Claiming compensation from Highways — Drain Cover (gully grate) damage

[cool_hand]

Does anyone have any insight into claiming compensation from Highways for damage to ones bike?

Earlier in the year whilst cycling in the same road where I live my front wheel fell into the grate of a large drain cover AKA a gully grate, it jammed in the grate and then a combination of gravity and my weight destroyed the rim beyond repair. Before you say take more care this was an accident that would not of happened if the cover had a safety split in it. Most covers have a split or splits in the grate to prevent bicycle wheels being damaged. I made a claim with Hampshire Highways as I felt the grate used was a inherently dangerous and not suitable for a residential road but they responded saying that they inspected the cover and as it was not defective there was no negligence – my claim was declined. The damaged front wheel is a Mavic Aksium Rim brake. I can't be the first cyclist to have their wheels damaged by a gully grate. I'm wondering if there are directives regarding the type of grate that should be used in a residential road?

 

[Dag Hammar]

This is an interesting post, one that I shall follow just in case something similar happens to me in the future.
Maybe another member with an insight into the legalities of liability can add something ?

Not advice but just a thought….you could send the authority a “letter before action” and then make a claim in the small claims court if they still won’t pay up.
Two possible outcomes.
One is that they will pay rather than have a claim submitted against them.
Or, the danger here is that if you submit a claim and lose then you could be at risk of paying their costs.

 

[Psamathe]

I suspect it might depend on which Highways.

Some years back I made a claim against my local Highways for cycling shoes ruined due to road works (long story) but they were unquestionably in the wrong. They didn't dispute that they were in the wrong, just said "no". So eventually I said we were going to court (small claims track) to which they replied they'd be sending lawyers to agrue the case - which is daft as even if they won they'd have lost money 'cos small claims track didn't award costs.

Highways then started to blame the contractor. It wasn't contractors fault as they had complied with Highways contract - it was Highways contract that allowed the fault to happen.

In the end the contractor just sent me a cheque saying they wanted the whole thing to "go away" (clearly Highways had been putting pressure on them.

My recollection is that Highways had a general principle to refuse and defend every claim on the basis that most people claiming wouldn't persist and very few would bother to go to court and most give-up so they'd lose a few in court but get away with the vast majority.

But the above might be just my local area Highways and might have since changed as my experience was maybe 8 years ago.

 

[Psamathe]

nb. I habitually report potholes. Not so much to get them repaired as my local Highways are very very slow at acting on reports, more so that is somebody makes a claim for injury or damage caused by the fault then it is of record as having been reported and likely report not acted on.

 

[ColinJ]

nb. I habitually report potholes. Not so much to get them repaired as my local Highways are very very slow at acting on reports, more so that is somebody makes a claim for injury or damage caused by the fault then it is of record as having been reported and likely report not acted on.

I found it extremely effective to point out that I had sent a copy of my pothole report to solicitors who represent cyclists injured in accidents caused by potholes, and would make sure that they would be told about any such accidents at that location. This is what happened...

Don't forget to register the pothole at fillthathole and make a point of mentioning that fact to the council, emphasing their legal responsibility to fill the hole now that they are aware of it.

I did that for a really dangerous pothole near here. It was on a very fast downhill, on the racing line and the slope of the road was such that you couldn't see it until you were right upon it. I reported it after my mate hit it on his MTB. Its big knobbly tyres made the bike tough enough to survive the impact but it would have destroyed a roadbike wheel with catastrophic consequences for the rider...

I soon got a reply email from the council. Tellingly - they had forgotten to delete the messages from within the various council departments so I could see exactly what the reactions were as my message was forwarded from one person to another up the food chain! It went something like this: "Fred - here's another bloody pothole complaint" to "John - get someone to have a look at this when you can" to "Pete - this pothole sounds like a bad one and the guy has sent a copy to a third party so we will be up s**t creek if someone gets hurt now" to "Mick - go and fix this pothole - NOW!!!"

Within 24 hours I had an email from 'Mick'. He gave me an OS grid reference for the pothole and forwarded a photograph of his repair. He asked me to confirm that this was the one that I'd reported. Result! The repair job was done properly. I've checked it a couple of times, and it is still sound, unlike a lot of botched repairs that fail again once a few HGVs have driven over them.

It is now 17 years later. The repair was done so well that, for a change, the hole never reappeared.

 

[88robb]

Does anyone have any insight into claiming compensation from Highways for damage to ones bike?

Earlier in the year whilst cycling in the same road where I live my front wheel fell into the grate of a large drain cover AKA a gully grate, it jammed in the grate and then a combination of gravity and my weight destroyed the rim beyond repair. Before you say take more care this was an accident that would not of happened if the cover had a safety split in it. Most covers have a split or splits in the grate to prevent bicycle wheels being damaged. I made a claim with Hampshire Highways as I felt the grate used was a inherently dangerous and not suitable for a residential road but they responded saying that they inspected the cover and as it was not defective there was no negligence – my claim was declined. The damaged front wheel is a Mavic Aksium Rim brake. I can't be the first cyclist to have their wheels damaged by a gully grate. I'm wondering if there are directives regarding the type of grate that should be used in a residential road?

