Tripping or slipping
Advice
Council-owned footpaths
To claim compensation from your local council you need to show that the hazard is over a particular height over its surroundings, to start a claim your caseworker will need you to take a photo of the raised edge that caused the trip itself, this should be done against a ruler, or some item of known size (such as a bank card). The main criteria will be to demonstrate that the council (or private landowner) failed to keep the area itself safe. The council however have 6 months to repair a footpath that they know is faulty, proving that the hazard is over 6 months old, and was known to the council can be difficult. The website FixMyStreet (https://www.fixmystreet.com) is an excellent way of reporting such matters. If appointed we would ask them to check to see if the matter had been reported, and if so, when.
If you have an accident then you should report it to the council (and online at the link shown previously) so they can sanction a repair, we would hope that the council record the incident. We would then suggest you file a request, under the Freedom of Information Act for information on reported tripping hazards, this will force the council to inform you whether the matter was recorded by them and scheduled for repair (please note “recorded” may not be the same as “known”).
Shops and Supermarkets
Shops and supermarkets are responsible for any accidents that may occur on their premises. They may be caused by: -
- Known and reported risks, as described this is when a shop knows of a risk to customers but takes no action, for instance not responding with appropriate urgency to a reported spill;
- Obvious risks - not fixing uneven, frayed, loose flooring, exposed electrical wires across a walkway used by shoppers and so on; and
- Unknown risks, again this would be so a situation such as if someone drops an egg directly in front of you and you slip on it and receive an injury then it's just an accident with no liability, put simply if the shop owner did not know about the risk, then it would be unfair to blame them, if however, the egg had been reported to staff who had ignored it then there would be an obvious claim.
Whatever the cause you have a right to enter a safe environment, any injury may result in a claim, what you should do is to ask witnesses for their details and wherever possible take photographs of the area, making sure you focus (no pun intended) on the reason for the slip or fall. You should then file a report with shop staff and make sure it is recorded in their accident book (ask to take a photo of the accident book entry). Note down the date and time and we would then suggest you seek medical attention by attending Accident and Emergency, again make sure you note any medical treatment given and who it was administered by.
Not all injuries present themselves immediately, you may feel fine at the time but start to suffer a few days later, symptoms may include bruising, pain or delayed shock. Depending on the severity of the injury, and your circumstances you should consider making a claim, if there can be little defence, such as a known or obvious risk then the claim should be very straightforward.
How we can help
One of the issues with injuries from slips and falls is proving fault, sometimes this is obvious, sometimes it is simply an accident (walking into a lamppost because you texting and so on). The criteria for a claim depends on proving an element of negligence by the council/supermarket etc. You would need to take photographic evidence of the cause (if a hole, pothole, raised edge on paving slab etc please place a bank card / coin beside the cause and photograph, this will give your caseworker something of scale).
To gain our assistance you need to open a case, this is done by taking advantage of our free consultation service, activated by the link at the top of the page, should you wish to start a case the caseworker will send you the suitable payment link. To quantify compensation our legal team will appoint medical consultants to assess your situation, they are privately contracted by us (and therefore their cost would be classed as a disbursement). To quantify the potential claim in regard to mental trauma we would suggest an additional report from our psychological team.
The claim will consider two types of damages:
- General damages- this compensates the victim for the pain and suffering endured, and for the loss of enjoyment of life as a result of the negligent act.
- Special damages- this compensates the victim for any personal costs incurred as a result of the negligent act. It can also cover any additional costs required in the future such as remedial surgery to remedy the mistake, mental suffering and so on.
Please note your caseworker can only give generic advice, their role is to prepare your details for handling by our legal team and medical consultant and to act as your point of contact, they will also issue you with your Password and PIN, these will be needed to log onto your client dashboard. From your dashboard you will be able to manage and view every aspect of your case, upload documents, images, files etc.