A cyclist who said he “cheated death” and was “fortunate to come out alive” after being catapulted over his handlebars is suing North Somerset Council for failing to act on a pothole that had already caused another crash six weeks earlier.

Andy Bevan, a former Detective Superintendent with Avon and Somerset Police and now an outdoor instructor, suffered serious injuries, including a fractured neck, a broken collarbone, nine fractured ribs, a collapsed lung, and multiple fractures to his pelvis.

He said the pothole, which he described as an “invisible crack”, had been reported by another cyclist after a nearly identical crash more than a month before, but the council decided it did not warrant urgent repair.

“While I recognise it’s almost impossible to fix every pothole overnight,” he said, “the danger had been reported. So as a minimum, they could have put up a sign about it to give cyclists a heads-up.”

While lying injured on Castle Road in Clevedon, the man was helped by a retired GP who told him that he had witnessed a similar crash at the same spot weeks earlier, and had contacted the council to raise the alarm, Gloucestershire Live reports.

Bevan added: “The most disturbing thing is the indiscriminate nature of my accident. Because of the inactivity by those who are supposed to keep our roads safe, there was nothing I personally could have done to avoid what happened.

“My front wheel must have got stuck in one of the extensive cracks in the road, but the area of disrepair was invisible on the approach. It really was the stuff of nightmares for cyclists… what really hurt is that it was all so avoidable.”

> Cyclist sues council for £100,000 after pothole crash

The crash, which happened in September last year, left him unable to work for eight months, forcing the cancellation of work trips, including taking a group up Mount Kilimanjaro, and another up South America’s highest mountain, Aconcagua.

“I count myself fortunate to have come out alive,” he said. “The paramedics told me my helmet saved my life. I was only alive to tell the tale thanks to wearing the appropriate gear.”

He said the accident had severely affected both his health and livelihood, and that he hoped his legal claim would prompt councils to act faster in response to known hazards.

“The local authority had ample warning and my accident was one of those that was just waiting to happen because another cyclist had alerted the powers-that-be to the pothole weeks before but, as far as I can tell, they failed to act promptly,” he said

Andy Bevan
Andy Bevan (Image Credit: Bristol Road Club)

The injured cyclist is now pursuing legal action against North Somerset Council, represented by Enable Law solicitor Laura Williamson. She said: “Andy is quite rightly seeking damages, but he is also hoping that his claim will focus the minds of local authorities nationwide to make our roads safer for cyclists.”

Williamson added that the council had acknowledged inspecting the road after the first reported crash but deemed it not dangerous enough to require urgent repair.

“Soon after Andy’s accident, warning signs were put up and the road was repaired, but this was too late to spare him a horrific ordeal which had a huge impact on his health and professional activities,” she said. “We are currently preparing court proceedings and quantifying Andy’s losses.”

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In response, a North Somerset Council spokesperson said: “We comply with our statutory duty to maintain our roads to a safe condition. We respond to all reports of potholes and other defects and complete repairs wherever deemed necessary. It wouldn’t be appropriate for us to comment on individual incidents and potential claims.”

This is not the first time a local authority has been taken to court following reports of known road defects that went unaddressed.

In January 2024, we reported the case of Paul Hughes, a 57-year-old triathlete from Worcestershire, who suffered life-changing injuries after crashing into a pothole while riding on Sugar Loaf Lane in Staffordshire.

Hughes sustained a broken collarbone, multiple rib fractures, a pelvic fracture, and a fracture to his spine, in addition to a damaged lung and facial injuries. And to make things worse, the pothole had still not been repaired 15 months after the crash.

He spent 10 days in the hospital and said the accident left him unable to work at full capacity. He was later made redundant, and told road.cc he believed it was due to his reduced physical ability after the crash.

“I went with a friend back to the road where it happened,” Hughes said. “He made me ride down it, and it was horrendous. I had a panic attack halfway down. It’s really not right that the pothole is still there, it’s dreadful.”

He added: “You end up riding further out into the middle of the road to avoid potholes, and then you’re in the way of cars. I used to make excuses to go out on my bike — now I make excuses not to. I hope I can get back into it, but I need to get my confidence back.”

His solicitor called the situation “a disgrace,” and pointed out that while councils are under financial pressure, their duty to prevent “life-changing, and even life-threatening” consequences for cyclists should not be dismissed.

> “They didn’t think I would make it”: 80-year-old cyclist wins compensation after horrific pothole crash

Another cyclist sued Dublin City Council two years ago in a multi-million euro claim, the cycle lane designers, and the construction company involved in creating a protected bike lane where he sustained a catastrophic brain injury.

The rider fell from his e-bike after hitting an uneven kerb and striking his head on a series of granite bollards installed within the cycle lane. His lawyers argued that the lane’s design posed a known hazard due to the layout and lack of proper kerb treatment, and that earlier incidents in the same area had gone unaddressed.

In the UK, other cyclists have also successfully held councils accountable for injuries caused by road defects. In July 2023, cyclist Luke Millward received a five-figure settlement from Essex County Council after suffering multiple fractures and soft tissue damage in a crash caused by a pothole on Audley End Road. The council admitted partial liability.

Millward, a physiotherapist, was unable to return to work for a prolonged period. He described the fallout from the crash as “an incredibly challenging period” that affected not just his physical health but his family and mental wellbeing.

“At the time of the incident, my wife and I had just bought a new home that needed work,” he said. “We had a young child, and our second one was on the way. As you can imagine, having a heavily pregnant wife and no kitchen or bathroom brought a huge amount of stress and strain for me and my whole family. I wouldn’t want to go through anything like that ever again.”