Injured ankle on a pothole – who is responsible

baron777red

apologies if i have posted this in the wrong section - i wasn't sure where to post

About 3 weeks ago I was walking to school to pick up the kids and, while crossing the road, went over on my ankle in a pothole in the road.
I managed to limp to school, and they looked after me, when I told them what happened, I phoned my husband and he picked me up, and we went to A&E to get it looked at, I thought it was broken.
Luckily it wasn’t broken, just badly sprained, they gave me crutches, and said to put some ice on it.
The road in question had only be resurfaced about 5-6 months ago.
I had to take 2 weeks off work, because I couldn’t drive, so I put a claim in with the local council, I send them photos of my ankle, and the pothole in the road. About a week later I received a letter saying the claim was being looked into and it can take 90 days to reply.
Then this afternoon I had a phone call from the council basically saying that it’s not their responsibility, because they sub-contracted the job out, they had forwarded all my details to them and I should claim against the sub-contractor.
Thinking about this now, is this correct? Isn’t it the responsibility of the council to maintain roads.
Or do I need to claim against the sub-contractor? Would I need a “ no win no fee company” or could I do it myself?
I still can’t walk properly, and I have had to go back to work this week, but now this has happened, I don’t know what to do now
Any advice would be appreciated

Thanks

k3lvc

Probably not the answer you want but how about you ??


Were your eyes closed or is putting one foot in front of the other now someone elses responsibility ?

spadoosh

Where you using a designated crossing or did you freestyle it crossing where you wanted and unfortunately picking a spot to cross that had a pot hole.

Im sure you can sue. Morally i think its scandalous though, you wherent looking where you where walking. Simple as. Every time ive tripped over it has always been my fault, the only exclusion is when i trip over the dog on a midnight pee, in that case its always the dogs fault and to top it all off, the little terror doesnt even reply to my court letters!

BooJewels

Do you have legal cover included in your home insurance? Mine does include personal injury, so if you have it, a call to their help line might be a start to find out some more information.

Oakdene

spadoosh wrote: »

Where you using a designated crossing or did you freestyle it crossing where you wanted and unfortunately picking a spot to cross that had a pot hole.

Im sure you can sue. Morally i think its scandalous though, you wherent looking where you where walking. Simple as. Every time ive tripped over it has always been my fault, the only exclusion is when i trip over the dog on a midnight pee, in that case its always the dogs fault and to top it all off, the little terror doesnt even reply to my court letters!

Thats rufffff :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

singhini

OP - I doubt you could do it yourself (otherwise you would not be asking). Try a no win no fee company (in theory you have nothing to lose since you will only pay anything if you win and that's far enough as seemingly your not in a position to do it yourself).


Personally I wouldn't bother.


If you do proceed with your claim and do managed to win some compensation, I think you should consider donating the money to the school and the hospital who helped you at your time of need and did so seemingly without any quibble. Also think about giving some to your employer who's productivity may well have gone down during the two weeks you were off and also think about your colleagues who may have had to increase their workload covering for you over those weeks).


Speak to you later, my weekend has started and I'm off to think about Jesus dying for our sins (Proverbs 1:19 and Corinthians 6:10 come to mind).

Nasqueron

singhini wrote: »

OP - I doubt you could do it yourself (otherwise you would not be asking). Try a no win no fee company (in theory you have nothing to lose since you will only pay anything if you win and that's far enough as seemingly your not in a position to do it yourself).


Personally I wouldn't bother.


If you do proceed with your claim and do managed to win some compensation, I think you should consider donating the money to the school and the hospital who helped you at your time of need and did so seemingly without any quibble. Also think about giving some to your employer who's productivity may well have gone down during the two weeks you were off and also think about your colleagues who may have had to increase their workload covering for you over those weeks).


Speak to you later, my weekend has started and I'm off to think about Jesus dying for our sins (Proverbs 1:19 and Corinthians 6:10 come to mind).

Prefer Luke 12:47 myself though Matthew 11:20-24 is perhaps more applicable to his true nature

baron777red

well not the answers i was expecting, just to clarify a few points

i was looking for cars coming when i was crossing the road, it was just after a corner, and they come fast round the corner,

yes if you trip over things its generally your fault, the dog, the kids toys, etc.. but i didnt expect there would be a big whole in the road, which was caused by sub standard work.

takman

baron777red wrote: »

well not the answers i was expecting, just to clarify a few points

i was looking for cars coming when i was crossing the road, it was just after a corner, and they come fast round the corner,

yes if you trip over things its generally your fault, the dog, the kids toys, etc.. but i didnt expect there would be a big whole in the road, which was caused by sub standard work.

All you had to do was look at the road before you crossed, it's a pretty basic thing to look where your going to walk.

System

Just as a matter of interest, how do you manage to avoid kerbs, lamp-posts, gutters, etc?

lisyloo

Some people come here to feel superior so I suggest you don!!!8217;t worry about it and ignore unhelpful replies.

You could try your home insurance or you could try a no-win no-fee firm.
The latter will work more aggressively on your behalf as they depend on success to get paid.

If you are partly responsible then I!!!8217;m sure the legal representatives for the other side will point it out based on all the information available, so no need to listen to people who don!!!8217;t know the roads and what visual clues there were at the time.

Just make sure they are genuinely no fee and won!!!8217;t deduct from your payout.