Tripped in pothole

Mr B is a self employed window cleaner and was out carrying out his job.  On this particular day, as he crossed the road towards his next client’s house, carrying his ladders and bucket, he tripped in a pothole.  The hole was deep, around 2.5 inches and around 12 inches long.

Mr B put out his hand to try to break his fall and he badly twisted his ankle.  He was in immediate pain.

Being self employed, he needed to continue working – and did so for the rest of the day – in pain.  He thought he would be able to ‘shake it off’.  However, the pain in his ankle and wrist got worse and over the next few days he had to take a lot of pain killers to try to carry on with his normal routine.

Wrist fracture leads to time of work

After around a week, Mr B’s ankle pain got somewhat better, but his wrist, if anything, seemed to be getting worse.  He attended A & E and his wrist was x-rayed.  Whilst at the hospital he was told there was no break and to continue taking pain killers.  However, the hospital later rang him to tell him he had sustained a scaphoid fracture.  He then had a plaster cast put on his wrist, which he wore for several weeks, followed by a splint for several more weeks.  He needed quite a lot of help from his partner with general daily care.

Once he was discharged from the fracture clinic, he had to undergo physiotherapy and visit an occupational therapist.

Mr B had to take 25 weeks off work, which caused a serious loss of earnings.

Jonathan pursues council after trip in pothole

Mr B decided to take legal advice and Jonathan took up his case, pursing Blackburn and Darwen Borough Council as it was responsible for the upkeep of the road where Mr B had tripped in the pothole.

The council denied liability initially and Jonathan issued court proceedings.  The council, however, decided to settle the case before it went to court and Jonathan negotiated a settlement of £5,500.

Local authorities have a duty to maintain the public highways and if they don’t, and you have an accident due to their negligence, you may be able to claim compensation.