public place accidents
Accidents in public places are more common than you might think.
They are generally classified as either claims against Local Authorities for slips, trips and falls on the public highway (e.g. road and pavements), which are called Public Liability claims.
Alternatively, they are claims made against the occupiers or owners of public places, for example shops, pubs, nightclubs, halls and shopping centre’s etc. These are known as Occupiers Liability Claims.
Each type of claim is dealt with in a completely different way and it is much more difficult to succeed with a Public Liability claim against a Local Authority, however it is true to say that in order to have a least a chance of succeeding with either type of claim for a public place accident, you will need to prove that Local Authority/Occupier was at fault for the accident and that the accident was the cause of your injuries.
During nearly every day of your life, you will be visiting buildings, premises or land owned and occupied by someone else and at any of these public places you could be injured through no fault of your own.
The most common public places where people are injured are:
- Shops and Shopping Centres
- Supermarkets
- School Grounds
- Pubs, bars and Nightclubs
- Hospitals
- Stairs and common parts of Office Buildings
- Sports and Leisure Centres
- On board Planes and Cruise liners
The Occupiers Liability Act 1957 places a duty on occupiers/owners of public places to make sure you are safe when you visit those premises, as long as you are invited or allowed to be there.
Most importantly, they must take all reasonable steps to make sure that you are not injured on their premises.
Despite this legal obligation, many thousands of often very serious claims which are brought each year against owner/occupiers because of injuries sustained in public places, as many owner/occupiers see complying with the law as an expense that they can do without.
Happily though, most Owner/Occupiers are fully insured for claims made against them.
Our Occupier Liability Panel Solicitors are currently dealing with a large number of claims for people who have been injured in public places, including a young woman who suffered multiple fractures to her arms by slipping on a discarded bottle in a nightclub, which caused her to fall down some stairs, a woman who slipped on a water leak in a well known indoor shopping centre and a passenger on board a cruise liner who badly injured her back when her deckchair collapsed. All these accidents lead to serious and life changing injuries to the unfortunate victims.
Despite the continuing improvements made by Local Authorities and Local Councils to roads and pavements the roads and pavements in many areas are still in a pretty shocking state and many thousands of people are injured every year when they trip , slip or fall on defects in the highway (be they cracked flags, potholes, sunken grates or deep depressions in the tarmac).
The Highways Act places a duty on the body responsible for the particular section of road or pavement (usually the Local Council or County Council) to make sure the highway is kept in a reasonable state of repair, so as to minimise the risk of injury to users of the highway, particularly pedestrians.
Despite this legal obligation, many thousands of often very serious claims (known as Public Liability Claims) are brought each year against Highway Authorities for slips, trips and falls caused by defects in roads and pavements, as it is a well known fact that many Local Authorities simply cannot afford to maintain roads and pavements properly or choose not to do so , because other items of expenditure have a higher priority.
Happily most Local Authorities are insured for claims made against them. However, these claims are never easy or straightforward as they have a special defence available to them which means that if they can show a suitable regular system of inspection ( of the accident area) and no defects were picked up on those inspections, they will probably avoid liability for your claim.
Our Panel Solicitors do deal with Public Liability Claims, but have to be very careful about which claims they take on. Before they will even look at a claim, it must include:
- Photographs of the “defect” in the road or pavement which clearly show a defect of over 1 inch.
- Proof, usually from at least one independent witness (if not more), that the defect has been in this condition for over 6 months ( in the case of busy areas) or over 1 year (in the case of quieter areas)
- Evidence (by way of dated photographs) that the defect has not yet been repaired.
Even if you dont think your claim fits this criteria, we may be able to help you get the evidence you need.
