Trips and falls cost county council £33k

Trips and falls among youngsters in the playground and on public pavements are among the thousands of pounds of compensation payouts from Staffordshire County Council.

County council chiefs have parted with more than £33,000 in the last financial year following six successful claims for accidents on council owned property.

These have included five claims for broken or chipped bones and one for facial and teeth injuries.

The claims – totalling £33,094 – date back to 2003 with the latest one being in 2010. The claims were paid out in the 2011/12 financial year.

Compensated claims include inadequate supervision resulting in falls in the playground as well as cracks in pavements.

The council added that a large proportion of claims are either not pursued or rebutted because the council has no legal liability. Last year in 2010/11, the council paid out £49,436.90 in compensation payments.

Mike Lawrence, cabinet member for children and young people for Staffordshire County Council, said: "Compensation claim payments made in respect of young people have fallen in the past year, with six claims payments during financial year 2011/2012 totalling £33,094 compared to 10 in 2010/2011 totalling £49,436.90. "While these payments relate to incidents occurring over various periods of time we believe this indicates that the policies we operate to safeguard the public and in particular young people from injury are effective."

He added: "It is worth noting that a large proportion of the claims we see are either not pursued or rebutted where it is considered that no legal liability attaches to the county council."

Last year's cases involved a payment to a pupil who had slipped over and fallen on logs. There was also another case with a claim of more than £5,000 being paid out to a girl who trapped her arm and wrist while putting away a trampoline and another payment to a student hit by a bell.