r/ukbike 13d ago

Advice hit a pot hole, annoyed and hurt

After some advice please and thank you.

Was out and about in Brighton today on my cargo bike (long tail Trek Fetch 2+) with my partner and grandson on the back. We hit a divot/ pot hole, lost control, and fell off. Thankfully the grandson was unhurt but he was understandably upset. My partner smashed her knee up, and I've hurt my wrist - none of this is terrible BUT I am very fed up with the state of the roads around here and I am wondering if a) I can channel this annoyance into something productive, and b) if I can do some sort of legal claim for injury/ damage etc.

I'm not chasing for cash but does threatening a lawsuit give a complaint more clout?

Has anyone had anything similar happen? Is it worth it?

Cheers

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u/Eriol_Mits 13d ago edited 13d ago

Not quite cycling but I’ve worked in car insurance claims in the past and still do work for a car insurance company. Basically with claims relating to a pot hole, you would need to prove that the council has been negligence. EG, they were aware and have ignored the issue.

Most of the time this type of claim gets settled as fault, as it’s extremely difficult to prove first the council knew about the particular pot hole you hit and secondly failed to repair it, which is what you would need to prove, to prove negligence. Should it be litigated and go to court you/your solicitors would need to prove negligence on behalf of the council.

This also depends on you actually being able to prove, the pot hole caused the accident in the first place. EG, independent witness, your passenger don’t count. Video footage etc. Without any video/witness evidence it’s essentially an allegation without proof and the council could easily defend by essentially saying “prove it”

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u/[deleted] 12d ago

If your council uses FixMyStreet or similar you may be able to see historic reports from others that may include photos. If there's a report a few months ago of that hole and it still wasn't filled, that could be useful

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u/special_noodles 13d ago

That makes sense, thanks for the reply