Injured UK holidaymaker awarded €20,000 for pavement-hole accident

A British holidaymaker who was seriously injured in 2001 when he walked into an unmarked hole in a pavement has been awarded over €20,000 in compensation.

Gary Kimber had been out for a stroll in Bugibba with his wife in September when he had fallen into the hole in the pavement outside the San Antonio Hotel, which had been dug as part of works being carried out by the local council.

Relatives had taken Kimber to hospital where he was certified as having suffered grievous injury to his shoulder. He filed for damages against both hotel and local council in 2005.

A representative of the hotel had told judge Anna Felice, presiding the First Hall of the Civil Court, that the establishment had been undergoing refurbishment and extension works at the time. These works involved the installation of lamp posts on the pavement, but the witness had said that the installation shouldn't have needed any excavation as the lamp posts were designed to be bolted to the ground. He refuted the suggestion that the company had dug any holes.

The executive secretary of the St Paul's Bay local council had also testified, saying that the council was not responsible for the works being carried out on the pavement, which he said had been part of the hotel's embellishment project. The legal notice and regulations he quoted to support this argument, however, had been enacted after the incident.

The court held that in this case both defendants were at fault, saying the accident had occurred as a direct result of shortcomings by both council and hotel.

The law imposed a duty on the council to oversee the works, which had been carried out on its property as well as a duty of care towards the public who would make use of the pavement.

With regards to the hotel, the court noted that it had not submitted evidence to sustain its argument that the digging had been made at its behest or that the lamp post were bolted to the pavement. “The evidence is clear in that the paving works had in fact been carried out by persons engaged by the defendant company....the court finds it hard to believe that these lamp posts were simply bolted to the pavement...some form of hole would be needed to connect it to the electricity grid.”

After taking the man's permanent disability, which had been established at 8%, together with his age and salary at the time, the court ordered the defendants to pay Kimber the sum of €20,735.21 as compensation.