Three hurt as family car nearly flips over loose manhole cover
A father and his two sons were hurt after their car almost flipped because of a loose manhole cover in Wolverhampton.
Razvan Pervez and his boys Zain, aged nine, and Zuhaid, three, were returning home on the school run when Mr Pervez drove over the manhole in Lynton Avenue, Claregate.
Mr Pervez said the loose cover got caught underneath his BMW and caused it to lift off the ground.
Zuhaid hit his head on the car ceiling while Zain and Mr Pervez hurt their lower backs. Now Mr Pervez is threatening legal action.
The 37-year-old sales manager said: "I was just doing the normal school run.
I was driving down the road and the manhole cover was flat on the floor and just looked normal. It was loose and it just flipped up got caught under the car. We lifted off the ground.
"The children were really frightened and were crying. I was completely shocked, I got out of the car and looked at it, then phoned the police and ambulance service.
"I got the boys out and we got away from the car. It has an LPG conversion tank so we had to get away from it just in case of a fire. The fire crew had to disconnect the tank when they got there.
"The neighbours came out and were checking to see if we were okay. One of them said that someone had been there working earlier on, because there were cones around it before so you couldn't drive over it. But apparently someone moved the cones at about 2.15pm and just left it there loose.
"One of the firemen said to me that I was lucky we were in such a big heavy car because a smaller car might have flipped over completely.
"We are all still in pain, I had to have the week off work and the boys are off school and nursery.
"They really shouldn't have left it like that, I've been in touch with a solicitor.
"The insurance are dealing with the car, it's not written off yet but looking at it I think it will be. They won't be able to repair the wheel, the axle and the suspension.
"The boys are really shaken up by it."
Severn Trent, who are responsible for maintaining manhole covers in the city, declined to comment on Mr Pervez's case, but said: "If a member of the public has an issue with any of our assets, and reports it to us, we will absolutely investigate and try to resolve it."
