{"id":14194,"date":"2013-11-06T12:12:06","date_gmt":"2013-11-06T12:12:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theinjurylawyers.co.uk\/injury-lawyers-blog\/?p=14194"},"modified":"2013-11-06T12:12:06","modified_gmt":"2013-11-06T12:12:06","slug":"fallen-because-of-a-large-pothole-injury-lawyers-advice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theinjurylawyers.co.uk\/injury-lawyers-blog\/2013\/11\/06\/fallen-because-of-a-large-pothole-injury-lawyers-advice\/","title":{"rendered":"Fallen because of a Large Pothole? Injury Lawyers Advice"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"potholes\"As the weather gets colder and colder, more and more potholes are likely to appear over the coming months. Some can spring up in such a short time and can grow to a fairly large size in a short period of time as well.<\/p>\n

You may have heard of, or understand, the concept that a pothole has to be of a certain size in order to make a claim for personal injury compensation. This is true – Section 41 of the Highways Act<\/strong> says that those responsible for an area only need to take action if a defect is deemed to be of a reasonable danger. What’s classed as reasonable is a grey area, and most lawyers use the “one inch rule<\/strong>” to say that the defect has to be of at least one inch in depth \/ height to have a good chance of succeeding.
\n<\/p>\n

So what happens if you trip and fall due to a monstrosity of a pothole in the road? I’m talking maybe six or more inches in depth, and a huge width as well? Do you have a better shot at winning the claim because it’s bigger? Or would it be harder because you should have seen such a huge hole in the road?<\/p>\n

Where you stand<\/strong><\/p>\n

In reality, the fact that the pothole is huge doesn’t necessarily give you any better or worse shot at winning a claim for personal injury compensation. \u00a0The minimum size rule will apply for whether the council or a highways authority ought to have taken steps; but just because it’s massive doesn’t mean you have a better chance of winning. On the issue of whether you should have seen it, that isn’t normally an issue. You can’t be expected to look at your feet all the time or you’d be liable to walk in to street furniture and things in front of you. There is case law that supports that.<\/p>\n

Whether you can win the claim or not still comes down to the same old thing – Section 58 of the Highways Act 1980. This says that whoever is in charge of the area has to have a reasonable system of inspection and maintenance<\/strong> when it comes to preventing defects on the highway. That word reasonable<\/em> is used again – which makes it a totally grey area.<\/p>\n

But to put it in to perspective for you:<\/p>\n