Accidents in a Public Place

Public Liability

Accidents happen in lots of different places, but the result is often the same in that someone is left injured. This is no different when someone suffers an injury following an accident in a public place. At Trusted Claims** we understand that having an accident in a public place can leave you with a lot of questions:

• Why was this allowed to happen?
• Who is responsible for this?
• What should I do?
• Do I have any rights?
• Can I get compensation?

These are just some of the questions that you may be asking yourself, if you have an accident in a public place that was not your fault. We at Trusted Claims are very familiar with answering these kinds of questions, and helping people understand what options are open to them.

A public place is anywhere that the general public will be using. This includes the roads that people drive on, and the pavements and footpaths that people want on. In the UK it is the Local Council that is responsible for maintaining public places, and they are also accountable if anyone has an accident or injures themselves in a public place.

Local Councils have an obligation to maintain their local public places and if someone has been injured because the Local Council hasn't done so, they will be entitled to claim compensation. At Trusted Claims we regularly help people pursue personal injury claims against their Local Council, and we are able to help our clients pursue the maximum compensation available to them.

If you are looking to make a claim against their Local Council for an accident in a public place, this claim will be against the Local Council's public liability. It is the public liability of a local council which makes it responsible for places that the general public will be using.

When anyone tries to make a claim against a Local Councils public liability, they will need to show that the Local Council did not do its job properly. In law, the Local Council needs to be shown to have been 'negligent'. The way that negligence in law is shown means that certain criteria need to be met: 

1. Local Council is responsible for the accident. 

This means that the Local Council needs to owe a 'duty of care' to anyone that is bringing a personal injury claim against them. In terms of accidents in public places Local Councils are responsible for any and all injuries that happen there, and already have a 'duty of care' to those people who will use the space.


2. The Local Council needs to know what it was doing. 

Local Councils have a lot of responsibilities, but this criterion just means that it can't have been forced to do anything. Even if the Local Council failed to do something and that is what caused the accident, it can't have been compelled to do nothing. It must have chosen to do or not do something.


3. It was likely that there would be an injury. 

The important point here is that from whatever it is that a Local Council did or didn't do, it has to be likely that someone would suffer the injury.


4. The Local Council failed to do what other Councils would have done. 

This last part of the process for claiming negligence is one of the most important. Local Councils may have done or failed to do something but whatever they did or did not do, it needs to be shown that this fell below the standard of conduct that other Local Councils would have pursued, if they were in a similar position. 

Over the years Local Councils have designed their own procedures for handling personal injury complaints. We are Trusted Claims have a lot of experience of dealing with these procedures, and will be able to represent your interests in court if your claim is taken seriously.

Drawing on our experience of assisting people to pursue personal injury claims against their Local Councils, we at Trusted Claims aim to make the process as simple as possible. If you have been injured in a public place, the dedicated team at Trusted Claims will be able to help you. We will handle your claim with the utmost professionalism, and will handle the entire process for you. We know what we are doing, and aim to get the best result for our clients.

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Our advice to you is free and we will be able to start the process of pursuing your claim as soon as you contact us.

Call us today on 01252 354444 or fill out our easy enquiry form Start Your Claim