A window fitter unable to work for two months after tripping on a manhole cover and breaking his arm believes council bosses may owe him compensation for lost earnings.

Self-employed Steve Morgan had been working at a cafe in Broadstairs High Street when he stumbled on the lid on the pavement outside The Crown Bar.

The 63-year-old was taken to the QEQM Hospital in Margate where it was confirmed he had a broken arm, ligament damage to his shoulder and severe bruising on his wrist.

Recalling the nasty fall on May 8, Mr Morgan said: “I was carrying nothing, I tripped over and fell about six feet away from this point.

“I landed on my right-hand side and immediately, I could feel something in my arm give. I was in extreme pain.

“There were two people that witnessed it. I was lying on the pavement for an hour and a quarter.

“One of the paramedics said, ‘I've just taken a photo of the manhole cover because there's been a couple of incidents where people have tripped over before’, so it sounds like this is part of a wider problem.”

Mr Morgan was forced to wait a week for an operation to allow the inflammation to go down.

He had initially planned to leave the matter alone but was urged by friends to take things further and contact a no-win, no-fee lawyer.

However, by the time he came out of hospital the path had been resurfaced despite the fact he had not reported it to Kent County Council (KCC).

As he was unable to measure the depth of the obstruction, his lawyer dropped the case.

The Northdown Windows boss said: “I had to cancel a number of jobs, which was unfortunate, and with my wife’s job we didn’t qualify for any help. So for two months it was a little bit of a struggle to just survive off my wife's income.

“I'm not one of these that just for the sake of it will say, ‘I'm going to do my best to get thousands’, but even just some of my lost earnings back would be more than enough.

“I think there is a case there and it was quite strange that within a couple of weeks of it happening, they were resurfacing it.

“If it wasn't a problem, or wasn't a trip hazard, surely the council - who are very tight on their budgets - wouldn't just go and do things like this just for the sake of it.”

When Mr Morgan returned to the scene and spoke to KentOnline this week, two other people also tripped on the manhole cover, which is still slightly raised above the ground, within 10 minutes.

Although neither was injured, Mr Morgan believes he will not be the only one to be seriously hurt.

“I think they should do this more as there are quite a few issues, not just manhole covers, but paving slabs and potholes,” he said.

“KCC needs to take more care when it's looking after these sorts of pavements, especially where there are a load of elderly people.

“If this happened probably 20 years ago, I wouldn't have broken my arm but it's on quite a slope here so it's quite dangerous if there's any unevenness.

“Even after repaving it, it’s still quite dangerous.”

It has since been confirmed Mr Morgan will be able to make a claim, having up to three years from the date of the personal injury to pursue compensation against the relevant highway authority. This is not affected by any remedial works that may or may not take place during that time.

A spokesperson from Kent County Council said: “We are sorry to hear of this unfortunate incident and hope Mr Morgan is recovering well.

“As a highway authority, KCC has a duty of care to maintain the highway in a safe condition for Kent residents. Safety inspections are one of our crucial activities as they are designed to identify the defects likely to create a hazard.

“Due to the busy nature of the road, High Street, Broadstairs, is subject to monthly walked inspections. A defect was identified during an inspection of the High Street on the 10 May 2024. A works order was raised to repair the area around the British Telecom box outside the Crown Pub, which was completed on 24 May 2024.

“If a site is repaired following an incident, members of the public are still able to pursue a claim. This can be done by calling our contact centre on 03000 418181 or visiting our website.”