'One in three car journeys are less than one mile! If we can, why not try walking or cycling instead?' gushes the latest issue of
wfm. Why not? Perhaps because in a car you would never expect to find the road surface collapsed with several inches of rusting metal sticking out to shred your car tyres. Whereas pedestrians in the London Borough of Waltham Forest can expect to find trip hazards like this - a broken utility cover which protrudes above the footway surface with several inches of rusting razor-sharp edging. It's been like this for so long that grass is growing out of the damaged cover (look at the crack in the plate in the top right corner).
If you slice your foot open on this, fall flat on your face, break a few ribs, or spoil your clothes, you have a perfect case for compensation against a local authority which is is so grossly negligent as to allow something as dangerous as this to remain in this state for months. (By the way, it's on Forest Road, E17.)
