pedestrian accident on unadopted highway/private road

As a friend of mine this week fell and broke her wrist on an unadopted road so I have been looking at what her rights are in compensation and who off.

What a minefield .
The highways Act of 1980 section 230 in simple terms states that the county council is not responsible for compensation it is the house frontages that are.

All the council can do from what I understand is send an inforcement letter to each householder requesting the said highway is brought up to council standards or at least making it safe for passing traffic, be it on foot or car.they can set a time limit on it or the council may carry out suitable repairs and send the bill to the houses that have fronts on it.

Quote in part
230 Urgent repairs to private streets.
(1)Where repairs are needed to obviate danger to traffic in a private street the street works authority may by notice require the owners of the premises fronting the street to execute, within such time as may be specified in the notice, such repairs as may be so specified.



Adopted highway is a totally different thing and the council are liable.

Re: pedestrian accident on unadopted highway/private road

Have I got this right, she broke her wrist on the road, so someone else is at fault?

Re: pedestrian accident on unadopted highway/private road

How do you define whose fault?

Was it hers for walking down an unadopted road, or the road frontage properties not maintaining the unadopted road for which they are responsible to a reasonable standard, for pedestrians and vehicles to have a safe passage?

I have not seen the place where it happened yet so can't comment, but I have been asked to take photos which I will do tomorrow hopefully.

have quickly looked through the legislation it does admit the law is a minefield even for solicitors and each case has to be considered on its merits

All I have advised her to do is to notify the county council of the accident with relevent details.
Then it is up to the county council if they want to investigate further

there is no whose right or who is wrong there are arguements on both sides

Re: pedestrian accident on unadopted highway/private road

Do you need permission to use a "Private" Road?

What does the word "Private" mean in this case?

If somebody climbs into my garden, am I responsible for their safety?

Re: pedestrian accident on unadopted highway/private road

I am talking about private roads or unadopted roads not about private individual property.
So what you are asking is an entirely different matter and really should be on another thread Sorry

The trespass laws come under a different catagory

Re: pedestrian accident on unadopted highway/private road

I could be wrong ... it was a few years ago ... but I nearly bought a house that had an unadopted 'private' road so asked my solicitor to explain the pitfalls to me.

That's to say .. there were no street lights or road markings and maintenance was the responsibility of the property or properties that jointly owned the private access road. Council's rarely get involved.

She will have to sue the homeowners .. once proper ownership/liability has been confirmed by referring to the house deeds.
In reality it's pretty much the same as suing someone for compensation because you tripped over walking up their garden path.

Complications will arise if it is a road owned by a few people.

Re: pedestrian accident on unadopted highway/private road

It wouldn't surprise me at all.

In my logic, if someone enters your private property without invitation they are trespassing and, not only should they be liable to pay compensation for any damage or inconvenience to the owner, they should have no claim on the owner for any harm that happens to them.

Needless to say, my logic is based on common sense. Sadly, it seems that the law in this country is skewed in favour of the wrongdoer: trespasser or criminal. Such people appear to benefit from 'human rights' which never seem to apply to victims.

Re: pedestrian accident on unadopted highway/private road

Rather worrying isn't it? The postman and anyone delivering to my door effectively have my permission to enter my property, so if they trip on my path, am I liable to pay compensation, even if if is properly maintained?

I think we have some sort of third party cover on our house insurance. Perhaps I should check!

Re: pedestrian accident on unadopted highway/private road

Morticia
You are correct in what you say as in my original post.

JBR
trespass laws are not what most think from what I understand anyway. Trespass only occurs if damage has been done to the property, like forcing a locked gate open.

Anything else comes under intruder again not lawful but slightly different

Re: pedestrian accident on unadopted highway/private road

I would suspect your home insurance would cover that but worth checking small print just incase and the amount of cover £ wise.

When we had the boarding kennels we spent a large amount of money on different insurances one of which was third party liability. This ment that should something happen to cause injury to a client ,either by a fall or dog bite, we were well covered.