To sue or not to sue

[RickS1K]

I made a couple of references to this in recent posts, but I had an accident in October and Im wondering if it's worth raising a claim against the council as the cause was the road condition.

The accident happened on my R in October. I'd just left the house to do a short ride to scrub in a totally new back tyre. I knew the tyre was both cold and new, although it was 17 degrees that day and it was 1pm, so the road wasn't that cold. I was going through a roundabout I go through almost every time I leave the house... just much slower than usual because of the rear. I was just coming out the roundabout when the world inverted and I felt my arm break... The police think think the peg scrape marks tell a story of the front wheel getting caught in a pot hole and that's what caused the accident - I have no clue what happened. All I know is that my right arm is now held together by titanium and I'm still waiting for my left hand and an ankle fracture to fully repair. Hoping to be able to ride again in the spring, but unsure at this point.

All I have from the police is a letter that says they propose no further action - I assume that's because they think I didn't do anything wrong. I don't remember anyone taking any pictures of the accident, I should probably ask the police. I know that there were no markings to warn of the potholes, indeed I've probably ridden over them before...apparently at a speed that didn't allow the wheel to dig in.

I have a mate that works in another council and says his department handle such claims and he doesn't think its worth the hassle with the evidence I have. Does anyone have experience of making a similar claim? I probably will have a chat with a lawyer, looking to understand how things might go before I do that.

Cheers

Rick

 

[scooby]

have you been back to take any pictures of pot hole etc? what does the incident report actually say?has the pot hoile been repaired?

imo seems like a lot of factors could go against you and cant see how you could bring a claim against them,but theres so many no win no fee lawyers around,i'm sure someone would take it up.personnaly i'd just take it for what it is, an accident

 

[RickS1K]

That was my initial thought Scooby, however I'm gradually realising that I have permanently lost some movement in my right arm ( it'll be a while before we confirm how much), and whilst I'm confident I'll be able to ride a bike again I'm not quite sure how it'll affect me, esp on track.

 

[Corkgsxr]

Its a very hard one to prove.

I think one issue is you can only claim if its been reported and they failed to repair. Or if the repair is poor

 

[MrSmooth]

Rick,

It's a devil of a job and remember the County Council acts as both the judge and juror to ensure that they don't waste resources forking out for their mistakes. Last February I took my wife's Boxster 718S out in Hampshire and hit a pot hole whilst I was unsighted to the road surface by the vehicle in front, by the time I was trying to work out why the car in front jinked right, I hit the pothole. It was a massive hole in Track 1 and I burst a tyre and bent the wheel. Bursting a tyre, yes, it happens and I would have replaced the two front tyres and checked the alignment - but damaging the wheel at legal speeds? The bills were ?2100 for a new wheel, two new tyres (you can't replace one tyre on the front axle and have the wheels re-aligned at the same time).

I took pictures on the day, sent the bills and they said that the hole didn't exist at the prior inspection 2 weeks before. So not their fault. I took more pictures as the road broke up again at the same spot two weeks after the repair to fix the hole I reported and also said that the previous road repairs were all unfit for purpose. Nope, nothing, they denied culpability. Then in July, they did a major road repair on the same section of road, just the 10m section I had warned them about - after I had done the hard consultancy for them and it has been alright so far this winter. W6nkers!

Don't waste your time or energy like I did. You won't bloody well win anything.

BR

Steve

 

[Mellorp23]

Save yourself the hope and effort. I damaged a tyre/wheel in my car in a massive pot hole. Reported it to the council who said there was no such pot hole and I must have damaged the wheel somewhere else. Within days that same pot hole had been filled in. I got nowhere fast.

If you feel aggrieved enough you are probably better off handing it over to a personal injury firm and let them take a fee and see what happens.

 

[GixxerChuck]

Try White Dalton who will give you appropriate advice. Motorcycle specialists. To set your expectations I tried a claim against the council. They only need to prove reasonable maintenance happens and you would essentially need to prove the fault had been reported and they did nothing about it. In my case I showed that with a 1 meter spirit level I could fit my fist under the middle of it where tracks had formed on a bend which made the front tyre wash out. It was fully agreed as the cause of the accident but had not been reported and an inspection 6 months before showed it was not like it but I still lost the case. Only good thing was that the road was resurfaced (which happened before the case was concluded) but still did not impact their liability.


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[stuartb]

A lot to be said for the injury but solid advice from others..

I know a guy really well that works for the roads dept in our local council, I called him after I wrecked a wheel (and 35 section tyre) on my RS4 ..his take on it was if enough punters had contacted the council regarding the pot hole I hit then I had a way better chance if I submitted a claim, weighing everything up I couldn't be arsed with all the hassle.

The basis of your action would likely be proof of negligence being lack of proper maintenance on their part.. maybe if you could establish if other road users submitted claims for the same section then you'd have a much stronger case to lodge.. a chat with a lawyer is a good idea.

S...

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[TheGodfather]

I doubt you'll get anywhere without evidence and witnesses.

I came off nearly 20 yrs ago due to lorries leaving the local tip. Where they go around the bend the tarmac had raised a hump in the road around 6" high. As I came around the bend lent over it just happened to be in my line and taking avoiding action sent me wide. End result I went into a ditch 2 foot deep and went over the top. I broke a few ribs and the front wheel was stoved into the engine.

By the time I had sorted it out and went to take pics, Island roads had been and repaired it so I had no evidence thats what caused my crash.

 

[Wull]

The issue here is lack of pictures etc which has been stated above, but on the news yesterday there was a discussion that the potholes and complaints had hit an all time high so it?s worth a try, hit them hard.

 

[Flyingscotsman]

Agree with above. If it had been reported before you would have a very good case. Might be worth a FOI request to see if that pothole or similar ones had been reported.

 

[DNCN]

Obviously sorry you're in a bad way, but hopefully the insurance will cover the bike, your employer are understanding about your lack of mobility and it's not disrupting your income. If I was in your position I think I'd leave it or limit the the request to ensuring the road is repaired.

 

[JamieMac]

Taking a council to court is very hard. I had the council cut down all the trees in our lovely road for line of sight for CCTV. The tree's had 'Tree Protection Orders' on them which is a ?10,000 fine and a month in Jail for each tree. I had my MP's backing and the head of the council helping me/residents to fight the council and still nothing was done. It's up to you. I personally would go the the "where there's blame, there's a claim" solicitors. They do all the work but take 25-35% + vat of the final settlement which could be big with your arm.

Personally, I never ride without legal insurance then it's all covered and you get the full settlement. I was hit whilst stationary at the back of a queue of cars at a junction in a single lane, one way street. She was texting at 40mph and didn't see the stationary traffic. Weeks in hospital and 5 years later I got the payout which was worth the aggro. The best bit was she initially said to the police I reversed into her on my motorbike. LOL

j

 

[DNCN]

The best bit was she initially said to the police I reversed into her on my motorbike. LOL

j

worth reading the thread for that bit alone....

 

[scooby]

now i'm not sure,but i reckon this is a spam post

 

[alex]

Fixed