Obstruction in the road claim
I was riding into Sheffield on my R1 in the summer and entered a roundabout. I suddenly spotted a pallet in the road ahead of me. I swerved to avoid it but came off and broke my wrist and dislocated my shoulder. A witness took photos of the pallet and gave them to the police. It had the name/delivery address of a construction company on it with a dispatch date 2 days before. The construction company say its not their fault and it wasn’t left in the road by them. I don’t believe them but how can I prove my case?
Rambo, by e-mail
Answer
Your solicitor needs to get disclosure of documents from the construction company confirming what jobs they were working on and whether they used anyone to remove building materials such as a skip company. If they had a job which involved them or an agent such as a skip company using the roundabout you came off on, then a court will likely find that it was left by them or their agent.
If they and their agents were nowhere near the vicinity then the court is likely to accept that someone else deposited the pallet which may have been used by other tradesmen. I would get the disclosure before deciding on next steps. As a backstop you should get a claim submitted to the Motor Insurers’ Bureau in case it turns out the road user responsible remains untraced and then they should compensate you in the event you fail against the construction company.
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