Lawyers acting on behalf of Lois Matcham (64) negotiated a
£20,000 out of court settlement after Mrs Matcham broke her arm as
a result of slipping on wet pigeon excrement whilst walking under a
railway bridge in Battersea in May 2003. Mrs Matcham sued
Wandsworth Council as the highway authority responsible for
cleaning the streets and Network Rail as the body responsible for
the maintenance and upkeep of the railway bridge. The stronger case
must have been against those responsible for the upkeep of the
railway bridge rather than the highway authority. The fact that the
pigeon excrement was described as 'wet' can mean one of two things
- either it was fresh or it had been rained on because there was a
hole in the bridge that ought to have been maintained. Presumably
had we simply been dealing with fresh pigeon excrement the claim
would not have succeeded on the basis that there wouldn't be a duty
on the local authority to immediately cleanse the area.