Hedge cutting and cleaning up afterwards?

eirator

The scenario is this, council gets a contractor to flail mow a massive 20ft high hedge that is growing over onto the verge, no clearing up is done and the verge is left covered in long lengths of hedge cuttings and the road is of course covered in smaller debris from the flailing.

Now a few weeks later with the verge still a mess add in a dog walker who moves onto the verge to let a car pass and without realising it gets feet caught in long lengths of hedge trimmings so when they go to move off they fall flat on their face on the road. If the dog walker ends up in casualty needing 3 stitches in face and has to go back to the doctors to check for gravel stuck in hands and wrists do the council have any liability?

In this scenario I don't think anyone is looking to make a claim but I suspect they would like the council to take note and in extreme cases where hedge cutting once every 20 years results in a massive amount of material left behind picking up the thicker material that forms a trip hazard for anyone attempting to walk on the verge.

Victor

We can't offer legal advice - all parties in such a situation would be advised to take legal advice.

There is a risk that the council or their contractor have a problem as this was an active action that was carried out, not something that developed by itself. Councils have a higher level of responsibility for malfeasance / misfeasance than for nonfeasance.

NUTLEY BOY

On a general point of principle there is a fairly strict liability where a danger is created in the highway and that includes the footpath.

eirator

Thanks Victor, I don't think anyone is looking for legal advice or going to court, life's too short and legal advice far too expensive. But I think the injured party would like to think that they aren't doing anything wrong in other people eyes by pursuing the council up to the point where they at least admit they did the work, when they did it, why they did it and that it should have been cleaned up a bit better.

From what I have heard enquiries to the council concerned have so far gone along the lines of, we don't cut hedges (anywhere ever), we didn't cut that hedge, the owner must have cut it, its not our area so not our problem, if we did cut the hedge it was before the 1st of March, it was cut this month April, I photographed it happening because I was annoyed it was done out of season.

eirator

NUTLEY BOY wrote: »

On a general point of principle there is a fairly strict liability where a danger is created in the highway and that includes the footpath.

Does that rely on how you define a footpath, in this case we are talking of an L road thats about 8ft wide with at best a very rough grass verge. What verge there is was only kept down by cars going up on it to pass. There is now a much greater length of "verge" but instead of having a verge covered in brambles over hung by massive hedge there is a verge of bramble "stubble" covered in hedge cuttings.