Posted By John Holland1 Letter from a local paper While walking home from St Albans city centre last Thursday with my disbled mother who was using her mobility scooter, my mother had a minor accident. We had been walking on the right hand side when we encountered works on the pavement between numbers 50 and 54 which were being carried out by a well known contractor. There were barriers around the works and large yellow plastic cover which was used to cover a hole in the pavement. This cover was laid on an angle as it was on a sloping part of the hill and as my mother attempted to drive over this cover on her scooter the cover moved under it and the rear wheel fell into the hole beneath. This caused her scotter to suddnely lurch and she wrenched her wrist and jarred her hip. She was very shaken and upset by this incident. I called the well known contractor on the number listed on the sign by the works and informed them of what had happened and asked them why the cover had not been more secure. I then received a call later stating that there was no legal requirement to secure the crossover and that the cover moved due to the wether conditions and that was the reason why my mothere got injured. Surely the well known contractor has an obligation to the public under the Health and Safety at Work act?

Posted By JEFFREY SMITH ooh, I feel a claim coming their way from your mother. Problem with big business, fob the plebs off and they'll go away. Unfortunately, they picked on you...

Posted By Descarte Is this not like saying, eg. Metal steps, slippery when wet. Person slips Contractor excuse, "it was the weathers fault, not mine"?

Posted By Kev S Hi, The well known contractor is breach the HSWA 1974 s3(1) Failing to ensure the safety of non-employees. I have not looked into it to deeply but this one breach jumped out at me and has been used to carry out prosecutions against companies in the past. Can I just add something at this point, in general I have felt that the standard of traffic/perdestrian management around street works has sliped recently in my area Greater Manchester and Warrington. The cordoning around openings is often poorly erected with dirt covering any reflective markings, large deep holes are left in the road protected by just plastic cordoning which on a Monday morning is often found down the hole (I suspect) due to giddy drunks on a Sunday evening! Surely adequate edge protection and or coverings should be in place where there is a hole that has the potential to cause serious harm?