Karen O’Sullivan considers when a local authority is liable for a lapse in its statutory powers to maintain the highway
How easy is it to sue a Highway Authority for failing to maintain a highway when the failure doesn’t relate to the road or pavement surface? Past authorities have (as was acknowledged by the House of Lords) created some confusion as to the extent, if at all, a local authority is liable to a road-user for breach of statutory duty. This came up for substantial discussion in the recent decision of Yetkin v London Borough of Newham [2010] All ER (D) 118 (Jul) where the Court of Appeal considered the House of Lords’ decision of Gorringe v Calderdale MBC [2004] All ER (D) 06 (Apr).
In Gorringe the claimant approached the crest of a hill where the road narrowed. She was driving too fast and collided with an oncoming bus, causing horrific injury. She sued the local authority for its failure to exercise its statutory powers under s 39(2) of the Road Traffic Act 1988 and to erect signage to warn of the danger of
