Ms W was walking along the pavement when she tripped over a raised water meter cover. When she fell, she suffered an injury to her elbow, knee, chest and foot.
Ms W contacted Graysons to see if she could claim compensation and Tracey took up her case.
Raised water meter cover not found by pre-accident inspection
The pavement is maintained by Derbyshire County Council. Tracey contacted the council, but it maintained that it had undertaken a pre-accident inspection just three weeks before Ms W’s injury and it denied liability. Tracey did not accept the council’s defence as it seemed more likely, that due to the state of the defect when Ms W fell, it must have existed and not noticed by the inspector – which Tracey said was due to a lack of care in the inspection.
Council settled case after court proceedings issued
Tracey issued court proceedings and the case was due to be heard in court between February and March 2018. Before the case went to court, the council made an offer to settle the case, but it was not acceptable. However, Tracey was then able to negotiate a settlement of £3,000 without the need to go to court.
Ms W was very happy with the outcome, sending her thanks to Tracey, who, she says ‘handled the case professionally’.
If you have had an accident in a public place and you think it was not your fault, contact our experts now for a free of charge meeting in which we can advise on the prospects of recovering compensation. You can also find out more about claiming compensation for these accidents on our web pages.