A Gloucestershire shop worker has lodged a personal injury claim against a local council after tripping on a paving stone and smashing her teeth.
The accident happened last December when she was walking over a concrete slab that had recently been repaved. The woman suffered multiple facial cuts and needed to have £400 worth of dental treatment to repair her damaged teeth.
After the incident, the victim contacted a firm of personal injury solicitors to discover if she was entitled to claim personal injury compensation from the council. She claims that the council messed up the repaving work and pavements that were perfectly OK before the work was carried out are now in a disgraceful state.
The council in question denied to comment as to whether or not a compensation claim had been received. A spokesperson said the council was unable to comment on an individual case. However, the council does consider each claim and assess whether the council has met its obligations.
Council pavements are the cause of hundreds of personal injury claims every year. Councils do try and keep on top of the problem but defective pavements unfortunately are still far too common.
The Health and Safety Executive receives more than 50,000 reports of accidents involving trips, slips or falls every year and more than 50% of those relate to incidents on paving surfaces. Whilst average personal injury compensation awards are about £5,000, some councils have been forced to pay as much as £600,000 for an injury that occurred on one of their pavements.