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01.10.08 Rambler wins £3,000 following
bridge accident
Birgit Green was walking through a nature reserve in
east Sussex when part of an ageing bridge collapsed
beneath her. She claimed the bridge, which was on a
public footpath, was “fundamentally unsafe”, and sued
the east Sussex County Council for
personal injury compensation.
She won £3,000. Following injuries to her second and
third metatarsals, shin and groin, Mrs Green was (she
claimed) wheelchair-bound for some time and was unable
to continue her rambling pursuits for nine months.
She said she would have suffered greater injury had her
fall not been broken
by a protruding nail, which snagged her rucksack. The
Council contested the claim.
It said Rights of Way Officers had inspected the
bridge in the preceding months and had found it safe and
in reasonable condition.
In a statement, the Council said “the claimant could
and should have spotted the hole and stepped over it”.
A week following the accident, the Council re-decked the
bridge and fitted new handrails as a matter of
“efficiency and good practice”. The bridge is in the
Combe Haven Valley Nature Reserve in Hasting, a Site of
Special Scientific Interest and an area popular with
families and children.
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APIL support new Bill allowing workers to claim from
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17th March 2009
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