Hi Jason
First of all sorry to hear about your accident. Despite the fact that the Highways Authority have denied liability for your accident based on documented logs there are arguments that will assist you with your claim. You have been very diligent in asking residents regarding their opinion on the defect and the amount of time it has been there. If indeed the matter was also reported to the council then my strong suggestion is that you get your solicitors to take full and detailed witness statements from these residents for the purposes of disproving the defence.
Whilst we can never state that the inspecitons did not take place, as obviously there are logs to confirm that they were, the argument would be that they were not undertaken with the due care required so as to identify the risks. One very important thing to check is whether the inspections were by foot or by car. If by car it can be argued that parked cars, litter and othe such obstacles clearly obscured the view of the inspector. If walked, then he clearly failed to identify a dangerous defect as being such and therefore was negligent. You state that the defect appears on a log but was not repaired. Was this before or after the accident? If before, again this is your chance for breaking the defence if after is the defect still there? If so again they have failed to act on thier own systems.
The most important asset to your cliam however will be the witnesses try and tie them up accordingly and disclose their evidence. Your solicitors will want to do this so as to protect the amount of costs they have put in so far a little more will not hurt.
I hope this assists.
Kind Regards
Matthew Waterfield
INJURY LAWYERS UK LTD
0800 1123 156
www.freeinjuryclaim.com
