Slip, Trip & Fall Claims - Compensation Advice

Trips or slips in public places - Shops, supermarkets, bars, restaurants, cafes etc..

The Occupiers Liability Act is an important piece of health and safety legislation. It places an important duty of care on whoever is in control of an area to take all reasonable steps to prevent a person from being injured as a lawful visitor to the premises.

Common claims we deal with here at The Injury Lawyers include:

Slips on spilled products;
Slips on freshly mopped floors;
Trips on uneven walkways or defects - such as raised or broken tiles, holes or divots in the grounds, etc.;
Trips on items left on the ground;
Falls on stairs due to inadequate safety rails;
Falls down slopes that are not cordoned or clearly marked.

Whatever the circumstances, those in control of an area have a duty to prevent you from being injured. There are many ways they can do this:

Risk assessments to identify hazards;
Cleaning and inspection regimes to look out for and clear away spillages or movable hazards;
Training staff to look out for such hazards;
Policies and procedures to police and rectify such hazards.

Where they fail to take all reasonable steps to prevent you from being injured in an accident that was not your fault, you have the right to make a claim for personal injury compensation.

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Slip or trip accidents on the highways - roads and paths!

Local councils and local government authorities have a duty under The Highways Act to take all reasonable steps to prevent any user of the highway from being injured.

Common claims we deal with include:

Pothole accidents - on foot, on bikes, and in cars;
Trips on uneven or sunken paving slabs;
Falls due to defective kerbs;
Cracks or other breaks on the ground that can cause a person to trip or fall;
Manhole compensation claims;
Injuries caused by street works or where maintenance or street works have been carried out poorly and / or dangerously.

The council must have systems of inspection and maintenance to look out for and rectify hazards as soon as possible. Roads and paths may be inspected at varying intervals depending on how busy the area is used. For example, a very busy city centre street may be inspected every month because of the volume of traffic in the area. However, a cul-de-sac in the beautiful countryside of Devon may only be inspected at intervals of every 12 months or so.

To win the claim we must show that the local authorities have failed to adhere to their duties under The Highways Act by, for example:

Failing to have any or any good system of inspection and maintenance;
Failing to stick to a system of inspection and maintenance;
Failing to deal with a reported defect within a reasonable time frame - normally seen as eight weeks or so.

We must also show that the defect is classed as 'dangerous' enough to warrant them sorting it out. Whilst there isn't necessarily a minimum measurement as such, there is a generally accepted guideline called the 'one inch rule' where a defect must be at least an inch in depth or height. If it isn't then the other side can try and defend the claim based on the defect not being seen as dangerous enough to do anything about.

Manholes are sometimes either the responsibility of the local highways agency or a utility company, or other private organisation. Similar duties can apply.

Slips, trips, and fall compensation - what to do!

Follow this simple guide to make sure you have the best chance of succeeding with your claim and fast tracking the process with The Injury Lawyers:

Seek medical attention - your well-being is the most important thing;
Take photos of a defect and the area where it happened. Make sure photos show measurements where applicable, and show the area with easy to recognise landmarks so that the location of the defect can be easily identified;
Speak to us BEFORE reporting the incident where necessary, as there are important things we may need to discuss with you. This is more vital in pothole and street / road defect claims;
Start your claim ASAP - because vital CCTV footage could be used to help prove your claim but most footage is deleted after a few weeks. Don't ever risk losing what may turn out to be the most vital piece of evidence there could ever be for your case. Claims have been won and lost based on CCTV footage alone!

Understanding the UK law and public places

UK law says that there is a duty on those in control of an area to take all reasonable steps to prevent members of the public from being injured. These claims are not easy to win though because a lot of places now do take reasonable steps, and they can prove it. Judges at Courts are not keen on awarding payments to victims claiming against local government as well.

To win a compensation claim for a slip, trip, or fall you therefore need expert legal representation - which is where we come in.

We are a firm of independent expert injury lawyers. Unlike many websites and famously known claims names out there, we are an actual real law firm - not just some middlemen who pass you to a lawyer for a fee!

Our advice is therefore real legal advice from a real law firm, and we can represent you for the claim ourselves if you want us to do so. Not only that, but because we only represent victims for personal injury compensation claims, we are specialists in our field. This means we are efficient and very good at what we do.

In one call we can remove the hassle of lengthy paperwork and loads of forms to fill out by setting up a claim and submitting it there and then if that's what you want us to do.

What you should do next to start a claim

Contact The Injury Lawyers and receive first hand expert advice regarding your Slip, Trip or Fall Claim by either filling out any form found on this page or by calling 0800 634 7575 and speak to a professional personal injury lawyer.

Need one of our expert claims team to call you back about a slip, trip or fall injury? Then please enter your name, the telephone number you would like us to call you back on, the accident type and when you would like us to contact you in the form below.

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