claim to the council for road accident

JustForThisOne

Does anyone know what would be the right procedure to put a claim to the Council for (car) accident happened due to tree roots and broken curb?
Where to start ?
TIA

George_Michael

Unless you can prove that the council were aware of the damage to the broken curb and that they then failed to carry out a repair, you are going to find any claim will be extremely difficult to win. (unless they are willing to make a voluntary settlement).

Simply having a damaged road or curb isn't enough to automatically put the council at fault as you must bee able to show negligence on their part (which is where showing that they were aware of any possible dangerous road comes into it).

How exactly did the accident happen and how did a damaged curb contribute to it?

ThumbRemote

George_Michael wrote: »

Unless you can prove that the council were aware of the damage to the broken curb and that they then failed to carry out a repair, you are going to find any claim will be extremely difficult to win. (unless they are willing to make a voluntary settlement).

Simply having a damaged road or curb isn't enough to automatically put the council at fault as you must bee able to show negligence on their part (which is where showing that they were aware of any possible dangerous road comes into it).

How exactly did the accident happen and how did a damaged curb contribute to it?

I don't think that's quite true. The council can be equally negligent by not being aware of the damage when they should have been, eg not having a policy in place to regularly check the highways for damage.

JustForThisOne, you're almost certainly best off getting legal advice. The council will have a legal team to defend any claim you make, you will need the same fighting your corner.

bris

ThumbRemote wrote: »

I don't think that's quite true. The council can be equally negligent by not being aware of the damage when they should have been, eg not having a policy in place to regularly check the highways for damage.

JustForThisOne, you're almost certainly best off getting legal advice. The council will have a legal team to defend any claim you make, you will need the same fighting your corner.

It's very true, all councils now have the s58 defense that is put to good use, only an incompetent council will not have the policy in place, mmm ok you win.

Quentin

JustForThisOne wrote: »

Does anyone know what would be the right procedure to put a claim to the Council for (car) accident happened due to tree roots and broken curb?
Where to start ?
TIA

If you have comprehensive insurance, and the damage is expensive to repair, then it may be quicker to make a claim - if the council are liable, then your insurer will pursue them and it will end up a non fault claim on your record, with no impact on your NCD.

neilmcl

JustForThisOne wrote: »

Does anyone know what would be the right procedure to put a claim to the Council for (car) accident happened due to tree roots and broken curb?
Where to start ?
TIA

What was the accident?

George_Michael

ThumbRemote wrote: »

I don't think that's quite true. The council can be equally negligent by not being aware of the damage when they should have been, eg not having a policy in place to regularly check the highways for damage.

As mentioned by bris, councils have Section 58 of the highways act to fall back on, and with the amount of claims that have been made for pothole damage, I would be amazed to find any council who was not aware of the relevant section of the act.

58. Special defence in action against a highway authority for damages for non-repair of highway.
(1)In an action against a highway authority in respect of damage resulting from their failure to maintain a highway maintainable at the public expense it is a defence (without prejudice to any other defence or the application of the law relating to contributory negligence) to prove that the authority had taken such care as in all the circumstances was reasonably required to secure that the part of the highway to which the action relates was not dangerous for traffic.

ThumbRemote

George_Michael wrote: »

As mentioned by bris, councils have Section 58 of the highways act to fall back on, and with the amount of claims that have been made for pothole damage, I would be amazed to find any council who was not aware of the relevant section of the act.

The council still have to show that they DID take reasonable care to inspect the highways.

As such my original comment still stands: "The council can be equally negligent by not being aware of the damage when they should have been, eg not having a policy in place to regularly check the highways for damage"

JustForThisOne

Thank you for the reply I will read it properly in a minute but to explain a wee bit more here it is
There is a large tree that has pushed the roots through the curb. The stones at the edge of the paviment have moved up and separated. On one side of the tree there a fairly recent patch of tar placed in an attempt to fill a gap in the paviment
The corner of the stone of the paviment cought the tip of my bumper close to the tyre. In that spot the curb is also much higher that the regular height of the paviment. The road is a stip hill. By just catching the tip of the bumper it nearly turn the bumper off, got me stuck could not move forward no roll backward. It was only because I reacted at once and held the car in place that I did not loose the bumper alltogether or hit the car behind.
Dear me it is hard to explain but it was even harder to believe that such damage could be caused by such a situation. I used that parking spot before obviously not quite within the same ingh. I needed a person to push the bumper inward and upward in order to break free from the killer corner. Hope this makes sense
The council must be aware as there was a patch to fill one part of the problem
Incidentally that day there was also a van doing work a bit further up
It is 2 space down from the school zig zag so in a camera controlled area, and its not safe for children either

bap98189

Are you saying that when you parked your car you drove into the pavement, which caused the damage to your bumper?

JustForThisOne

I guess it could appear that way. I and the people present see it different but of course I do not assume I have a case
I was parking normally (been a driver for 29 years)
I did not drive into a perfectly regular paviment, if that was the case I would take full responsability for it
I have some photos, is it possible to upload them?
If the pavement was well maintained it would have not happened.
By the same token people claim if they get injured by tripping on a whole. One can always argue you should have seen it ...