Illegal electric scooter rider is suing council for £30,000 over pothole crash that broke his leg

A woman who crushed her leg when she hit a pothole while illegally riding an electric scooter is suing for £30,000 in damages in the first case of its kind to go to court.

Giovanna Drago tore her left knee when her new Xiaomi Mi Pro 2 electric scooter hit the pothole in Friary Road, Barnet, in October 2020 and took 20 months to recover from her injuries.

She told Central London Crown Court she had no chance to avoid the pothole as it was evening and hard to see and is suing Barnet council for failing to maintain the road.

Ms Drago, 22, claims she is entitled to compensation, although she admits riding her scooter on the road was illegal. But the council says he should get nothing for causing his own injury by riding on the road, as only scooters hired from an “authorised hire scheme” are allowed on public roads.

Her case is the first to go before a judge and could set a precedent for future applications. The court heard Mrs Drago, of New Southgate, had no idea she was breaking the law when she took the scooter on the road and had only ridden it twice before the crash.

She was wearing a helmet but no knee pads when she went over the handlebars but was traveling at a moderate speed, she told Judge Jan Luba KC during a two-day hearing this week.

“Because it was dark, I couldn’t see the hole,” she said. After her fall, she had to wear a knee brace and crutches for six weeks. She mostly recovered after 20 months, but was left with a 12cm scar and “clicking, swelling and muscle loss” around her knee.

Barnet Council denies any blame for her injuries, insisting staff did their best to keep roads clear of danger and Ms Drago should not be compensated for breaking the law.

Geoffrey Mott, from Barnet, said the use of private electric scooters on public roads was “currently illegal”. He also said Ms Drago bought her £558 scooter from an Amazon supplier, which warns customers of legal restrictions, and damages “should be excluded as the injury was the consequence of her own illegal acts “.

Ms Drago’s barrister, Dr Joanna Kerr, accepted the illegality of driving on the road but argued her offense was minimal and she should be compensated if the council is found guilty. The case was adjourned for the lawyers’ final submissions.