What either I, my tyres, or my bike were not capable of managing was a slick of leaf mould I cornered on. Both wheels slid out from underneath me; I took a crunching tumble, and I sustained a pelvic fracture that looks to be on the mend without too much in the way of problems.

However, this has caused me to lose a fair chunk of pay. I was off work for eight weeks and only got sick pay from week four onwards. My kit was ruined – mind you, those paramedic shears are amazing at cutting Kevlar jeans and adventure boots. I have been doing my internet research and it seems I have a case against the council for failing to clear the road of leaves and leaving a hazard on the road.

If this does not work, can I sue the owners of the local trees? I read that is possible in a legal text on the internet. What I read on the internet is really contradictory though. Can you help me?

Answer

Sadly, I can only help you with an answer, but not the answer you want. You have been diligent and wide-ranging in your internet search, but sadly a lot of what you are looking at is not English and Welsh law, but law from all over the English-speaking world.

The law in Canada is very different from the law in England and Wales. In fact, the law in Scotland and Northern Ireland is markedly different to the law in England and Wales.

In short, you don’t have a claim against anyone. The council is liable only for the fabric of the road: in other words, the structure of the road. This point of law was considered by the very highest English court 24 years ago and that decision is final, unless Parliament revisits the law, which, frankly, is unlikely.

The council is not liable for surface contaminants that are fleeting and temporary, and that includes autumn leaves. You cannot purse all the owners of all the trees and those that no one owns, unless you show the majority of the leaves came from one tree and you can prove the owner of that tree. It is unlikely that you’ll have leaves from one traceable tree to test, and frankly I really wouldn’t know where to start showing which leaves came from which trees on the day of your unfortunate slide.

Weeks after the slide, you have absolutely no chance of showing where leaves in mid-October 2024 came from. Even if there was some method by which a highly skilled botanist could link the leaves to a tree, they were not the leaves that caused your fall. The leaves you fell on will have dispersed, rotted or been covered by fresh leaf fall.

The interesting piece you refer me to about landowners being liable for tree leaves is a very learned academic text relating to Irish law. Law nerd that I am, I read it! The acts and practices of Ireland do not help you in England.

I am also qualified as a solicitor in Ireland and the very nature of Irish law starts on a different premise to English law, not least because Ireland has a written constitution that gives all Irish citizens codified rights and duties whereas England has no such fundamental rights contained in a document, and our rights and duties are a curious amalgamation of parliamentary law and judge-made law, which the English legal systems muddles through in a fairly predictable and fair way.

Andrew Dalton

RiDE Magazine – February 2025