Trips – Can I Claim?

The short answer is yes, you can.

Your local council, or the landowner in the case of private land, owes you a duty of care to make sure that the area you walk on – be it the pavement street, the road or indeed anywhere else that allows foot fall – be to safe for you and all other users.

A big part of keeping an area safe involves regular inspections and making sure that broken paving stones, damaged kerbs, raised manhole covers and alike are repaired quickly and properly to reduce tripping hazards.

But how ‘damaged’ exactly does a paving stone or a kerb have to be in order for you to be entitled to compensation for any injuries you might have incurred because of a trip? Russell Worth solicitor’s expert team advise:

1. The extent of the damage required to secure an admission of liability does vary from area to area but generally, we will accept any case where the height of the defect is 2 centimeters or more (20 millimeters). As a memory aid, that is about the same height as a 10p coin.
2. If you can, try to take photographs on your phone of the accident site as soon as possible after the trip itself so that there is evidence of the defect. It does help if you can put something next to the defect to show the scale of it, so putting a coin, a key, or any other common object you might have on you next to the damage will be of huge assistance.
3. Contact us as soon as you can. Although you do have 3 years from the date of the accident to bring a claim, the sooner you contact Russell Worth solicitors the better. Ideally, we want to be able to inspect the accident site before any repair work is done. Contacting us early also means that the council are more likely to carry out quick repairs once they are notified of your claim so there is less likelihood of anyone else tripping over and getting hurt.

If you are unsure if you can claim or not, ask us. It is free to contact us, and you are under no obligation to pursue a claim, even if we think you have a strong case. We only ever act on a no win no fee basis so you will never be asked for any money up front and you will not pay anything to anyone if your case is unsuccessful through no fault of your own.

Contact us today for free, no obligation advice regarding your Slips, Trips and Falls claim – either by calling us free on 0800 028 2060, or by requesting a free call back, whereby one of our team will contact you at a time of your choice, to discuss your situation.

We’re here to help – contact us today.