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news
pot hole.jpgTeam Sky manager Fran Millar wins pothole claim against Oldham Council for broken cheek, jaw, fingers & missing teeth
Fran Millar, head of business operations for Team Sky and sister of Garmin-Sharp pro ride David Millar, has successfully claimed for compensation against against Oldham Council after hitting a pothole left her with a broken cheek, jaw, fingers and missing teeth.
Fran was was riding along Oldham High Street on 1 May 2010 when she swerved to miss a pothole in the road. But as she tried to avoid one pothole, she rode into an even larger one caused by previous roadworks.
She was thrown from her bike, landed heavily on her face and hand and was knocked unconscious. Witnesses to the crash helped Fran and she was taken to hospital where medics found extensive injuries to her face and hands.
Through her British Cycling membership Fran Millar’s case was taken up by Penny Knight of law firm Leigh Day. Penny successfully obtained damages from Oldham Council to compensate Fran for time off work, her injuries and the damage to her bike.
The amount of Fran's compensation is confidential, but similar cases in the last few years have resulted in four-figure pay-outs. In 2009 Ian Davis was paid £7,600 by West Berkshire County Council after he hit a pothole and sustained broken ribs, a dislocated shoulder, and hip and knee injuries. In 2010, Kenneth Atkinson received an out-of-court settlement of more than £6,000 from Kent County Council for a badly dislocated shoulder.
Fran is back on her bike and this summer rode the 198km Etape du Tour.
“I feel extremely lucky to be back on my bike again with both my physical and mental scars healed or healing,” she said.
“A crash like this happens so suddenly it can shake your entire confidence on the bike, one minute you are cycling along the next you’re being wheeled into an accident and emergency department.
“More people need to be encouraged to ride their bikes. We are now a cycling nation and councils must make sure that we can all enjoy the road safely. Had I not hit the pothole caused by these road works I would have been forced out into the road into the path of motorists. Having safe roads benefits everyone.”
Penny Knight said: “It was clear that the damage to the road, which caused this crash, was a result of poor resurfacing after the road had been dug up by the council for works to underground pipes.
“We all pay for the upkeep of the roads through our council tax and income tax, councils therefore have an obligation to ensure all roads are suitable and safe for all users.”
If you encounter a dangerous pothole - and is there any other kind - we recommend using the CTC's Fill That Hole tool to report it.
John has been writing about bikes and cycling for over 30 years since discovering that people were mug enough to pay him for it rather than expecting him to do an honest day's work.
He was heavily involved in the mountain bike boom of the late 1980s as a racer, team manager and race promoter, and that led to writing for Mountain Biking UK magazine shortly after its inception. He got the gig by phoning up the editor and telling him the magazine was rubbish and he could do better. Rather than telling him to get lost, MBUK editor Tym Manley called John’s bluff and the rest is history.
Since then he has worked on MTB Pro magazine and was editor of Maximum Mountain Bike and Australian Mountain Bike magazines, before switching to the web in 2000 to work for CyclingNews.com. Along with road.cc founder Tony Farrelly, John was on the launch team for BikeRadar.com and subsequently became editor in chief of Future Publishing’s group of cycling magazines and websites, including Cycling Plus, MBUK, What Mountain Bike and Procycling.
John has also written for Cyclist magazine, edited the BikeMagic website and was founding editor of TotalWomensCycling.com before handing over to someone far more representative of the site's main audience.
He joined road.cc in 2013. He lives in Cambridge where the lack of hills is more than made up for by the headwinds.
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25 comments
'You are implying the one in question was that size'
just the size? not the shape/location/fact that it is surrounded by cones and full of bin bags? Even though the caption doesn't specify that the one she fell into didn't have cones around it and lots of rubbish inside it?
I put it to you, sir, that you don't know what you're on about.
The state of our roads is really getting poor in many areas and this sort of story is symptomatic of this. I fully support Fran is taking legal action; it seems that hitting our local authorities in the pocket may be the only way to get through to them about the poor state of our highways.
