12″ x 20″ x 3″ hole in Manor Field that has now been filled

It was about 10.30 in the evening, and therefore dark.  The boy and his father were walking their dog.  As he pointed out a green light in the distance to his father, the boy tripped and hit his face on the ground.  His father helped him up.  Blood poured from his mouth and his wrist was hurting.  The boy’s father noticed a hole in the path that looked like it had not been filled in after excavation works.   He took photographs.

Boy tripped and broke finger and teeth

They walked home and the boy’s sister, who works at Northern General Hospital and for St Johns Ambulance, cleaned up his injuries and took him to hospital. X-rays confirmed that the boy had broken his finger but had not broken his jaw, although he had damaged his teeth.  His hand was put in a plaster cast and returned to hospital the next day for further treatment.  He also had to attend Charles Clifford Hospital where he had a temporary filling.

The boy’s father reported the accident and the pot hole to Sheffield City Council and took some more photographs.

The boy had his finger in a splint for about 3 weeks, and whilst it healed fairly quickly, he has been left with some stiffness in the finger.  He has also had to attend Charles Clifford Dental Hospital and his own dentist a few times to repair a broken tooth and attend other loose teeth.  Further treatment will be required in due course.

Jonathan West

Jonathan pursues four defendants who blame each other

The boy’s father contacted Graysons and Jonathan took up the case.  The case was complex as Jon had to work out who was responsible.  Sheffield City Council owned the land, but it denied liability on the basis that maintenance work had been carried out by YEDL (now Northern Powergrid).  YEDL claimed the reinstatement work had been carried out by Keir – who in turn suggested that it was actually YEDL, or its contractors, who had caused the damage.  YEDL would not accept this and then advised that Morrison Utility Services Ltd had carried out lighting work there and the matter should there be pursued with that company.  This company also denied liability.  Jon made vigorous efforts to settle the case but all of the defendants were blaming each other.  Jon took a barrister’s opinion and issued court proceedings against Sheffield City Council.  SCC insisted that liability lay with Kier and brought the firm into the proceedings.  Both eventually settled the claim for £5,000.

If you have slipped or tripped and been injured and you would like to know if you are able to claim compensation, please contact our experts now for a confidential discussion.  You can also find out more about making a personal injury claim for slips and trips on our web pages.