Pavement Accident Claims: Advice On Your Legal Rights And Compensation Payouts

By Jade Perry. Last Updated 24th May 2024. In this guide, we will explore the process of making pavement accident claims. There are instances where you’re owed a duty of care and if this duty has been breached, causing you to sustain harm, you may be eligible to seek compensation. This guide aims to help you understand whether you are eligible to start a personal injury claim for the physical or psychological harm you have suffered as a result of someone else’s negligence.

The value of compensation can vary depending on several factors. This guide will provide information on how compensation is calculated and the evidence you may need to support your claim. 

Additionally, we understand you may wish to hire a solicitor. If so, you may find the option of a No Win No Fee arrangement helpful. For example. if you hire a solicitor to represent your claim under a Conditional Fee Agreement, a type of No Win No Fee service, you could avoid paying upfront costs for their services.

We hope this guide provides you with the information you need. However, if you have any questions whilst or after reading, please don’t hesitate to get in touch by:

  • Calling us on the phone number above 
  • Requesting a call-back via our claim online form
  • Speaking with an advisor via the live chat feature below. 

a raised paving slab, posing a trip hazard

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Can I Claim Compensation For A Pavement Accident?

The person in control of a public space has a duty of care to prevent members of the public from experiencing harm by taking reasonable steps to reduce the risk any hazards pose. This duty comes under the Occupiers’ Liability Act 1957 (OLA).

However, there are instances where someone might fail to adhere to the duty of care they owe you. As a result, you may sustain injuries such as a broken wrist, broken leg, a knee injury or a head injury in a pavement accident.

Pavement accident claims could be made if you can prove that negligence occurred. The three criteria of negligence include:

  • Someone owing you a duty of care
  • Having the duty of care breached
  • Suffering physical or psychological harm as a result.

If you want to find out whether you are eligible to seek compensation for the harm you sustained in an accident in a public place, get in touch using the number above.

Compensation Payouts In Pavement Accident Claims

Successful pavement accident claims may consist of two different types of damages. These include general and special damages. Each of these seek to compensate for the different ways your injuries have impacted you. General damages account for the way your injuries have impacted your quality of life, including the pain and suffering you have experienced. It covers both physical and psychological injuries.

The Judicial College releases guidelines that set out bracket compensation amounts for several injuries. Solicitors often use these guidelines alongside other medical evidence to help them accurately calculate the general damages head of your claim.

In the table below are figures from the most recent edition of the guidelines, published in April 2024. Please only use these as a guide.

InjurySeverityCompensation BracketComments
Multiple serious injuries plus special damagesSeriousUp to and above £500,000+A payout for suffering more than one serious injury plus the financial losses you have sustained, such as loss of earnings and painkiller costs.
Brain DamageModerate (c) (iii)£52,550 to £110,720 Concentration and memory are impacted and the ability to work is limited.
Less severe (d)£18,700 to £52,550There will be similar problems as above but the injured person will make a good recovery and return to work and a normal social life.
BackSevere (a) (iii)£47,320 to £85,100Injuries in this bracket include disc lesions or disc fractures that cause several chronic issues.
AnkleVery severe (a)£61,090 to £85,070Injuries might include soft tissue damage with a transmalleolar fracture that causes deformity and other issues.
WristComplete loss of function (a)£58,110 to £73,050Where an arthrodesis needs to be performed.
HandSevere fractures to fingers (f)Up to £44,840Resulting in partial amputations and causing other issues such as deformity.
Elbow Less severe (b)£19,100 to £39,070Injuries that have caused function to be impaired but no major surgery will be needed.
FacialFractures of cheekbones (d) (i)£12,450 to £19,260Serious fractures that require surgery with lasting effects such as some element of disfigurement.

Special damages is the other head of claim that could be included in your settlement. They seek to reimburse any financial costs associated with your injuries. Examples of the losses you could claim back include:

  • Loss of income. 
  • Medical Expenses.
  • Travel Costs. 
  • Adaptations to your home.

You must provide evidence of these losses. This could include payslips that demonstrate any lost earnings or receipts to show any travel costs.

For more information on what your settlement could include, get in touch with our team.

Key Evidence To Help Prove Pavement Accident Claims

As mentioned, the person in control of a public space is responsible for upholding the duty of care they owe you under the OLA. It may depend on the area as to who owes you a duty of care. In some cases, it could be the local council or it could be a business owner of an outdoor shopping centre that has paved paths.

As such, determining who owed you a duty of care is important when making pavement accident claims. Additionally, you would need to prove that the person responsible for providing a duty of care, failed to and caused you harm as a result. In order to prove liability for the accident that caused you harm, you would need to provide relevant evidence. This could include:

  • CCTV footage
  • Pictures of the accident scene
  • Pictures of your injuries
  • Contact details of any witnesses
  • Medical records

Additionally, you could seek legal advice from an experienced personal injury claims solicitor to help you through the process of seeking compensation. A solicitor could help make sure you had sufficient evidence to support your case. They could also arrange for you to attend an independent medical appointment. The assessment can provide details on the full extent of the harm you sustained.

For more information on what evidence is needed for personal injury claim, get in touch.

What Are The Causes Of Pavement Accidents?

There are numerous ways an occupier could breach their duty of care and cause someone to suffer a pavement accident.

As such, here are some examples of potential pavement accident claims:

  • After a risk assessment, the local council found a broken pavement slab. However, they failed to fix it within a reasonable amount of time. You may have tripped and fell on the broken slab and suffered a broken arm injury.
  • There was a missing slab after the local council were doing some maintenance checks on the pavement. However, they failed to put any warning signs down to block off where the missing pavement slab was. From this, you may have tripped and fell and suffered a head injury as well as a fractured cheekbone.
  • A report was made to the council about a water pipe that was left by them on the pavement. Despite this, they failed to remove the trip hazard within a reasonable amount of time. This caused you to trip and fall on the hazard, leading to a broken wrist injury.
  • While the council were replacing a missing pavement slab, they failed to notice that they broke a part of the kerbstone with their machinery. From the broken kerbstone, you could trip and fall and break your arm.

If you have experienced a similar form of negligence, please get in touch with us using the number above. Our advisors can help you understand whether you’re eligible to make a claim and can tell you how much compensation for a fall on the pavement could possibly be awarded for successful pavement accident claims.

Make A Claim On A No Win No Fee Basis

When you hire legal representation to represent pavement accident claims, your solicitor could offer to represent your claim on a No Win No Fee basis by representing your claim under a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA). This is a helpful way to fund legal representation without having to pay upfront costs to your solicitor.

You will need to pay a success fee if your claim succeeds. The fee comes from your compensation and is subject to a legal cap. However, additional details of the fee are outlined in the CFA you sign before your claim proceeds. No fee will be required for unsuccessful claims.

Our panel of solicitors all operate on this basis so could start working on your claim, provided it’s valid and has a chance of success.

An advisor can help you determine whether you’re eligible to work with a solicitor from our panel. Additionally, they could provide further information on the pavement accident claims process. You can get in touch by:

  • Calling us on the phone number above 
  • Requesting a call-back via our claim online form
  • Speaking with an advisor via the live chat feature below. 

More Information On Personal Injury Claims

Below, we have included some additional resources you may find helpful:

You can also view some of the other guides on our website, such as the following:

We hope this guide on pavement accident claims has helped. However, if you need any additional information, please get in touch using the details above.