over faulty floor mats, accelerator pedals sticking when depressed, and braking and steering faults. It’s a story that has worried many Toyota owners; but apparently not affected their sales too much from what I’ve heard in other recent press!

But returning to the story at hand, it would appear preliminary investigations have illustrated some unexpected results. According to sources from the BBC, the investigation suggests that the data recorders in 58 cars involved in such incidents indicate that the brakes were not applied in 35 cases. Essentially, it is being suggested that driver error may have contributed to the “unintended acceleration” cases that are currently being reviewed with the US National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration (US NHTSA).
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I came across a very tragic story today on the Sky News website; it seems that a family have been destroyed at the expense on an incredibly dangerous driver, who was driving the wrong way on the A1 in Newcastle.

The family were travelling in a black jaguar and were hit by the dangerous driver who was driving a burgundy Jaguar. It is understood that a 40 year old mother was sadly pronounced dead at the scene of the accident, her daughter later died in hospital. The girl’s 37- year – old father who was driving the vehicle was later treated in hospital for minor injuries but it is not thought that these are serious. A six month old baby has also been treated at the same hospital for minor injuries. The accident happened at approximately 9:30pm on Sunday 08^th August 2010.
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