personal injury claim

Crazy_Jamie

vaio wrote: »

they are guidelines developed and published by the Dept of Transport so although not statutory must have considerable weight for a judge and I'd guess most council's inspection policies will follow them

They are certainly potentially relevant, though the themes of case law in this area reveal an approach approach taken by the Courts that is far from a strict liability one in relation to inspections and such. As a matter of course when raising the s.58 defence, Councils will provide evidence relating to their policy and the practical application of it to that particular area. The Claimant will then raise arguments as to why the defence has not been made out. The upshot is that the Judge is usually left with a more complete overview of the road/pathway and the policy, rather than judging cases on the basis of a numbers game.

nickwilks7

i've tried another solicitor and they have said because nobody has reported the pot-hole (local residents) then the claim is likely to be unsuccessful!
is this fair?
Not my fault nobody has reported it, and now im going to lose out on wages and the fact my knee is unstable now.
how do i go about getting the inspection & defect reports together with the KPIs for inspections, repairs & repudiated claims?

stephent82

nickwilks7 wrote: »

i've tried another solicitor and they have said because nobody has reported the pot-hole (local residents) then the claim is likely to be unsuccessful!
is this fair?
Not my fault nobody has reported it, and now im going to lose out on wages and the fact my knee is unstable now.
how do i go about getting the inspection & defect reports together with the KPIs for inspections, repairs & repudiated claims?

Yes, this is fair. The only way you could argue that the council is at fault is that
1) It is something that they have done has caused the pot-hole (ie. negligence)
2) You can reasonably argue that your local council should be carrying out daily checks of the route you used (or, indeed, all highways)

Councils are starting to fight more and more claims due to the financial state of the country. I know of someone who fell down a pot hole (it was that big) and broke several bones. It wen't to court and the guy lost as nobody reported it, and there was no way that they could [reasonably] prevent it.

If you wish to claim for any injury, I would recommend that you contact a local solicitor and not a no-win no-fee national service. Yes, they will charge you but they will represent you effectively no matter what.

You say that the injury was not your fault - true. Ask yourself, was it the local authorities fault? What could they have done to prevent the pot hole or your accident?

vaio

nickwilks7 wrote: »

i've tried another solicitor and they have said because nobody has reported the pot-hole (local residents) then the claim is likely to be unsuccessful!
is this fair?
Not my fault nobody has reported it, and now im going to lose out on wages and the fact my knee is unstable now.
how do i go about getting the inspection & defect reports together with the KPIs for inspections, repairs & repudiated claims?

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/governmentcitizensandrights/yourrightsandresponsibilities/dg_4003239