Bike damaged by hole in the road

[Cut_in]

Recently I upgraded my road bike for a second hand Bianchi nirone xenon, bought for £550.00. The bike was in excellent condition and rode so well. Anyway, this morning whilst riding to work I was going down a hill, the speed on my speedo was 34.2mph when I hit a hole in the road that must of appeared overnight. It wasn't a pothole, it was where the road gad been dug up for a pipe and obviously not repaired properly. It was the width length of the road and measured 6 inches wide, 4 inches deep with what appeared to be chippings as filling.

I saw it but couldn't stop in time and hit it so hard, my backend catapulted up in the air and I went over the bars. My injuries are only scrapes and bruising which is lucky but the bike is in a bad way. The frame is buckled at the back, both wheels are damaged and the handle bars, shifters and headset are ruined from where the bike continued to bounce down the hill. I have taken pictures of the hole and 3 people witnessed it, who I must thank for how amazingly they helped me, including the old guy who took me into his house to dry off, clean up and gave me a cuppa. Now my question is, can I bill the council for the damage to my bike? Because this accident is not my fault in any way.

[AndyBSG]

Can't answer it myself but there's two threads here that have similar incidents and detail claims against the council

viewtopic.php?f=7&t=78620&hilit=council+compensation
viewtopic.php?f=7&t=60883&p=517255&hilit=+council+compensation#p517255

[[XAP]Bob]

You'll need evidence of the "hole" - if it was a recent addition then the council will probably say that they couldn't have known about it - but you might be able to pursue the company who dug the road up

[sirmy]

Sounds like that could be done by a utility company and they've back filled the hole for some reason. Contact your highways authority as they should have a record of who was working at that location. If the work was in response to an emergency, gas or water leak, then it may be harder to track down those responsible.

[mjr]

Even if it's an emergency repair, I think they still have to tell the highway authority. It sounds like there should at least have been warning signs. Take photos of everything as soon as you can and don't let the swines fob you off.

[gaz]

.

[cj_6030]

I suffered the same fate 2 weeks ago. My bike came off better than I did, though still count myself very lucky. I am also thinking of suing the council. I did find some useful information regarding this type of thing at ukcyclerules.com which gives info about the law and potholes (this can include the raised surface you and I both encountered)
Good luck!

[iviehoff]

Because this accident is not my fault in any way.

I know, it seems terribly unfair, doesn't it. But, just because something is not your fault in any way, and it arises from someone else's act or omission, it doesn't follow legally that they must be responsible for it either. Even if it killed you. This is the repeated message we get from a variety of apparently outrageous cases.

In this case, if a large pothole had suddenly appeared overnight - and they can do in the heavy rains we are having at the moment - it is quite clear that you wouldn't have a legal leg to stand on: it is considered reasonable for councils to inspect periodically, and what appears in the meantime, caveat viator. When someone has trenched the road, then clearly they have to take reasonable precautions to protect road-users. But it might prove that filling the hole with gravel is considered a reasonable precaution.

I have quite often seen trenches across the road filled with chippings overnight with no signposting, more especially in the last few years. I have been outraged to see it, especially on an occasion where I encountered it, like you, on a hill where I could hit it at some speed. Fortunately I saw it in time to avoid any unpleasant outcome. But as I see it more often, I begin to wonder whether this is just something I have to put up with, and not proceed at 34.2mph unless I can see a surface anomaly of this nature in good time to avoid an accident. But I have no idea whether it is, actually, considered reasonable to do it. You'll have to go discuss it with a legal expert to find out.

[Adam S]

In this case, if a large pothole had suddenly appeared overnight - and they can do in the heavy rains we are having at the moment - it is quite clear that you wouldn't have a legal leg to stand on: it is considered reasonable for councils to inspect periodically, and what appears in the meantime, caveat viator.

I think this is reasonable. I'm not defending councils who don't bother inspecting minor roads or inspect them very infrequently, but it's hard to blame them and hold them accountable for defects they could not have been aware of. In the case of the overnight pothole, the first they will hear about it is when it's reported. If that's by a cyclist who has hit it, it's hard to see how they could have done anything to prevent the accident occurring.

Again, I'm not defending the pothole-strewn state of some roads but we cannot expect to always find a perfect road surface. It isn't just potholes either, leaves, mud, manure, ice, puddles, branches (even trees!) can be hazards in the road. I think you're right, our speed needs to be one at which we can react to such hazards. That may not always be possible depending on the visibility of the hazard but it's better than full speed and blind faith

[yakdiver]

I didn't get sod all when I hit a pot hole did £50 worth of damage to the bike

[iviehoff]

In this case, if a large pothole had suddenly appeared overnight - and they can do in the heavy rains we are having at the moment - it is quite clear that you wouldn't have a legal leg to stand on: it is considered reasonable for councils to inspect periodically, and what appears in the meantime, caveat viator.

I think this is reasonable. I'm not defending councils who don't bother inspecting minor roads or inspect them very infrequently, but it's hard to blame them and hold them accountable for defects they could not have been aware of. In the case of the overnight pothole, the first they will hear about it is when it's reported. If that's by a cyclist who has hit it, it's hard to see how they could have done anything to prevent the accident occurring.

My own attitude depends on something which is rather hard to express legally, namely the degree of care the council has taken to prevent said large holes appearing. There's a section of road I use which is in a terrible state, and potholes open up or enlarge after every hard rainfall. They come around and fix them each spring, and the amount of fixing they have to do increases each year. Unfortunately this road has a fundamental underlying problem - it overlies an old concrete block road - and you can't just bring a road-planer along and resurface it.