Council-owned footpaths
To claim your local council you need to show that the hazard is over a particular height over its surroundings, as such to start a claim you will need to take a photo of the raised edge that caused the trip itself. The main criteria will be to demonstrate that the council failed to keep the area itself safe, however, things are not so easy, the council have 6 months to repair a footpath etc that they know is faulty, proving that the hazard is over 6 months old, and was known to the council can be difficult.
If you have an accident then after taking a photograph, with a ruler or some sort of indicator as to height (anything of a known size such as a bank card will do) then you should report it to the council 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 and the Environmental Information Regulations you have a right to request any recorded information held by a public authority, this would include reports of unsafe footpath hazards.
Shops and Supermarkets
Shops and supermarket are responsible for any accidents that may occur on their premises. They may be caused by:-
- Known and reported risk, as described this is when a shop knows of a risk to customers but takes no action, for instance not responding with speed to a reported spill
- Obvious risk – not fixing uneven, frayed, loose flooring, exposed electrical wires across a walkway used by shoppers and so on.
- 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. 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.
Not all injuries present themselves immediately, you may feel fine at the time but start to suffer a few days later. 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. We would be delighted to represent you in such a matter.
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