Making A Claim Against The Local Council

[chokkie]

About 5 weeks ago now, my husband has a nasty accident in our city centre - he fell on the metal frame of a road sign that had been carelessly left on the pavement by, probably, some contractors who are working on the road changes around the corner from his office. He fractured and dislocated his right shoulder, had two operations and was in hospital for three days. He has only just today returned to work after 4 weeks sick leave - we had to cancel our driving holiday to Brittany (we were due to leave two days after the accident) and have incurred all sorts of out-of-pocket expenses.

Not sure where to put this post, but wondered if someone out there can suggest a course of action. We are currently trying to pursue a claim against the City Council (and their contractors) , but our solicitors (via our home insurance) aren't very hopeful of success, because they say it would be impossible to identify who actually left this road sign frame in the middle of the pedestrian walk way. To add to this, there were no witnesses to my husband's accident (he sustained the accident between his office building and his carpark - no more than 200-300 yards walk). If the above-mentioned solicitors say that they definitely won't be able to help us, then we will ask a second firm of solicitors to see if they would take it on. And if they aren't willing to take it on, we were just wondering what we could do then. As expected, both the city council and their contractors are worming out of it all, and won't accept any responsibility for the road sign - they also deny that the road sign was theirs in the first place - can anyone possibly suggest our next course of action. We're not hopeful of getting anything from this, but that's besides the point. Someone was responsible for leaving this roadsign on the pavement where it was a trip hazard, and we're blowed if we're going to let it drop too easily! Any suggestions?

[EDDIE51]

To stand a chance you need to PROVE the council were negligent NOT just careless ! From what you have written I am afraid you have zero chance of success. Don't throw more money at it just get on with your life.
Solicitors are in it to make money, unless they can see a high chance of success they will not take on a no win no fee case. You could of course, pay them yourself and they will fall over themselves to help as long as you keep paying. But you need to have a few tens of thousands of £ you can afford to lose!
Always remember 'The Law , like the Ritz Hotel, is open to all !'

[chokkie]

Thanks Eddi51, I know your advice is sound advice - and deep down we know we're not going to get anywhere. But it's so frustrating knowing that had this unknown contractor person not thrown this metal frame where he did, the accident would not have happened, and all sorts of ensuing things would not have happened. Thankfully we're not throwing any money at it all at the moment, but it just makes us so mad knowing that someone threw that frame where they did and my husband had to pay a high price. We might even have been happy with a refund of all our out of pocket expenses, but that's not going to happen. But thanks for taking the trouble to reply! It makes us both sooooooooooo cross! And my husband even had £200 stolen out of his wallet whilst he was lying writhing in pain on a hospital trolley in the ER room! Don't ask!

[hc4361]

A court was ask many questions:

Was it dark?
If it was dark, was there any street lighting?
Is his eyesight poor?
Did he have his hands in his pockets?
Was he paying reasonable attention to his surroundings?

The court will need to determine the council or its contractors were negligent.
Who left the sign there?
Could somebody else have moved the sign?
Did anyone see who put the sign there? CCTV?
Were the council or its contractors aware the sign was there and failed to do anything about in a reasonable time?
Could the wind have moved it?

The aim is to prove that council (or its contractors) were negligent and failed to take the reasonable care that is expected of them and that your husband was not in any way negligent.

[TonyV]

Chokie u will need some firm proof i.e. Pics or some witnesses with reg numbers of doing work. On the other hand your local councillor may be able to get some details of the works going on - maybe worth a try?

[EDDIE51]

What a disaster! The cash being stolen while he was in hospital is just terrible. I think you may have a chance to claim for negligence there but not against the council. The hospital has a 'duty of care' to it's patients and you may ,just may, be able to claim.
As to the council I have to say again 'don't bother' it's going nowhere !

[Lunol]

"The hospital has a 'duty of care' to it's patients and you may ,just may, be able to claim"

Unfortunately I doubt it. If it was ever even taken on as a case they would ask for proof that he had £200 on him at the time of the fall, Did it fall out when he had the fall? Did the ambulancemen take it? Did it fall out when he was being wheeled into the hospital or in the hospital etc.. and why would a thief take the time to take £200 out of the wallet of a patient and have more of a chance of being caught instead of just taking the wallet and going?

Too many variables for any case to be made against the hospital I would have thought and even if the hospital had CCTV of someone sneaking into the

[Lunol]

Hospital, would they be liable for that?

[hc4361]

The hospital is only liable for your property if it is properly handed in for safe keeping and a receipt issued.