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In order to make a successful claim for your accident, there
are certain things we have to establish.
If you have tripped over something sticking up, or have
fallen or ridden into a hole in the road/pavement surface
Firstly, we must show that the defect is bad enough to be
considered a clear hazard to people using the area. The guideline
marker for defects on the pavement is that the trip must be
1 inch either sticking up, or deep into the pavement. However,
this may not necessarily apply to cyclists or motorcyclists
who have had an accident due to a bad road surface, as different
criteria apply in those cases - it may be the general condition
of the road that is important.
That part of the claim is usually the least difficult to
deal with, because it will be fairly clear in most cases whether
the surface is dangerous. However, it is important that
we get some photographs of the defect before you report it!
Once the council (or other body responsible for the area)
becomes aware that there has been an accident, they will normally
be very quick to carry out repairs! If you are able to,
please obtain photographs, preferably using some sort of measure
against which to compare the size - e.g. a rigid ruler, or
some other identifiable object.
The second thing we must show is that either the local authority
with responsibility for the road either knew of the defect
and did not repair it; or that they did not carry out regular
inspections of the road (which should normally be done at
a minimum
of 6 monthly intervals).
This latter point is the difficult one. Local authorities
rarely co-operate in these claims, and often the only way
to find
out whether they have inspected is to issue proceedings through
the court. We can then force them to show us their inspection
records.
If you have slipped or tripped or collided on or with something
left on the pavement or highway
These claims may be more difficult to prove. If the item
was left by someone unknown, unless the council were made
aware before your accident, then you will have difficulty
in claiming.
However, if the council were aware and did nothing about
it, then you may have a successful claim.
You should also be able to claim if we can identify who was
responsible: the most common type of claim is where work has
been carried out and the contractors have failed to clean
up properly, or have left materials.
If you have slipped or tripped in a store or other premises
An occupier of premises is under a duty to ensure that visitors
are reasonably safe in using the premises for the purposes
you are visiting for.
Whether or not the owners or occupiers of the premises will
be held to be at fault for your accident will depend largely
on whether they had regular checks in place to ensure spillages
were cleared quickly, and if they did, whether they acted
quickly enough once they were advised of the spillage. Sometimes
this latter point is difficult to establish if we cannot show
when the spillage happened.
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