Learn About Claiming For Accidents In A Public Place

By Jade Perry. Last Updated 24th May 2024. If you’ve suffered an injury from an accident in a public place, you may want to know if you can receive compensation. This guide will explain the legal principles for making a claim and under what instances you may be able to receive compensation. Furthermore, it will clarify the types of evidence you need and the benefits of claiming under a No Win No Fee agreement.

Additionally, if you have any questions or queries, our team of advisors offer free legal advice 24/7. They can tell you if you’re eligible to claim and even provide you with a compensation estimate. Please bear in mind that you’re under no obligation to use the services of our panel should you contact us. However, if you have strong grounds for a claim, we can put you through to our specialised panel of No Win No Fee solicitors who can help you.

Please contact us using the details below.

  • Call us using the phone number above. 
  • Contact us through our website. 
  • Alternatively, please message us in our Live Chat window. 

Read on to learn more about the types of accidents in a public place you may be able to claim for. 

a solicitor discussing an accident in a public place

Select a Section

  1. What Are Accidents In A Public Place?
  2. What Must I Prove As Part Of A Personal Injury Claim?
  3. Potential Examples Accidents In A Public Place
  4. Compensation Settlements For Accidents In Public Places
  5. No Win No Fee Claims – What Are The Benefits?
  6. Call Our Team About Claiming Compensation For An Accident In A Public Place

What Are Accidents In A Public Place

Accidents in public places, such as a park or a petrol station, can have a significant impact on your quality of life. For example, you may be unable to work or suffer permanent health issues. You may also experience moderate injuries that require you to take leave from work for some time. This guide will illustrate the most important aspects of claiming for personal injury. It will also provide examples of the types of injuries you could suffer and what you need to prove in order to receive compensation. 

You may be wondering, “what is a public injury?” There are many different locations where an accident in a public place can occur. Public locations can include:

  • Parks and public squares
  • Schools and nurseries
  • Beaches
  • Public libraries
  • Shopping centres

An important aspect of claiming is confirming who the controller of the space is. If you’ve been injured in a public place, it’s important to identify the correct third party you should claim against. For instance, many parks are owned by the local council. Therefore, if you’ve been injured in a park, you may be claiming for compensation against the council. 

The section below will clarify the legal principles behind claiming for an accident in a public place. However, if you prefer, you can contact a member of our team for free legal advice. They can tell you, in just one phone call, whether you’re eligible for compensation and can even put you through to a personal injury solicitor from our panel who could help. Contact our team at a time that works for you using the details above. 

What Must I Prove As Part Of A Personal Injury Claim?

Every party in control of a public place has a duty of care. In England and Wales, this is defined in the Occupiers’ Liability Act 1957. The ‘occupier’ (controller) needs to ensure, within reason, that the space is safe and secure enough to be used by members of the public. Therefore, if you’re wanting to claim for a personal injury in a public place, the only way you can do this is by proving that it was caused by third-party negligence. 

You may be wondering what is meant by negligence. For you to receive compensation, you need to prove the below three:

  1. Firstly, that the third party had a duty of care towards you.
  2. Secondly, that their actions or inaction resulted in a breach of duty. 
  3. Lastly, that the breach of duty caused your injury. 

To make a successful accident in a public place claim, you need to prove that your injury was primarily caused by the negligence of the owner or occupier. 

Evidence is crucial in the personal injury claims process. As the person making a claim, the onus is on you to prove that negligence caused your injury. A solicitor can help you with this, however. Evidence you could use includes:

  • CCTV footage
  • Photographic evidence of your injury and the scene of the accident
  • Medical records
  • Witness statements

A specialised No Win No Fee solicitor from our panel could help you gather evidence for a claim. This could improve your chances of receiving compensation. To learn more about this, please contact us at a time that works for you using the details above.  

Potential Examples Of Accidents In A Public Place

An accident in a public place can cause many different types of injuries. The amount of compensation you could receive will depend on the nature of the injury and how negatively it has impacted your life. You may be wondering, “what are the types of accidents you can claim for?” Examples of potential accidents include:

  • Falling down a flight of stairs due to a faulty handrail. This could lead to arm, elbow, hand or leg injuries, for example. 
  • Slipping on ice if pavement hasn’t been sufficiently gritted. You could suffer a serious back injury from this kind of fall, for example. 
  • Suffering a slip, trip or fall due to exposed wiring. 
  • Slipping due to the floor being wet with no warning signs present. Depending on how you fall, you could injure your hip, knee, leg or ankle. 
  • Hurting your shoulder or arm due to a faulty door slamming into you. 

Accidents leading to compensation have one factor in common: there is a direct link between the third party’s actions and your injury. You would only be able to receive compensation by showing that the third party’s breach of duty led to your injury. 

