• Courtney Langer’s scooter came to a crunching halt when it hit this pretty dicey-looking road repair. 

Rider goes flying over dodgy pothole repair

A MT HAWTHORN resident has been left with a $1000 ambulance bill, lost work, a potential permanent disability and a broken scooter after coming a cropper on some pretty ordinary-looking road repairs in Vincent.

Courtney Langer was on his way to visit his brother in Bourke Street, Leederville on March 8 when out of the blue his scooter suddenly stopped and he was flung onto the road, suffering a radial fracture of his elbow.

When Mr Langer went to check on what had caused the accident, he was furious.

On smoko

“What they have done is they have attempted to fill a pothole; they’ve drilled into the road … and then poured in a little tar, but they’ve left a huge great dent in the road which blends in so you can’t see it,” he said.

“There was no barricade and no signage; it was like they went on smoko.”

Mr Langer said the pain from his fractured elbow was excruciating.

“I’m living on Panadeine Forte constantly, and they are saying ‘you could end up with a permanent disability’.

“It’s disgusting; I am on a part pension but I do some work and I haven’t even been able to ride my pushy.”

Mr Langer said he called the council and workers came out the next day to highlight the site with a white marker, but when he broached the subject of council liability he got a brusque response he feels was pretty unsympathetic given the circumstances.

The possibility of an insurance claim also seemed to have got the wind up the council when the Voice sent some questions in, as it wouldn’t comment on whether the repair was done in-house or by a contractor, or if anything might have contributed to the dip other than shoddy repair work.

But CEO David MacLennan said the city was concerned to hear about the accident 

and hoped Mr Langer was recovering.

“In this instance, we became aware of an issue when it was reported by Mr Langer and the fault has since been rectified.

“We understand Mr Langer intends to submit an insurance claim with the city, although this has not yet occurred.

“Any claim will be referred to the city’s insurers and we are unable to comment further under those circumstances.”