We have all seen the adverts on the television where a person trips on the pavement with their shopping and immediately you are told that a claim was made against the local council and several thousands of pounds was won for the poor unfortunate tripper. Well whilst that is generally believed to happen, it is never that easy.

The first stage is to try and find out who owns the path where the accident occurred.

Most local councils are very helpful and keep a record of which roads and pathways are theirs. Some of them will charge a few pounds for one of their employees to look but most are willing to give out the information over the telephone. In this case we are lucky and find out that the local council owns the path.

We then need to find out how they own the path because this can differ. There are two ways in which a council may have to maintain the pavement: -

As the highway authority – generally path and pavements around the area usually at the side of roads.
As the housing authority – generally where they own the housing estate.

Whichever way the path is owned the council need to maintain the path “in such good repair as renders it reasonably passable for the ordinary traffic of the neighbourhood at all seasons of the year without danger caused by its physical condition”. In the words of a judge this does not mean “like a crown green bowling green”.

The general “rule of thumb” is that where you fell needs to be a defect of an inch (2.5cm) or more. There is no one case that specifically says this and it is not stated in the legislation. The size has evolved over time by the decisions made by various judges and it can vary, depending on the location.

Assume now that the Council accept that they are the highway authority or housing authority responsible for where the accident took place and it is over an inch in depth. Can you now get your money?

The answer is not necessarily. The Council can still deny that they are responsible for the accident. This is on the basis that they can show that they inspected the path regularly and if a defect is noted in the inspection then acted upon it and fixed it.

The Council employ highways inspectors to look at all their pavements, paths and roads at various times throughout the year. The number of times a year that a path needs to be looked at depends upon where it is. For instance a very busy city centre street, which is walked upon everyday by thousands of people, will need to be inspected on a monthly basis. Compared to the pavement of a residential street, which will only need to be inspected every twelve months. If the Council can produce their records to show that these inspections were carried out and if defects were noted then repaired then the claim will fail.

This “inspection” defence can be defeated by witness evidence usually from the people who live in the area where you fell. It can be from people who you know as well as other people in the local neighbourhood. Ideally it is better if independent witnesses are able to say that the defect where you fell has been there for years and that they have phoned up the Council and complained about this on a number of occasions. If these witnesses are completely independent then the chances are that the judge will believe them over the Council representatives and records.

It is possible that you can now have your money.

However what happens when it's not the Council who are responsible for the area where you fell?

This arises more often than you may think:-

Shop fronts are owned by the shops themselves particularly in areas where there are bins outside the shops.
Homeowners may own areas of the pavement.

If this turns out to be the situation then a claim would need to be submitted to the owners of the property in the hope that the owner has insurance.

Finally and most unfortunately it may turn out that no one is responsible for the area in question as no-one has every adopted the highway or bought the land. This is unusual but if it is the case then there is no one to claim from and you will never be able to claim any compensation Top of page

Benefits of a "No Win No Fee" Claim Solicitor Back

What Does It Mean?
Basically, a no win no fee compensation claim is available to anyone who believes they have grounds to make a personal injury claim for compensation. Under this conditional fee arrangement, an accident solicitor representing you in a personal injury claim is only entitled to be paid his fees if he actually wins the case.
Why would A Compensation Solicitor Agree To Such An Arrangement?

Under the law, if you win your personal injury compensation claim , your compensation solicitor is entitled to claim his fees and expenses from your opponent. As a result, if your solicitor believes your case has merit, hell be willing to work for you for free, safe in the knowledge that hell be paid for his work by your opponent once he wins the case.

Beside the obvious benefit of not having to pay for your solicitors services – whether you win or lose - the biggest benefit of appointing a no win no fee solicitor is the fact that you'll receive 100% of the personal injury compensation you are entitled to.

In other words, none of the compensation you'll be paid from your no win no fee accident claim, will be eaten up in solicitors fees and costs. In turn this means that the compensation you are paid can be put to good use that it was intended for – compensating you for the personal injury YOU suffered.

In addition to the above, because no win no fee solicitors are only paid on the basis that they win the personal injury case they are working on, they tend to be very good at what they do and are experts in personal injury law.

As a result, Easthams will be able to give you the best advice on whether or not your personal injury compensation claim has a chance of winning.

Is there anything I need to Be Aware Of?

Yes; sometimes a no win no fee solicitor will try to make you agree to pay his fees on the grounds that you can be reimbursed by your opponent once you win the case. However, you should keep in mind that the courts will only reimburse you for the reasonable fee costs of your solicitor – so if you agree to such an arrangement there is a chance that you will not be getting 100% compensation you are rightfully entitled to.

