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Should I sue Hackney Council?

pockettiger

Posted by pockettiger about 1 year ago
Last active about 1 year ago 7 responses

I recently came off my bicycle coming round the corner from Reading Lane onto Mare Street by Hackney town hall. There are some roadworks there and my back wheel skidded out on gravel and oil left in the road. My bike needed minor repairs and I have an impresive hole in my chin, ‘minor lacerations’ (glued up by a nice lady at Homerton A&E) and have ruined my favourite leather gloves (much preferable to my hands, obviously).

I am a believer that accidents happen and I will mend, but friends say that if I don’t make a fuss then the company responsible will get away with it and more cyclists will suffer my fate.

What do LbLers think?

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7 responses

JamieKeddie

Well you dont have to suit them – just let them know it happened, and explain that you are concerned for other road users. As a cyclist myself, I am frequently being told I should take more care on London’s roads, but this sort of thing is entirely avoidable if the road workers were a wee bit more careful.

Posted about 1 year ago by JamieKeddie

pockettiger

How easy it sounds! I called ‘Streetscene’ as advised by Hackney Council switchboard every spare moment for the last week, (all our staff are busy on other calls, you are held in a queue…) until finally a bored lady said she would ‘let them know’, although she expected that it had been cleared up all ready. (If anyone passes, please have a glance and let me know – not too closely, obviously, in case bits of my chin are still there).

Posted about 1 year ago by pockettiger

salope

Hmmm, the point isn’t that the patch is now cleared up is it? It’s that you weren’t warned about its presence. Having said that, trust me, suing them would be far more painful, not to mention long drawn out, than coming off your bike! It’s a horrible, stressful process and to be honest it sounds like, fortunately, you weren’t too badly hurt. Different if you suffered serious injury or any loss of earnings as a result – maybe speak to your local CAB/Law Centre if so and they can advise you properly. If you can’t be bothered then write the Council a letter informing them about what happened, in the name of civic responsibility, and send them a photo of your injured chin. At least it might alert them to the problem and make sure they put up proper warning signs in future.

Posted about 1 year ago by salope

drunkenbridesmaid

Sue them for what, exactly? It’s roadworks—that’s where you find things like oil and gravel and men in the road and machines and barriers and holes and stuff. In order to win a lawsuit you have to prove negligence. Slipping on a bit of gravel doesn’t count. Had you flown into a 7 foot hole that didn’t have a guard around it, you might have a case.

Posted about 1 year ago by drunkenbridesmaid

My_Left_Foot

Sorry to hear about your chin, pockettiger… I haven’t got much to add on that – particularly as it’s 20 days since you first posted, but as salope says, there’s very little point in taking legal action unless you suffered serious injury or loss of earnings, and it sounds like you (commendably, I reckon) are not into US-style litigious “suing because someone must pay”. It sounds like you just want to make sure there’s a greater incentive in future for contractors doing stuff like this to be more thoughtful. Which brings me on to why I’m posting…

I’m not sure if it applies to your oil and gravel situation, but the CTC have just launched a national Pot-Hole reporting website. Full details at http://www.ctc.org.uk/DesktopDefault.aspx?TabID=4772 but the idea is nicely double-edged. It’s partly to help local authorities know where the pot-holes are so they can fix them quicker, and partly because as soon as the relevant local authority has been made aware of a pot-hole in their area, it then has a duty to take action, and can’t carry on claiming ignorance and innocence. The cyclist doing the reporting just has to go to the one website, and doesn’t need to know even which local authority to make a report to, let alone what the appropriate reporting procedure is – that’s all taken care of automatically.

Please pass this info on to other cyclists!

Posted about 1 year ago by My_Left_Foot

tallpaul

You can claim against insurance without suing. My dad used to do this if he came off because of a pothole. Apparently there is a certain depth beyond which they are liable, ditto wonky paving. It might be harder in you’re case , though.

Posted about 1 year ago by tallpaul

Karlos

I know the ‘no win no fee’ companies are scum, but they will know if there’s a case there – as far as i know, you just give them the details and they do the rest… about time to get money back from the thieving councils. regarding insurance – who’s insurance?! maybe you have some, but in 9 out of 10 cases they do their best NOT to pay out!

Posted about 1 year ago by Karlos