Personal Injury Claims

Hylton-Potts - London Based Law Firm Helping People Across the UK since 1999

Click play below to listen to this podcast episode.

[audio:07_person_inj_accid.mp3|titles=Personal Injury Claims|artists=Rodney Hylton-Potts]

Personal Injury Lawyers

Whether you have had an accident on the road, or at work or on holiday, we can help secure you the best settlement. Maud Bergvelt can handle your case on a “no win no fee” US contingency style, and can arrange doctors and accountants to ensure that your case is fully presented to its best advantage to get you the most money.

We are fast, efficient and cost effective.

More Information

Better than solicitors. For more information or a free legal opinion telephone 020-7381-8111 or email [email protected].

We offer a fast and efficient service and are committed to a high level of client satisfaction.

Hope for injured motorists and motor cyclists

Injured motorists and motor cyclists pursuing Highways Act claims can take encouragement from a recent decision extending the duty of highway authorities to maintain road surfaces and providing additional protection for those on two wheels.

In Thomas v Warwickshire County Council the claimant in suffered a severe head injury when falling from his bicycle after the wheel had struck a small spillage of concrete which had hardened and adhered to the surface of the road. Questions were raised as to whether the concrete was part of the fabric of the road and therefore within the ambit of section 41 of the Highways Act 1980, and whether it represented a reasonably foreseeable danger to traffic using the road.

Section 41 requires the maintenance – including repair – of defects in the fabric of the highway itself. But the removal of obstructions or surface-lying materials has been held not to be within its scope.

Paying particular attention to this, the defendant local authority argued that the concrete was simply a contaminant lying on the surface of the road, not dissimilar to a piece of chewing gum. However, the claimant maintained that once the concrete had hardened and bonded to the road it had become part of the fabric of the highway.

Long-lasting bond

In favouring the claimant’s argument, the judge distinguished this from previous cases, which had held that highway authorities were not required to remove substances such as mud or grit which have been deposited onto a road surface rendering it dangerous to traffic.

The judge considered that, in the absence of a specific intervention by a road-mending gang, the bonding of the concrete to the road would have been permanent, or at least long-lasting. He found that the spillage had become part of the fabric of the highway and that this, in his view, brought it within the ambit of the duty to maintain under section 41.

The issue concerning the foreseeability of danger stemmed from the location of the spillage. It was positioned in the middle of the carriageway, leading the defendant local authority to argue that this was not an area in which one would ordinarily expect a cyclist to ride. While that may have been a typical assumption, the claimant had in fact come into contact with the concrete because he was part of a cycling group which was riding in ranks of two. He was therefore positioned well away from the edge of the carriageway. The concrete was not sited within the wheel tracks of four-wheeled vehicles and, principally for that reason, the highways inspectors had considered that it was not dangerous.

The judge did not accept this and held that on an otherwise well-maintained road in a rural area, such as the highway in question, cyclists would not necessarily be expected to ride in single file close to the edge of the carriageway. Indeed, the position of the spillage was such that it was reasonably foreseeable that a cyclist would come into contact with it. The decision indicates that on certain types of road it is reasonable to expect cyclists to ride two or three abreast and to use the centre of the carriageway.

Extended duty

The surface of the highway and what defects may be actionable by injured parties, may now include deposits on the highway as well as potholes and cracks.

This will also have an impact on what constitutes a reasonable system of inspection and repair by highway authorities and the availability to defendants of the statutory defence under section 58 of the Act.

Spillages of concrete or tarmac are common; we are all used to seeing them frequently in and around the works area of a road-mending gang

If you are a cyclist or motorcyclist who have had an accident on the highway, consult the experts – Better than solicitors. For more information or a free legal opinion telephone 020-7381-8111 or email [email protected].