My 80 yr old mum had an accident and tripped on a pot hole in the road - Pot Hole compensation

[Relznik]

My 80 yr old mum had an accident and tripped on a pot hole in the road.

 

She dislocated her shoulder and her knee and broke her hip - which required surgery.

 

At the time of the accident, the paramedics told her she should sue the council!

They have given us the CAD number etc should we wish to use it as evidence.

We also have photographs of the pot hole (which is 2" deep).

 

How do we go about this, without using 'no win no fee' solicitors, who take a huge chunk of commission?

 

We're not the sort of people who would usually take the 'where there's blame there's a claim' approach, but my mum is going to need additional help and it's going to be a long, painful recovery.

 

I think it's only right that she should look into some compensation.

 

Thanks for any advice.

[dx100uk]

why have you not already simply contacted the council yourself? you have the incident number,

they'll know what to do.

you dont need a solicitor.

how long ago was this?

 

[Relznik]

It happened very recently.

I have no idea how these things 'work'.  I thought you needed a solicitor. 

[dx100uk]

talk to the council, i bet they get 100's of pothole claims everyweek .

you dont need to know how things work, you can research that as you go along. and you most certainly do not need a solicitor or NWNF scammers.

the council phone receptionist will know who to put you through too.

 

[Relznik]

Thank you.

[Homer67]

This will only have legs (no pun intended) if the pothole has been previously reported and is above a specific size and the Council have failed to act in a timely manner.

Don't expect the Council to be truthful on either account.

Ambulance crews are not legal experts, I suspect they were just being sympathetic.

Edited June 14, 2023 by Homer67
added info

[Relznik]

Thank you. 

There are markings around the pot hole (old - they've faded) so the council did know about them.  But they hadn't been filled in.

[Kyosanto]

Surely you should first try and get compensation directly from the council. Get a good idea of what you expect from them, document it, and ask them.

If they say no or you're not happy with what they have to offer, then you can start thinking about suing them.