Councils have many responsibilities that aid you in your day to day life, such as, the important ones for the topic of this blog: maintaining public spaces (such as parks, playgrounds, swimming pools, museums etc.) and the up-keep of highways, these are roads and pavements.
When the council provides these services it also takes on a responsibility to look after you when while you use them and to make sure that the services it provides aren’t defective or able to harm you if you use them properly. If you are using any of these services and you get an injury that could have been avoided had the council done a better job of maintaining that service you could be able to make a personal injury claim.
Parks, Playgrounds and Council Buildings
The council has the responsibility of looking after these spaces and making sure that the equipment provided is safe to use, it must also ensure that there are no dangerous surfaces (i.e. slippery or uneven floors) or if these do exist they must provide you with adequate warnings (signs, cones etc.). If you are unsure as to whether you might be able to claim for and injury suffered on council premises contact The Injury Lawyers for further advice.
Footpaths, Pavements and Roads
The most common claims brought against councils are those involving falls on public footpaths and highways. The council has a responsibility to look after these walkways and roadways and to make sure they don’t pose any threat to your safety. If the pathway is cracked and raised beyond an acceptable level (usually “acceptable” is said to be an inch to two inches) and this causes you to fall and injure yourself then the council will usually responsible for your injuries.
Likewise if a pothole in the road is deeper than acceptable (again, the one inch rule usually applies) and it causes you to trip and fall, fall from your bike or even in extreme circumstances crash your motor vehicle and you can show that the pothole is the cause of the accident then the council again will usually be responsible for any injuries you suffer as a result.
Won’t there be problems?
Councils will often respond to any potential claims against them by saying that they regularly inspect these services and have a regular maintenance schedule in place under section 58 of the Highways Act 1980. Unfortunately the Act doesn’t set out timescales for when these maintenance works should be done and so if the council can show that they have a regular maintenance procedure in place then a claim can become difficult to pursue.
The council may also say that these services were being used incorrectly and say that in that case they were not 100% to blame for the accident. This is not a complete defence and it may be that you will still be able to claim compensation although this will be a reduced amount. It is therefore important that if an accident does occur you start collecting evidence (pictures, names of witnesses, measurements of defects and anything else you think may assist a potential claim) as soon as possible as well as seeking medical and ultimately legal assistance.
Nobody wants to be injured but if it happens to you then it is important that you get expert advice as quickly as you can, if any of this applies to you then contact The Injury Lawyers now.