Easthams Guarantee that they will always recover their costs from the other party and leaving you 100% of your personal Injury compensation

Also, you need to keep in mind that if you lose your personal injury claim, although you will not be responsible for your own solicitors fees, you may be held accountable for fees off your opponent and even, possibly, the courts fees. So, if you are going to use the services of a no win no fee compensation solicitor you should make sure that you ask him who'll pay if you do happen to lose the case.

In this regard, a good accident solicitor will tell you that they have taken out insurance to cover this scenario. If, however, your solicitor has not taken out insurance, you should urge him to do so – as solicitors and court fees are expensive and can easily be covered with a minimal premium paid to an insurance company. Top of page

Accident At Work
Who's In charge, you or the Company? Back

An accident at work is impossible to avoid! If it happens, it happens. It's something you didn't plan and it's an incident you have to live with. There's over 70% of the population working on business premises, if not, it's business transports. So be warned now as accidents never sleep.

Workplace accidents are not common as there is a huge impact from Health and Safety. Checks are carried out periodically to ensure a workplace is free from hazards, to prevent accidents.

If however, they do occur, the cause of the accident is investigated and future prevention is carried out. So there is always a big helping hand from the Health and Safety Standards.

If an accident at work does occur, it's embarrassing. Colleagues can't believe it happened to you and become more precautious with their role. They feel sorry for you for now, not being able to competently complete your role. So they give you a hand. Initially there's remorse all around. it becomes an understanding culture.

After a while it becomes a pain, especially for your colleagues who keep putting a halt to their job to help you. Frustration arises and in their heads they'll be thinking. 'Now he's taking the ****!' But you're NOT . You are the one that had the accident at work and your body welcomes injuries in different ways to others. After a while tension gathers in the atmosphere and by now you're reported to the supervisor and disciplinary action is just round the corner.

You feel let down. In a workplace environment, business is business, no matter who you are. You have your own targets and deadlines to achieve. If they're not met, you will jeopardise your position. This is the game for any business. Each worker has a family to feed, so they need work to fulfil that criteria.

Also a work related accident can possibly jeopardise your position. It could prevent you from carry out your 'full' responsibility. Initially everybody understands, but after a while they'll be thinking 'it was only a small fall'. But only you know it wasn't just a small fall. It's not only made an adjustment to your working life, it also messed up your social and family life. You can't sleep, shower properly, play sports or even have sex . But only you see that side of the picture, your colleagues don't. They only see you at work.

Back to your working life. over time, the supervisor now reports you to the person above and you're just waiting for your name to be called to see the manager. Now it's going to hit you. You're either, get laid off, get demoted, or transferred to another department. This is where it hurts the most. The managers can't do anything but take necessary actions to ensure your position is 'fully' meeting its targets.

But he's your best fri end so, it's not his company and even if your best friend doesn't take action against you, someone above his ranking will take action against him. So either way something will happen to your role. Remember, if a business does not fulfil its role to provide product and services to its' buyers or users, then the definition of business is not fulfilled.

So now what are you thinking of an accident at work claim ? It's been 11 months since your personal injury and now you're thinking of you an injury claim!? If you took action at the early stages of your accident, by now you would have been in a better position.

Nevertheless it happens all the time. Workers 'think' , been with the company for so long, they won't do anything outrageous. Well you can't predict the future and neither can they. But what they can predict is your work performance, past, present and future. They forecast the future of their business and you should forecast your work future.

However you're scared thinking who'll be the bread earner if you lose your job. Let's worry about that in a minute, but first let's put the cards on the tab le.

Making mistakes is common practice as you know, nobody's prefect. Everybody learns from mistakes and ensure they don't make the 'same' mistake again.

Anyway, you make a mistake at work, you get told off, make another, you get told off again. Now if you keep making mistakes over time, what the hell do think is going to happen. Your supervisor is going to start looking over your record and start taking disciplinary action against you. First verbally, then in writing. Theses aren't the same' mistakes, but they're made according to your supervisor. Think about it this way, what happens if your supervisor makes a mistake, what will he do? Remember you can only report to the supervisor, there is no contact between you and his supervisors!

Back to the making mistakes... what happens if the company makes a mistake...?

Stuck aren't you. you can't think of much besides making a complaint.

If an accident at work occurs, it gets logged and depending on how serious you look in the eyes of the company, you'll be 'kindly' given days or weeks off. Being compensated for sick pay, which you know isn't much!!! The injury affects your 'life', not just your work and the company gives you a couple of days to recover. Now that's a joke!

No matter what action is taken against you need to make an accident at work claim . Why? This is the only 'powerful' solution you have over the company if they make a mistake.

Now you're both sailing in the same boat.