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Edinburgh black cab driver furious after £3,000 damage to taxi thanks to open manhole

https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/ ... -1-4990944

A BLACK cab driver has blamed Scottish Water for £3,000 worth of damage to his taxi after he drove over an open manhole.

Derek Scott, 48, was driving down Lanark Road around 10pm on August 7 when he avoided several traffic cones in the middle of the road only to drive straight over an open manhole.


Image: Edinburgh Evening News

The manhole caused more than £3,000 of damage and kept the taxi off the road for ten days, costing Mr Scott and his business partner several thousands of pounds in lost fares.

Scottish Water said they were only made aware of the open manhole after Mr Scott’s accident, despite the driver originally being told they were aware of it at 9pm on the night of the incident.

Mr Scott said: “It was raining that day on Wednesday and I picked up a passenger at a rank and was heading up to Balerno.


Image: Edinburgh Evening News

“When I was going up Lanark Road I went in between a couple of cones and heard a bang. I couldn’t see any damage and I saw another motor at the side of the road and he had hit the open drain as well.

“That’s when I realised I’d hit the manhole and I looked underneath and it was all ripped to hell underneath the motor.”

Parts of the taxi underneath the chassis were gouged and ripped apart by the manhole. The damage was estimated to cost £3,000 by Mr Scott’s insurance company.


Image: Edinburgh Evening News

He said: “We had to go through the insurance to get the work done. The council said it was the water board’s fault, but I got an e-mail saying the water board is not being held responsible for the damage because they were not negligent. It is a £400 excess and we are off the road for ten days as well, which has cost us each around £1,000 ... you have left an open manhole that a child could have fallen through, what if somebody had been killed?”

A Scottish Water spokesman said: “Scottish Water was made aware of an issue with a manhole cover on Lanark Road at 10.20pm on August 7. We instigated an urgent repair and had a team at the site within an hour. Scottish Water attended the damaged manhole promptly and we are not liable for any damage as a result of this issue.”

surely the cones were around the manhole to protect it ?

I am thinking he wasn't being very observant

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector

If they were, who put them there without informing the water company about the problem?

Someone is responsible whether it be the Highways Authority or the Council,there should not have been a hole in the highway,common sense says anyone with a bit of a brain in this case those responsible do not have any grey matter at all would have covered hole with a large metal plate which is normal practice with Councils and Utility services contractors.

Instructive, though, the utility company didn't deny that there was a problem with the manhole - they just said that they repaired it as soon as they became aware of the problem, which I think is how they avoid liability?

Thus just like councils and potholes? They aren't deemed responsible unless they fail to undertake repairs immediately they become aware of a problem.

If that is their response to something they put in the highway then the Highways Authority must stop them putting manholes in any Highway surface.