If you have had a pavement accident in public, you may be wondering, “Can I claim if I fall in the street?”. By reading this guide, you can find out what duty of care a third party owes to you to prevent accidents in the street and whether you are eligible to claim compensation for your injuries. We also discuss how a fall accident might happen due to a breached duty of care.
Then, we tell you what pieces of evidence you could collect to prove a public liability claim and how compensation for a fall injury is calculated.
To end this guide, we explain what No Win No Fee agreements are and how a specialist personal injury solicitor can help you if you are eligible to make a pavement accident claim.
Our team can confirm whether you are eligible to claim compensation. By contacting our advisors, you can discuss your case for free and if it’s found your case is eligible, an advisor can connect you with one of our expert solicitors.
To reach out, you can:
- Call 0800 073 8804.
- Fill out our ‘claim online’ form.
- Message in our live support chat.
Jump To A Section
- Can I Claim If I Fall In The Street?
- Causes Of Falling In The Street
- How To Prove Public Accident Claims
- What Compensation Can I Claim If I Fall In The Street?
- Start Your No Win No Fee Claim For A Fall In The Street
- Get Further Advice On Public Accident Claims
Can I Claim If I Fall In The Street?
The Occupiers’ Liability Act 1957 states that all occupiers (those who have control of a public space) owe a duty of care to all public members while they are using the space for its intended purpose. To adhere to this duty, occupiers must take steps to ensure the public is reasonably safe while on their premises. Such steps include removing any hazards and implementing health and safety procedures where hazards cannot be removed.
Local councils and authorities often control local highways such as streets, roads, and pavements. However, other third parties could also be liable if a fall accident happens in the street. If the party who owes you a duty of care breaches this duty, they could be liable for the accident. As such, who you make your claim against depends on who is liable.
You may be able to make a public liability claim after falling in the street if you can prove that third-party negligence occurred. Third-party negligence is when:
- A third party owed you a duty of care.
- This duty was breached.
- You were injured due to this breach.
The above make up the criteria for eligible personal injury claims. To discuss the question ‘Can I claim if I fall in the street?’ and find out whether your case meets the above criteria, get in touch on the number above.
Time Limits On Public Accident Claims
The Limitation Act 1980 states that the general time limit to make a personal injury claim is 3 years, generally commencing from the day the accident happened.
However, if the claimant is younger than 18 years old or does not have the mental capacity to be able to make a claim, then this general time limit is paused. While the time limit is paused, the courts can assign a litigation friend to start legal proceedings for the claimant.
If a litigation friend has not started a claim for the claimant, the time limit will start from the claimant’s 18th birthday, in child cases. In cases where the claimant has a reduced mental capacity, the time limit will start from the date of recovery.
If you contact us, our team can provide more information about whether your potential pavement accident claim is within the limitation period.
Causes Of Falling In The Street
Here are some possible causes of how someone could suffer a fall injury in the street due to a third party breaching their duty of care:
- An accident could be caused by poor or inadequate lighting caused by broken street lights that have been reported but not repaired in a timely manner. This could result in a member of the public losing their footing and sustaining a broken ankle from a fall.
- There could be a failure by construction workers doing maintenance checks on the water pipes to put a drain cover back on after work is completed. As a result, a member of the public falls and sustains a broken leg and head injury.
- A pavement accident could occur if loose slabs are reported to the local council but no steps are taken to fix the hazard. This could cause someone to sustain a wrist injury and neck injury.
A slip, trip and fall accident may not always be grounds to start a personal injury claim. You must prove that a third party breached their duty of care and caused you to sustain an injury.
To discuss your specific case and find out if you could claim for a fall injury, please get in touch using the number above.
How To Prove Public Accident Claims
Having proof that a third party breached their duty of care and how you were injured from this is essential in pavement accident claims. Some examples of useful types of evidence you could gather include:
- CCTV footage of the accident taking place.
- Photographs of the cause of the accident and your visible injuries.
- A record of your symptoms and medical treatment in a diary.
- Copies of your medical notes, records, and any scan images that provide details on your injuries.
- Contact details of potential witnesses. These can be used to collect witness statements later on in the claims process.
If you have an eligible public liability claim and would like help collecting as much evidence as you can, one of our solicitors could assist. They have experience handling claims for falls in the street and can ensure your case is brought forward within the correct time frame.
To find out more about the services they can offer and whether you’re eligible to instruct them to represent you, call our team on the number above. They can assess your case and answer the question ‘Can I claim if I fall in the street?’ and may connect you with an expert solicitor if you have valid grounds to pursue compensation.