Compensation Settlements For Accidents In Public Places

Compensation for successful public place accident claims could potentially be made up of two different payouts that address different damages. These two different payouts are called general and special damages. 

A general damages payout will award you for the emotional and physical effects you are suffering from being injured in a public place. Aspects that could affect the value of a general damages payout include:

  • The length of the recovery time.
  • Whether you’ve suffered one or multiple injuries. For example, if you slipped on a wet floor in a supermarket, you could break both your arm and ankle. 
  • The severity of the injury.
  • Whether there is any permanent damage.

The Judicial College Guidelines (JCG) is a document that can help figure out the value of a general damages payout. The JCG hosts a variety of guideline compensation brackets for differing injuries at different severities. 

Guideline Compensation Table

You can find in the table below some types of injuries which could potentially be suffered from an accident in a public place. These injuries, along with their accompanying guideline compensation brackets, are from the JCG (only the top figure is ours and not from the JCG). 

However, it is vital to bear in mind that none of the guideline compensation figures from the JCG can be guaranteed.

Injury TypeSeverityCompensation AmountDescription
Multiple serious injuries and special damagesSeriousUp to £500,000+Where the injured person has suffered multiple serious injuries and financial losses, such as a loss of earnings and the costs for prescriptions.
BackSevere (a) (ii)£90,510 to £107,910Cases in this bracket have special features such as nerve root damage causing loss of sensation or bladder and bowel impairment.
HandSerious (e)£35,390 to £75,550Injuries in this bracket can cause the hand to lose around 50% capacity. This can be caused by several fingers needing to be amputated, for instance.
NeckSevere (iii)£55,500 to £68,330 Dislocations, fractures or soft tissue damage that results in significant and permanent disability.
Moderate (b) (iii)£7,410 to £12,900Injuries that have led to an exacerbation or acceleration of a pre-existing medical condition over less than five years.
KneeSevere (a) (iii)£31,960 to £53,030Injuries in this bracket cause continuing symptoms like discomfort, pain and movement limitation or instability that can lead to degenerative changes.
FootSerious (e)£30,500 to £47,840Injuries in this bracket can cause continuous pain from traumatic arthritis and risk the need for spinal fusion.
AnkleModest (d)Up to £16,770Less serious, undisplaced or minor fractures, ligamentous injuries and sprains.
ShoulderModerate (c)£9,630 to £15,580 A frozen shoulder that causes discomfort and limitation of movement for around two years.

Special Damages

A special damages payout will award you for the expenses you have incurred from being injured in a public place. This payouts helps to restore your financial position to what it was prior to your accident. 

Special damages can include:

  • Loss of earnings (past and future).
  • Private healthcare costs that aren’t covered by the NHS.  
  • Prescription costs. 

This payout is not guaranteed to be awarded for successful claims, whereas general damages payouts are guaranteed. For this reason, please keep any evidence such as receipts, payslips, bank statements, and invoices. 

Please contact us to learn more about compensation for public place accident claims.

No Win No Fee Claims – What Are The Benefits? 

If you’ve suffered an accident in a public place, you may want to know the advantages of using the service from our panel of No Win No Fee public liability solicitors. The benefits of using a Conditional Fee Agreement (the formal term for No Win No Fee agreement) include:

  • Only paying solicitor fees after a settlement has been agreed upon. 
  • No surprise charges or hidden fees as well as not paying your solicitor’s fees upfront or during the claim. 
  • Your solicitor’s fee comes out of your compensation. They will take a portion that is smaller and legally capped to cover legal costs. 

This means that our panel of solicitors won’t waste your time. They will only take your case if they feel you have a reasonably good chance of success because they will only get paid for their work if your claim is successful. 

Call Our Team About Claiming Compensation For An Accident In A Public Place

To see if you can claim for an accident in a public place, contact our advisors for free legal advice. They’re available 24/7 and can tell you quickly and simply if you’re eligible to claim. They can also put you through to a No Win No Fee solicitor from our panel whose expertise could result in you receiving compensation. 

Contact us 24/7 with the details below. 

  • Call us on the phone number above. 
  • Contact us through our website. 
  • Alternatively, write to us using our chat window. 

Further Resources On Making A Claim After An Accident In A Public Place

To learn more about claiming for an accident in a public place, please refer to the links below. 

Have you suffered a sprain or strain? If so, and you would like medical guidance, please read this guide from the NHS. 

Read this to learn more about how to treat a broken bone. 

The Compensation Recovery Unit (CRU) recovers benefit payments from people who have had successful compensation claims. View their statistics to get a better idea of how many people claim for these types of accidents. 

Why not check out more of our personal injury claims guides below:

If you still have questions or queries about claiming for an accident in a public place, please contact our advisors at a time that works for you.