FALL OVER EMBANKMENT

Auckland Star, Volume LVI, Issue 189, 12 August 1925, Page 6

FALL OVER EMBANKMENT

PEDESTRIAN CLAIMS £766.

A JERVOIS ROAD ACCIDENT

BAD LIGHTING ALLEGED.

An accident that occurred in Jervois Road, Ponsonby, on August 21 last, and resulted in James Frances Attwood (Mr. Richmond and Mr. Kirker), market gardener, receiving a compound fracture of the right leg, led to a claim for damages being made at the Supreme Court to-day against the Auckland City Council (Mr. Stanton). The case was heard before Mr. Justice Reed and a jury. The total amount of the claim was £766 18/6, including £266 18/e special damages, ' and £500 general damages. Mr Richmond said that plaintiff was a stranger to Auckland at the time of the accident. He had arrived from Taranaki only two days previously, and was unacquainted with the Jervois Road locality. While walking along the road on the* night in question he fell from a raised footpath, which had been built up by the City Council, and suffered the injury complained of. Counsel submitted that no precautions were taken by the City Council to prevent people from falling over the retaining wall of two feet at the edge of the western footpath; and that the road was inadequately lit to warn strangers of the danger. It was not until afterwards that electric lights were installed. The embankment was difficult to see at night; and the attendant of the ambulance that was called to take plaintiff to the hospital fell over the same place while going to Attwood's assistance. James Frances Attwood, in evidence, said it was a cloudy night; and there was no light at the corner of the street opposite the tramway etop at the corner of Islington Street. The nearest light was a gas lamp at the top of Hamilton Road, almost diagonally opposite the place where the accident occurred. At about 10.30 p.m. plaintiff wae walking along the western side of Jervois Road, and when he was almost at the corner of Islington Street he saw a light some distance down that street; and, thinking he had reached the turn, stepped to the right. He was unaware that a vacant section on the corner had made the light visible before reaching the turn, and he fell over the embankment. His Honor: Was it so dark you could not see the footpath went straight on? Plaintiff: Yes, I could see it, but * thought it continued beyond the turn. The accident had prevented plaintiff from doing any work for nine months, and he had only started to do light work the second week in June. To Mr. Stanton, plaintiff said he had been in Islington Street some eighteen montli3 before, and stayed one or two nights with frienda there; but he had always walked along the eastern side of Jervois Road before the night in question. His leg had troubled him owing to a kick by a horse, and he had to undergo an operation about five years ago. Dr. Milsom said that the skin was not yet completely healed over the injury; but the plaintiff was making good ; progress. The previous injury, through ; the kick of a horse, had left a very chronic condition, and it was difficult to separate the effect of the one from that of the other. James Johnson, who lived in Islington Street, said he thought the City Council had raised the Jervois Road embankment about four or five years ago. He heard someone calling for help on the night of Aueust 21, and ran to give his assistance. He found plaintiff lying on the footpath, and gave him two neat tumblers of whisky. The night was fairly dark. ' At this stage the Court was adioumed to enable the jury to inspect .the site of the accident.