Claiming Personal Damages From A Council

horseshoes | 16:50 Wed 28th Jan 2015 | Law

27 Answers

..... I realise this is potentially a hopeless cause but please give me some advice on this.

My Mum fell last Friday and dislocated her shoulder. The council have made an improvement to a small wooded path which serves as a short cut from the village centre to a the outer road where Waitrose and another car park is located across the road for this path. They installed a type of kissing gate. My Mum came through the gate and thought there was just a little surface water on the pavement. She fell forward quite a way and landed partially on the pavement and partially in the road causing the driver to stop very suddenly. The driver got out to see how Mum was and was very visibly shaken herself. Fortunately and off duty nurse stopped to help Mum and took her to A&E where she had an X-ray and was found to have an "empty shoulder". She was put under anaesthetic to replace it. More worryingly, was that she cold hardly walk but wasn't X-rayed at the time. She was given an appointment to attend fracture clinic today. She was in such agony that she went back to A&E on Monday and had an X-ray on her hip but nothing showed up she has steadily got worse and today could barely stand to get dressed. When she attended fracture clinic the doctor has admitted her and she will have an MRI/CT scan hopefully tomorrow. Right then, that's the story of what happened. We asked her what she'd fallen on and she didn't know. Se said it just looked like a puddle. My husband went to look and in fact it's a new drain which is quite low, surrounded by mud and was overflown quite deeply with water. You couldn't tell it was a drain. The drain is situated at the gate and there's only a short distance to the road. My husband thinks that at the very least there should be a rail at the pavement edge as it is at the end of a walkway.It could have been a MUCH worse accident. I'm going to try and upload some photos to show you. If a barrier SHOULD be there, then I consider the council has likely been negligent. Apparently, someone has already complained about it, but that's only 2nd hand hearsay. What I want to know is this: If my Mum claims from the council, is it likely to be successful. This is going to prevent her from driving and as my Dad is disabled, is going to change their lives dramatically. Any monetary award would enable them to take taxis etc to the shops (they live rurally) and just would not manage without my Mum being able to drive. Also if she were to make a claim, would the accident lawyers 4u type firm be suitable. Advice please would be very gratefully received.

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TonyV

I could trip on that -- if your mum wants damages then one of those no win no fee firms, they take 25% normally

horseshoes

Question Author

Thank you all again. McFluff and FF, thanks for pointing out that my photos are public! Good job I don't have any saucy ones!!! Icg, I have photos of the drain overflowing with a ruler showing he depth (about 3" deep).

tamborine

No win no fee assess the claim before taking it on; a good indication of success. Agreed compensation is paid in full to claimant & costs recovered by solicitors from defaulter.

boxtops

I agree with tambo. Go to a solicitor you know and ask if they'll do this, don't take any notice of adverts or firms who ring you up. Whatever you do, don't pay any fees up front - solicitors' fees are paid by the party found liable.

You need to get this documented a.s.a.p. so write it all down, make a folder with all your pictures and measurements, hospital details etc - it's very easy to forget details only a few days later. KEEP A COPY. When I used to deal with insurance claims, we were always told that the person who keeps an accurate immediate record of everything puts in a far clearer case that someone who's asked to recall details, weeks or even months later.

furrypusscat

Has your mum got legal cover within her home/contents insurance. We pay a bit more to have this and it paid off as I claimed against the council after falling down a loose sunken manhole cover. I tore ankle ligaments and was on crutches for 10 weeks. I also damaged clothing. My insurers put me in touch with a local solicitor and they did everything for me. It wasn't one of these Injury4you firms. My husband took photos as outlined in the post of alavahalf. It was a genuine claim and the council accepted liability. The street lighting was out even though this had been reported to them previously and which may have contributed to me falling.

boxtops

Good advice, furry - lots of home insurance comes with legal cover, but we don't always realise it if we don't need to use it!