Broken arm council grid

[devs]

Hi all, I recently fell down an open grid whilst jogging and broke my arm.

Im not one for claiming but its proven to be a right pain in the ass as I'm self employed and has effected me. I've got photos of the grid and went back today and its got a yellow cover the top.

I've never claimed before and it looks like a minefield, I plan to use one of these no win no fee things but just wanted to ask here if anyone has any experience with using these type of companies and if they are all the same or any recommendations.

Many thanks,

Devs.

[keyser666]

Don't think you will get anywhere mate. I broke my collarbone 3 years ago mate whilst riding home form work. Was going about 20mph and hit a fuck off pothole. The pothole was about a foot in circumference and was over 100mm deep. I had never noticed it before and the depth of it looked the same colour as the road surface. Lorries used to park on this road and were not supposed to but this is probably how it came about.

The depth of the hole had to be 50mm or over in depth and some 20cm in width or something to be an issue and claimable. I put in a claim with a no win no fee, was potentially looking at about 20k based on previous payouts of a fractured wrist and similar being paid out about 12k.

The crunch came to two things, did I report it and had it been reported previously. yes I had reported it. Had it been reported by someone recently? If so and they had done nothing about it then it was win win for me. No-one had reported it though. The second thing that covers them is that they have to show they have a plan in place to check all the roads, pathways etc as per government guidelines. because the road I done it on was a b road, they only have to check it something like once every 6 months or a year, cannot remember now. As long as they have it signed off that it had been checked within these guidelines then they were covered. They had checked it so no case to answer.

[BertRoot]

I fell down a manhole a few years back in Darwen which had the grid missing off it. The horrible shit in the hole knackered my jeans and trainers and I got the full cost of replacement back. Was a lot of fucking about and Legal Eagle gave me some advice on it and eventually they coughed up. The road I was on was part of an industrial estate and the council claimed it was privately owned so I got a mate who works at Land Registry to check and it was their land so I got them to refund the cost of the Land Reg check and bought the girl who did the check a couple of bottles of wine.

[I Black Belt]

can you post a photo of the cover fella?

[devs]

Guys many thanks for the input. Interesting reads. I'm not holding out much hope but feel its worth a pop as I've been inconvenienced.

So would the in win no fee route be the way to go? I suppose that way it won't cost me anything if I don't get anywhere? Are they all the same or are some better than others?

Heres a couple of snaps before and after it got covered..

[Zoots]

Looks like the water board to me mate.

[devs]

Thanks mate, does it make a difference? (Not meaning do sound dumb )

[Zoots]

No mate, just thought it might help to go to the right utility company. I don't think it's going to be the council's problem.
Maybe have a wander back and see what's on the grids.


Edit to add: often it's the case with grids/chambers that it's high jinx or somebody weighing in the chamber lids for scrap. If no one's reported that to anyone, the organisation responsible are going to argue the toss, given that to check every chamber all the time would be uber impossible. The yellow board shows someone's been made aware and someone's tried to make it safe so that's possibly going to be another stumbling block.

[I Black Belt]

Actually, it can make a difference.
Whilst the cover looks like a water utility one, and therefore theirs to replace, the highway authority has a duty to make safe.
If,as you say,it was replaced shortly after your incident, then someone must have reported it, (presuming you didn't)
It's unusual to see covers so clearly marked - looks like they've been surveyed to me.
Point being there's bound to be a decent paper trail here -worth further investigation imo.

[Zoots]

I mean make a difference to who his claim is with.
While the council/Highways may have received a report and had someone available/deemed it urgent enough to send someone along with a temporary reinstatement board, the issue will still lie with the utility company that owns the chambers, not the council/Highways in terms of any liability unless they have attended recently and caused the hazard.

Your right though, it would have been surveyed at some stage, be that by a network inspector, utility company operative or the Highways. If a util company have been there recently to do work/survey and left an open chamber without any boards/barriers then it's SHTF time. In my experience it can often be a grey area who is responsible to attend/who should attend and I've heard of the council doing both attending and passing on to a utilty company as their priority.

[I Black Belt]

It's not grey at all mate.
If it's adopted public highway then the highway authority have a statutory obligation to make safe, irrespective of what/who caused the fault. If they are aware of a defect.
LJ is better placed than I, but sections 41 and 58 of the Highways act 1980 have some relevance here.

[Zoots]

Ok

[keyser666]

Agree with most of the comments above. Thing is they are going to use the statutory defence that they have a maintenance plan in place which as per the highways act, they all have to cover themselves. The only way you are going to get a foot in is if it was reported and they didnt act on that. Either way a No win no fee will take it onboard on the face of it because just by submitting the FOI request to see if they have maintained it is worth it to them because if they have made a boo boo then the likelyhood is you will get a payof, a couple of minutes work to submit to the local council is well within their interests. You will have an idea of whether you have agood case in about 8 weeks tops if you call a No Win No Fee this week. I would

[tombott]

Hi all, I recently fell down an open grid whilst jogging and broke my arm.

Im not one for claiming but its proven to be a right pain in the ass as I'm self employed and has effected me. I've got photos of the grid and went back today and its got a yellow cover the top.

I've never claimed before and it looks like a minefield, I plan to use one of these no win no fee things but just wanted to ask here if anyone has any experience with using these type of companies and if they are all the same or any recommendations.

Many thanks,

Devs.

If you want some free advice from a PI solicitor let me know mate.

[devs]

Cheers for all the helpful advise and comments guys. and for tombotts offer.

I've phoned one of those no win no fee places today so will see what if anything they come up with. The woman seemed like a right fcuk wit so not expecting any miracles.

Will let you know what happens.

Cheers,

Devs.