Settlement for injury caused by defective manhole cover

Levenes have settled a claim for a lady who stepped on to a manhole cover on the pavement. The cover tipped and her leg went down into the hole. She fell and suffered injury.

There was little doubt that whoever was responsible for maintenance of the pavement and the manhole cover would be liable for failing to maintain.

Who is responsible?

The law places the duty for maintaining the highway on the local council and they have the primary responsibility. However, in addition to the local council, other organisations are likely to be responsible.

The pavement was on what appeared to be the public highway, but the local council denied that they were responsible.

The road served a large Tesco superstore car park. Images on Google Street View helped to some extent but not as much as a site visit would have done, because although Google Street View is a great tool that we use all the time, it was only with a site visit that the position became much clearer. On Google, the location looked like the public highway but in fact it was private land.

As is now very common, when the Tesco Store was built, the council required Tesco to construct and maintain the road that led from the highway to the store.

Make a manhole cover accident claim

The claim was made against Tesco Stores who admitted liability, but they made a very low offer and so proceedings had to be issued, but soon after the issue of proceedings, settlement was negotiated for over 4 times as much as Tesco had first offered.

The claimant was represented by Ewa Kosim, Paralegal and Tim Beasley, Partner.

When the case was concluded, the client stated: ‘Couldn’t recommend enough. Very professional team who fully understand you, and keep you updated at all process. Very huge thanks to Ewa and Tim for dealing with my case. They will help you on every step, explain the whole process, tell you how much time it takes. My little advice – it’s worth to wait longer and follow their advice as everything they are doing – they are doing it to deal with your case the best as they can.’

Legal help for serious injury compensation claims

Our specialised lawyers can help accident victims recover their compensation. You will need expert advice on what actions can be taken to obtain accident compensation. You can trust the experience and expertise of our team of professional serious injury solicitors to win the maximum amount you are entitled to.

Sometimes it is not obvious whom the claim can be made against. With Levenes, you can expect us to investigate all possibilities to try to achieve the right result. Sometimes this means having to issue proceedings to get a fair result for our clients.

You can trust in the experience and knowledge of our team of professional injury lawyers to ensure that you receive the maximum amount of compensation that you are entitled to.

Get in touch today and find out within 1 hour if you have a claim. Call us on 0800 048 2355 or request a call back now.