Widow of cyclist killed by pothole set to receive six figure payout from council
THE widow of a cyclist killed after hitting a pothole on a charity ride has won six-figure compensation from the council that failed to repair it.
Martyn Uzzell, 51, who was cycling from Lands’ End to John O’Groats, was sent flying into the path of a car and died instantly of head injuries.
An inquest heard that the hole around a drain on the A65 near Giggleswick in North Yorkshire was so bad police had asked the county council to mend it on several occasions.
A month before Mr Uzzell’s death in June 2011, a traffic officer alerted his control team to the hole and they passed on the warning to their council counterparts.
But although the council’s highway inspection team checked the road twice in the following weeks they took no action before Mr Uzzell hit the pothole as he cycled with two friends to raise money for Macmillan Cancer.
His widow Kate, 49, of Clevedon, Somerset, has now reached an out of court settlement with North Yorkshire County Council.
The council said it “accepts no liability for the tragic death of Mr Uzzell” but was settling to avoid “prolonged involvement in further litigation”.
After the inquest Mrs Uzzell said the death of her husband, a service engineer, could have been prevented.
She said: “It is simply disgraceful that a pothole on such a busy road was allowed to go unrepaired.
My husband was an experienced cyclist and out doing what he loved, while raising money for charities close to his heart, but it has cost him his life.
“I am told a policeman had reported the pothole on two occasions to the council but nothing was done.
“The road was also inspected monthly as it is an A road but despite the danger being recorded in the May it wasn't repaired.
“To make it worse there was another inspection in June carried out in a vehicle going at 25mph down the other side of the three-lane carriageway.
It is simply disgraceful that a pothole on such a busy road was allowed to go unrepaired. My husband was an experienced cyclist and out doing what he loved, while raising money for charities close to his heart, but it has cost him his life.
No attempt was made to check an already identified defect.
“Ultimately my husband lost his life because the council did not repair this pothole, despite being warned it was a potential danger.
“I do not want anyone else to lose a loved one because the roads have not been properly maintained.”
The Crown Prosecution Service concluded the failings by the council should not lead to a corporate manslaughter case or any other charges.
Mrs Uzzell said: “My husband has died yet it seems no one is being held to account.
My life has been devastated, I have lost my best friend and soulmate, a lovely person, who bought joy to my life.
I am now lost and lonely without Martyn.”
