Slips, Trips and Falls | Accidents in a Public Place

Aside from initial shock and embarrassment, accidents which happen in public places can have serious and long-lasting consequences. It is difficult to know where to start if you are thinking about taking action in relation to an accident which happened in a public place.

Our personal injury team can help you with this.

What rights do you have when out in public?

When you are invited to enter premises open to the public, the occupier of that premises owes you a duty of care, under the Occupiers' Liability Act 1957, to ensure you are kept reasonably safe.

If the area where the accident happened forms part of the highway, then you are owed a duty of care on behalf of the local highway authority, under the Highways Act 1980.

You have been injured in an accident. What should you do first?

It goes without saying that your first and foremost concern should be with ensuring that you receive proper medical treatment to facilitate recovery from the injuries you have sustained.

Following this, and where possible, you should report your accident either to the premises where your accident happened, or to the local council if your accident happened on a pedestrian pathway or highway. If they offer to complete an accident form, make sure you read this properly before you agree to sign it.

It is important to collect and retain as much information as possible about the accident and what happened. It is often helpful if you or a family member are able to take photographs of the accident location. If there were any witnesses to your accident, it is important to take their contact details. These types of case can be won or lost on the quality of evidence which is gathered at the time of, or immediately after, the accident occurs.

However, we understand that a claim is unlikely to be at the forefront of your mind in the aftermath of an accident, and we encourage you to contact our personal injury team regardless of what information you have gathered.

You are not sure who is responsible for the area where your accident happened. What should you do?

It is not always obvious who is responsible for the area where your accident happened. In these circumstances, please contact our personal injury team and provide any information you have obtained relating to the accident location. In most cases, we will be able to advise you of the responsible party.

You are considering a claim, but how much compensation will you get?

Compensation for personal injury is based on the overall pain, suffering and loss of amenity sustained as a result of the accident. This is intended to encompass the pain and suffering involved with injury, but also the loss of general enjoyment of life which might include an inability to pursue a well-loved hobby or missing out on playing with your children or grandchildren.

In addition to this, we will also include in the claim any financial implication the injury has had on your life. For example, any loss of earnings you sustain, medical expenses or travelling expenses, will be recovered.

As part of your claim, our highly skilled personal injury team will provide a personal and bespoke valuation of your claim which is tailored to your injury and the impact on it has had on your life.

You want to make a claim. How long do you have?

Under the Limitation Act 1980, the time period in the vast amount of personal injury cases is three years from the date of your accident.

There are some exceptions to this as follows –

1. If the injured person is a child, then you will have three years from the child's eighteenth birthday to make a claim;
2. If the injured person does not have legal mental capacity then there is no time limit in place, providing they did not have legal mental capacity at the time of the accident;
3. If the injured person has sadly died as a result of the accident, then you will have three years from the date of their death to make a claim.

Sills & Betteridge LLP have offices across Lincolnshire, Yorkshire and the East Midlands. We take pride in providing a friendly, local and face to face service to our clients. We have dedicated personal injury lawyers across the region who will arrange to meet you at an office local to you, or at your home if you are unable to travel to an office.

If you would like to discuss a potential claim, then please contact us on 0800 542 4245 or email us at info@sillslegal.co.uk.

Photo by Zhen H on Unsplash.