Nurse who fell off bike to be lead case in tram claims
● Woman suing city council for £50k after wheel slipped on tracks
A nurse who was injured on a fall from her bike is set to be one of two lead cases in actions brought by cyclists over Edinburgh’s tram system.
Elizabeth Fairley said she dislocated her jaw and injured a knee after she lost control of her bicycle when a wheel slipped on the tram line and became caught in it.
She is suing Edinburgh Trams and the city council for £50,000 after she fell at Haymarket in October 2013.
She had approached Haymarket station travelling westwards.
She maintains that around that time there were “numerous incidents” of cyclists slipping or falling after coming into contact with tracks on this section of the line as a result of crossing at an acute angle.
Lawyers acting for her maintain that the number of accidents in Edinburgh to cyclists is “significantly greater” than in other cities where trams or light rail systems were introduced – a claim mirrored in the other lead case brought by Ian Lowdean.
Mr Lowdean, of Edinburgh, raised a £15,000 claim after he was injured when he fell on Princes Street in October 2012.
In Ms Fairley’s action it is contended that as a result of the road layout and traffic conditions she had to cycle across the tracks at an angle of about 30 degrees which it is alleged presented “a trap for cyclists”.
It is maintained that after her accident remedial measures were introduced to reduce the risk to cyclists crossing the tracks at an acute angle. It is said that when cyclists cross tram tracks at an acute angle there is a risk that a wheel will catch or slip on the groove of the track.
Ms Fairley, 56, an advanced nurse practitioner at Edinburgh’s Royal Hospital for Sick Children, said that on the day of her accident it was damp and drizzly and it was first time she had taken the route since Haymarket junction had reopened to traffic four days earlier.
She claims that as a result of the tram operator and council’s fault she suffered a dislocated jaw, black eye, cuts to her chin and an injury to her right knee.
Ms Fairley, of Edinburgh, underwent physiotherapy for her knee injury but was unable to kneel. Before the accident she practised ballet dancing but was left with limitations on the type of positions and moves she can perform.
Following a brief hearing at the Court of Session in Edinburgh a judge set an eight day hearing in May 2019 for the two cases.
Lord Boyd of Duncansby also agreed to put a further 39 actions on hold until September that year.
The judge was told that by then it was anticipated a judgement would be available from one or other of the two lead actions.