You need to challenge their claim of "no negligence" by arguing the grate design itself is a breach of their duty of care. Gather photos of that grate and safer ones nearby as evidence. Quote their own cycling design policies if you can find them online. Resubmit the claim with this evidence, explicitly stating the design is a foreseeable danger to cyclists. If they refuse again, threaten the small claims court they often settle to avoid the hassle.

 

[YMFB]

Does anyone have any insight into claiming compensation from Highways for damage to ones bike?

Earlier in the year whilst cycling in the same road where I live my front wheel fell into the grate of a large drain cover AKA a gully grate, it jammed in the grate and then a combination of gravity and my weight destroyed the rim beyond repair. Before you say take more care this was an accident that would not of happened if the cover had a safety split in it. Most covers have a split or splits in the grate to prevent bicycle wheels being damaged. I made a claim with Hampshire Highways as I felt the grate used was a inherently dangerous and not suitable for a residential road but they responded saying that they inspected the cover and as it was not defective there was no negligence – my claim was declined. The damaged front wheel is a Mavic Aksium Rim brake. I can't be the first cyclist to have their wheels damaged by a gully grate. I'm wondering if there are directives regarding the type of grate that should be used in a residential road?

Can you please post a photo of the grate from the direction of travel ?

 

[briantrumpet]

I found it extremely effective to point out that I had sent a copy of my pothole report to solicitors who represent cyclists injured in accidents caused by potholes, and would make sure that they would be told about any such accidents at that location. This is what happened...


It is now 17 years later. The repair was done so well that, for a change, the hole never reappeared.

If I see a bad pothole, I'll report it, including a phrase that I am concerned it might cause a serious injury to cyclists, or similar, to put the wind up them. Usually works.

 

[YMFB]

If I see a bad pothole, I'll report it, including a phrase that I am concerned it might cause a serious injury to cyclists, or similar, to put the wind up them. Usually works.

Not in Wiltshire, the only thing they seem to deal with is fly tipped rubbish. Potholes are routinely ignored, not sure about gratings and man holes, unless they are on trunk roads in which case its Highways problem.

 

[briantrumpet]

Not in Wiltshire, the only thing they seem to deal with is fly tipped rubbish. Potholes are routinely ignored, not sure about gratings and man holes, unless they are on trunk roads in which case its Highways problem.

Given they have 8000 miles of road to look after, Devon County Council do a pretty good job. (That's about a quarter of the amount for the whole of Scotland, for comparison.)

 

[cool_hand]

Can you please post a photo of the grate from the direction of travel ?

Here are some of the supporting images that were provided to Highways.
The overall size of the grate: 52 cm x 50 cm.
The size of centre grate 47 x 3 cm.
Note that the grate is next to a dropped kerb which makes the chances of the wheel falling into the grate higher.
The road and I assume the grate was built 35 years ago.

 

[ianrauk]

How did you end up with your wheel in that grate? Did you turn into the path at right angle or come off the path on to the road? It's placed in the correct way of travel.

 

[cool_hand]

I was riding up the road (direction of travel) – my bike was in the centre of the road because there are always vehicles parked on the left hand side of the road. As I was approaching the corner of the road I realised that I'd forgotten my wallet so I went to turn around not noticing there was a grate on the right hand-side. Because I was in the centre of the road I could not complete a 180 degrees without going up on to the kerb. As I said this was an accident and accidents are usually down to timing and being in the wrong place or position. In literally less than a second the front wheel aligned with the centre of the grate and then fell into the grate and jammed. This bike has toe-clips. If your bikes comes to a sudden halt then gravity takes over and pushes you either left or right. If I hadn't had my feet in the toe-clips I might of been OK but getting feet out of clips is not instantaneous. My weight against the jammed wheel buckled the wheel beyond repair. It never crossed my mind that a grate could cause damage to a bike – if it has a split in it then it won't. However, this type accident and damage could easily happen with someone riding onto the property adjacent to the grate/kerb. Placing a large open grate next to a property/dropped kerb is negligence IMO.

 

[ColinJ]

Those slots are wheel-wreckers if you cross the pavement onto the grate, but at least the slots are perpendicular to the normal direction of travel.

On one of my local rides I encountered a potentially lethal drain cover with the slots parallel to my direction of travel... and way out into the road. (I think that the road had been widened at some point.) It is on a bend just after a downhill so I was still going quite quickly when I came to it. I was looking around at the scenery so I didn't spot it until the last moment. I only just managed to avoid it!

The slots are at least divided in two by a bar across them, but I think I would still have crashed and maybe damaged my front wheel if it had got wedged in one of the slots.

 

[ianrauk]

I'm really sorry to hear of your misfortune, But I honesty can't see the council giving into this one. Perhaps take your claim to the small claim courts or to a solicitor to see what they may say. Good luck.