A motorcyclist has taken a London council to the High Court after losing his arm in a crash.
George Morriss came off his bike in September 2019 while leaning into a bend in Falling Lane, near Heathrow Airport.
He says a manhole cover in poor condition made his vehicle slide out of control, the court has heard.
The 25-year-old has been unable to work since the crash and is now bringing legal action against the London Borough of Hillingdon over his injury, claiming it was caused by the condition of the manhole cover.
He blames the second of two manhole covers he rode across, saying it was worn with grit and dust which made his wheel slide and threw him into a wooden fence.
The council does not accept Mr Morriss’ account and said its officers inspected the manhole cover five weeks before the crash, as well as seven days afterwards, and found no defects.
Colm Nugent, for Mr Morriss, said in a hearing on Monday: “This accident was caused or was substantially contributed to by a manhole cover on a sweeping bend.
“It is our case that it was this manhole which caused the young man to come off his motorcycle.
“When the defendant resurfaced the road it ought to have applied a high-friction surface to the manhole cover. It had not done that.”
Giving evidence at the trial in London, Mr Morriss said he had used the road as part of his daily commute for around eight months before the accident and had never previously had any issues.
He said the weather was dry at the time and he was driving at the speed limit of 30mph.
Asked why the crash happened only after eight months, he replied: “It may have been that on that particular day there was a bit of grit on the cover that wasn’t there before.”
The court also heard that the road was resurfaced three to four months prior to the crash, which may have been a contributing factor, Mr Morriss said.
He continued: “It meant that any change between grip would not have been slight, it would have been drastic.”
He added: “The manhole cover was very, very worn.”
Lee Evans, for the council, said in written submissions that the crash was more likely to have been caused by Mr Morriss’s own “negligence”.
He said Mr Morriss “lost control of his motorcycle, oversteered, failed to adopt a suitable line of travel, rode too fast and failed to keep an adequate lookout”.
Mr Evans also referred to a police report which found the contributing factors to the crash were “driver/rider error or reaction” and “loss of control”.
He said several inspections before and after the accident, by the council and the owner of the manhole, Thames Water, found no defects.
“At the time of the claimant’s pleaded accident approximately 18,000 vehicles drove along that section of road each day and 11,000-16,000 motorcycles rode along it annually,” he noted.
“There had been no other relevant accidents.”
The trial, before deputy High Court judge Ben Douglas-Jones KC, is expected to conclude later this week.
