tripping over dodgy pavement - possible broken wrist

patchwork_cat

looby75 wrote: »

A few years ago we had a lot of new houses built around our street, the builders left the footpaths in a shocking state, holes everywhere, the council came and filled the holes up but not properly and within 6 months the holes were back, the worst one was by a lamppost and was 3 inches deep on one side and when it was dark it was hard to see as the lamppost wasn't working. I fell down it once but luckily nothing but my pride was hurt. I phoned the council and reported the hole and the fact the lamppost wasn't working, but nothing was done about either. I know that I wasn't the only person who reported it.

A few months later a teenage lad fell over the same hole and broke BOTH wrists His parents sued the council and their son received a considerable amount of compensation. I don't blame them one bit, the council knew about the hole, if they had repaired it properly in the first place, or come back to sort it out, or even got the lamppost working so you could see the hole in the dark that poor lad wouldn't have two broken wrists and the indignity of not being able to do anything for him self for months.

So until I hear more details of how the OP fell I wouldn't judge.

In this case your council are very wrong as they should not have adopted the road or accepted to reinstate when developers had not done the job properly.

looby75

patchwork_cat wrote: »

In this case your council are very wrong as they should not have adopted the road or accepted to reinstate when developers had not done the job properly.

the road was already the councils, they sold a lot of council houses off to a development co who demolished them and built new ones, the roads and footpaths around them always belonged to the council. The development co caused a lot of problems and ended up paying compensation to the council, which was supposed to be used to repair the damage to the roads and footpaths. They didn't repair them properly and 5 years after the houses were finished being built we still have dodgy footpaths.

One of the few that have been filled in properly is the one with the lamppost.

elsien

My 72 year old mother tripped over an uneven pavement a couple of weeks ago - nothing broken except her glasses and her pride, but lots of bruises and a split lip. (I told her she was lucky she landed on her head, so no harm done.) You can see where the pavement has sunk, but she was also distracted by one of those charity muggers at the time.
She phoned the council to inform them, not for compensation but to make sure it was checked out properly. (She's a bit miffed that they haven't phoned back as they promised they would, mainly as she's quite concerned that no-one else topples over in the same place.) The number of people whose first reaction is to tell her to sue is ridiculous - when she points out that the cost all comes back to us in the end via council tax etc, they look at her in disbelief.

puddy

geri1965 wrote: »

Quite right.

I used to deal with claims on behalf of local authorities, and 99% of the workload was claims involving pavement trips. They are easily defendable if the council can show that they have in place a documented system of inspection and maintenance.

I have worked in personal injury claims for 14 years and seen plenty of frivolous claims in my time, however, I am of the view that if someone is genuinely injured as a result of someone else's negligence, they should be compensated for it.

i think there was a case recently where it was shown that the councils defence of 'inspection and maintenance systems' is not actually enough to defend where they have been negligent, it was in peterborough i think but involved a car not a person. the council thought it was enough to show that they had a documented system of checking the roads as per the government guidance but a judge thought otherwise

also, im not sure its true that claims mean the money comes out of services, its covered by the LA insurance

elsien

I know the payments are insured, but surely the premiums the LA has to pay increases with the number of claims they have to fight? Which is the cost that gets passed back to us at some point.

gratefulforhelp_2

claire16c wrote: »

Putting in claims like this just leads to ridiculous health and safety laws preventing all of us from doing anything normal.

More importantly feeds into huge rises in insurance costs.

Lotus-eater wrote: »

Oh dear, a teenage boy without either of his wrists :rotfl: I just can't think of anything worse.

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

geri1965_2

puddy wrote: »

i think there was a case recently where it was shown that the councils defence of 'inspection and maintenance systems' is not actually enough to defend where they have been negligent, it was in peterborough i think but involved a car not a person. the council thought it was enough to show that they had a documented system of checking the roads as per the government guidance but a judge thought otherwise

Yes, I think you're right. I might look it up tomorrow at work.

aka_shortie

Just another example of our blame and claim culture, wanting money for nothing. Im sorry to sound harsh, but this is why we all pay so much for insurance these days.

As already said. pay more attention to where your walking. I have lost count of the times i have done similar in my lifetime, i never once thought, i know i'll try to sue someone!

mira666

ok, lots of points here, will do my best to answer as I can:

so far I have had 4 x-rays on my wrist and so far they cannot determine whether or not it is broken so am awaiting a call up from the local fracture clinic to confirm either way.

To be honest I am not looking to sue the council, its almost more I have been advised to do so by my employers (it happened less than 10ft away from the edge of their grounds) and as the council never repair the pavement or even grit the road in winter despite there being close to 600 members of staff going up and down the road. Also my employer won't pay me sick pay if i'm off, have not even been allowed to do other roles at work despite struggling to do my day to day job (i work in a call centre)

I measured the difference in height today at apx 2.5 inches, however I am first to admit it was probably my own fault too

Torry_Quine

mira666 wrote: »

ok, lots of points here, will do my best to answer as I can:

so far I have had 4 x-rays on my wrist and so far they cannot determine whether or not it is broken so am awaiting a call up from the local fracture clinic to confirm either way.

To be honest I am not looking to sue the council, its almost more I have been advised to do so by my employers (it happened less than 10ft away from the edge of their grounds) and as the council never repair the pavement or even grit the road in winter despite there being close to 600 members of staff going up and down the road. Also my employer won't pay me sick pay if i'm off, have not even been allowed to do other roles at work despite struggling to do my day to day job (i work in a call centre)

I measured the difference in height today at apx 2.5 inches, however I am first to admit it was probably my own fault too

Thanks for the update. Won't you get SSP, if not then you will be able to get ESA.

That's a big pavement diference, you definately need to contact the council and take pictures.