What Compensation Can I Claim If I Fall In The Street?
In addition to wondering whether you can claim if you fall in the street, you might also be interested in how much compensation could be awarded for your injuries.
If your public liability claim is successful, your personal injury compensation payout could possibly be divided into two heads of claim. These are known as general and special damages.
All successful claims are awarded general damages. General damages are compensation for the pain and suffering you have experienced due to your physical and/or psychological injuries. As such, some of the factors that will be taken into consideration when calculating the value of this head are:
- How severe the pain and your injury is.
- Whether your quality of life has changed.
- How long the recovery period will be.
- The treatment required.
A medical report produced from an independent medical assessment that you might need to attend as part of the claims process can be used when valuing general damages. The report can be used alongside guidelines from the Judicial College which list award brackets for different types of injuries.
Injuries Table
We have included some injuries, that could be suffered following a fall accident, with their guideline compensation amounts from the JCG. Only the first row is not from the JCG.
However, please do not use these figures as a guarantee for how much compensation you could receive. Since every claim is unique, these figures are only a guide and not a reflection of what you could get for a successful claim.
| Injury | Severity | Guideline compensation values |
|---|---|---|
| Multiple serious injuries with special damages | Serious | Up to £1,000,000+ |
| Brain damage | Very Severe | £344,150 to £493,000 |
| Moderately Severe | £267,340 to £344,150 | |
| Severe Leg Injuries | Very Serious | £66,920 to £109,290 |
| Serious | £47,840 to £66,920 | |
| Knee | Severe (iii) | £31,960 to £53,030 |
| Moderate (i) | £18,110 to £31,960 | |
| Arm | Less Severe Injury | £23,430 to £47,810 |
| Wrist | An uncomplicated Colles fracture. | In the region of £9,070 |
Special Damages In Public Accident Claims
Only some successful claims are awarded special damages. Special damages are compensation for the past and future expenses you have incurred due to your injuries. For example:
- If you have lost earnings because your injuries have caused you to take time off work.
- The travel costs of attending medical appointments.
- Medical bills, such as requiring private healthcare or paying for prescriptions.
Since special damages are not always awarded, keeping proof of the money you have lost due to occupier negligence is essential. This evidence can be in the form of receipts, payslips, bank statements, and invoices.
You can learn more about how much could be awarded in successful pavement accident compensation claims by having a chat with our team.
Start Your No Win No Fee Claim For A Fall In The Street
Our expert personal injury solicitors could help you with your claim. They can use their vast experience to help you with your case by:
- Collecting the evidence that can help you win your claim
- Arranging an independent medical appointment for you
- Handling all legal paperwork and forms for you
- Pushing for the best compensation result for you that they can
- Processing your claim in an efficient and timely manner.
If your fall in the street claim is eligible, you may be offered a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA), which is a type of No Win No Fee agreement. Under such an agreement, you do not have to pay your solicitor for their fee upfront, as the case progresses or if the case fails.
In successful cases, your solicitor will deduct an agreed percentage of your compensation as their success fee. The size of the percentage has a legal limit and means that you will keep the majority of the compensation.
Call an advisor today to find out if you can work with one of our solicitors. They can answer questions such as ‘Can I claim if I fall in the street?’ We offer a free case assessment of all potential claims.
Talk To Our Team About A Claim If you Fall In The Street
Talk to our team today about your fall injury and how it happened. They might be able to connect you with one of our No Win No Fee solicitors who can support throughout the whole claiming process. So, for a free consultation of your potential case, please get in touch via the details below:
- Call 0800 073 8804.
- Fill out our ‘claim online’ form.
- Message in our live support chat.
Get Further Advice On Public Accident Claims
Here are some of our related guides:
- Find out what the pavement trip hazard height is in the UK and when you can claim compensation for a public place accident on the pavement.
- Learn how to make a personal injury claim due to a pothole accident that caused you harm.
- Discover how to best prove liability in a slip and fall claim and whether you could be eligible to claim against the local authority/local council or another third party.
Alternatively, these other pages might be of use:
- Gov.UK – Information on how to report a problem with a pavement.
- The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) – Information on preventing slips, trips and falls accidents.
- NHS – Learn when you should go to A&E for your injuries.
Hopefully, this guide has answered the question, “Can I claim if I fall in the street?”. Please do not hesitate to get in touch with us if you need any other information.