I rode out for about 40 miles yesterday and I would estimate that at least a quarter of the tarmac that I covered was in a less-than-ideal state with a good deal of sections being downright dangerous.
It is misrepresenting the facts to show an enormous pothole with the story when you don't have a picture of the real one. You are implying the one in question was that size, otherwise why have a photo in the first place.
The compensation on offer is a slap in the face when you look at the payments received for criminal injuries.
I got 2k for a broken finger when i was kicked in the hand bya s**thead yet Fran Millar gets a few grand more for extensive broken bones, loss of teeth and damage to her bike which i reckon would be a dogs bollocks bike.
It stinks, it really does. Its about time there was an overhaul of the compen laws so in instances like this the person gets properly renumerated.
The sum is undisclosed though isn't it? I wondered if it might be rather significant, maybe £10-20k.
Reckon you're right about the bike though. Her twitter profile pic is of her name on a black top tube, complete with the thin blue line along the top, so it might even be team spec.
There's a huge difference between 'not good practice' and 'misrepresenting the facts'.
You might not andyp, but most people do. That's why newspapers, magazines and a minority of websites use (or when they are doing it right anyway) relevant pictures of the actual events they are writing about. They spend a lot of time of money buying and researching these pictures. I can understand websites that maybe don't have big budgets not being able to get hold of the right pictures, but just randomly putting any picture they have up to accompany the story isn't good practice.
'Andyp you do link them in your mind regardless of what the caption says'
no, I really don't. You might, I guess. I don't.
Andyp you do link them in your mind regardless of what the caption says. It's lazy journalism.
That's actually a picture of Wookey Hole Caves, you can see the witches hat poking out
'Is pot hole.jpg the actual pot hole or is this just random stock pic selection?? That's quite a big pot hole and if that isn't it then you are misrepresenting the facts of this story'
Surely only if the caption of the photo states 'this is the actual pothole which caused the crash'? It's only your mind which is linking the two...
Ghedebrav: 'Delph, Diggle & Dobcross. Not just silly names, but rather nice places in Oldham'
*NEAR* Oldham, thank you. Not *in* Oldham. Honestly. You just caused my house price to plummet.
I saw Fran in Uppermill Police Station a day or so after her crash, picking up her bike. Jeez she looked a mess.
The important question: was she wearing a full-face, MX/MTB/motorcycle style helmet?
You've clearly not seen the "After" photo then?
It's on her twitter - @FranMillar - if you want to grim yerself out a bit.
And was she wearing hi-vis? Perhaps the pothole didn't see her.
@Mike_B: outrageous, I agree. You should demand a refund. Oh, wait.
Councils are cutting corners but the increased costs that result are higher insurance premiums which idiot councilors can deflect by ranting about compensation culture. If they did their jobs blamelessly, there would be noclaims!
So if a council pays compensation for injuries arising from hitting a pothole, what about when someone dies? http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-24160361
Is pot hole.jpg the actual pot hole or is this just random stock pic selection?? That's quite a big pot hole and if that isn't it then you are misrepresenting the facts of this story
Good for her.
The big question however is WTF was a delicate flower such as Fran Millar doing in Oldham!?!?!?!
Nobody goes to Oldham out of choice.
Delph, Diggle & Dobcross. Not just silly names, but rather nice places in Oldham
“We all pay for the upkeep of the roads through our council tax and income tax, councils therefore have an obligation to ensure all roads are suitable and safe for all users”
Does that mean we all pay for dodgy, and in this case not so dodgy, compensation claims through our council tax as well? Thanks a bunch.
maybe a good time to press your local council for keeping the roads in tip top condition?
I would imagine that it is paid out by the council's public liability insurance.
"Does that mean we all pay for dodgy, and in this case not so dodgy, compensation claims through our council tax as well? Thanks a bunch."
Yes, unfortunately our council tax is routinely used to compensate people due to the poor work of contractors.