Anyone can be injured on a pavement, but particular people can be more vulnerable to pavement injuries, for example:
- Runners or joggers who are running down a pavement at speed and trip;
- People pushing prams or buggies;
- Cyclists, or people riding e-scooters, because of poorly maintained pavements;
- Older people who may be more vulnerable to falls and injuries because of weaker muscles/ bones.
Slip/trip injuries can be very painful and may also have knock-on effects – you may have lost income from taking time off work or spent money on travel expenses to appointments, which we can help you claim compensation for. Injuries can also affect your ability to socialise, exercise and perform day-to-day tasks. We could ask the responsible party to pay part of your compensation early (interim payments) so you could access rehabilitation to help you get your independence back.
Who is Responsible for Keeping Pavements Safe?
Councils as the Highway Authority must make sure that pavements are gritted when they’re icy or snowy, and maintain and inspect public places regularly, including pavements, to check they’re safe. If issues like loose paving slabs have been reported, the council must take steps to fix these to prevent people from sustaining injuries.
This means that we could help you make a claim for compensation against the council if they were negligent in their duty of care to you in some way. For example, as part of your claim, the council will need to demonstrate when they last inspected the pavement.
Even if you were vulnerable to being injured, for example by wearing unsafe shoes in icy conditions, it can still be possible to make a claim for compensation with the help of our expert Personal Injury team.
You can help us prove that the council could’ve prevented your injuries by:
- Taking photos or videos of the scene of your accident, and your injuries;
- Checking whether the council should have gritted a particular pavement if you slipped on snow or ice;
- Collecting the names and addresses of any witnesses;
- Reporting the incident to the police if somebody else caused your injury, and letting us know the incident number.
If you think the council could have taken action to prevent your injury, get in touch today for a Free Claims Assessment. We’ll find out about how your injury happened and let you know if you could make a claim. We could even deal with your claim on a No Win, No Fee basis.