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Injury

Tens of thousands of people are injured every year as a result of a trip slip fall accident on poorly maintained pavements and highways. Most pavements are the responsibility of the local authority and they have a legal duty to take reasonable steps to maintain them. In practice this means that, in order to comply with the law they must have a satisfactory inspection and maintenance regime in place.

Local authorities try to discharge their liability by having employees whose specific job it is to walk the streets and make a note of any defects in the pavement which may cause an actionable claim, prior to making arrangements with the highways department to have the defects repaired. The authority keeps a detailed record of these inspections and repairs, as they are often called for by solicitors acting for the injured party in a tripping accident claim and the record can be used to prove that the authority’s regime is inadequate. These inspection sheets can however be used as a basis for the ‘statutory defence’ whereby the council will escape liability for a trip slip fall accident if it can be shown that they had made adequate arrangements for inspection and repair. The interval between these inspections often causes cases to be litigated as there is no hard and fast rule. The generally accepted interval on suburban streets is about ten months but in areas of heavy footfall the interval may need to be considerably less. These records are not always accurate and it is often possible to show that a defect has existed for several years, by calling witness evidence, notwithstanding a clear inspection sheet.

Local authorities are not bound to keep their pavements in absolutely perfect condition as the costs would be unacceptable. The judges have in effect balanced safety against cost and indicated that pavements need not be made up to the standards of a bowling green. The generally accepted depth of a defect, in order to make it actionable in a trip slip fall accident claim, has been determined by case law to be a little over an inch in a typical suburban location however this measurement has been modified and whereas a defect of a half inch may be actionable on a marble floored mall, a depth of several inches may not be sufficient in a country location. Further problems of legal liability are caused by tarmac that is simply uneven and does not have a distinctive edge and by rocking paving stones which can be lethal unseen hazards.

Our solicitors are all members of the Law Society panel of personal injury experts and are specialists in the field of accident compensation claims. Claims are dealt with on a no win no fee basis and compensation is paid in full with no deductions whatsoever. There is no necessity to finance your claim in any respect and you will not be asked to take out any loan or pay for any insurance. Our claims are guaranteed to be completely risk free.