Claiming Against Your Local Council: How to Begin a Compensation Claim

Local authorities and councils are responsible for the upkeep and maintenance of proprieties and public space. They owe a duty of care to locals that rely on these publicly owned areas to ensure they are safe to use. However, failing to meet this duty of care can often result in injuries and even accidents. If this has happened to you within the past three years, you are eligible to make a personal injury claim. 

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Your local council is legally obligated to ensure that roads, pavements and other local assets are safe for civil use. Yet every year locals are injured by potholes or loose paving stones. To sue a local authority for compensation, it will be necessary to prove your injury was a result of the local authorities’ negligence. 

Who is Liable? 

Local authorities and councils are administrative bodies in local government who, as part of their jobs, ensure citizens’ health and safety in the local area. The councils provide many different services such as schools, sports facilities, maintain public areas and transport areas. 

Every local council is accountable for the maintenance and upkeep of their area and the services they provide. They also have a duty of care to members of the public to ensure that their safety and health is a priority. To do this, they are required to carry out frequent evaluations of the services that they provide to help them identify and prevent eventual hazards that could potentially lead to accidents and injuries in a public place. What’s more, it’s in their duty to make locals aware of these hazards and risks as this could reduce the risk of an accident occurring. If you’ve been injured on a property owned by your local authorities or council, you may be eligible to make a claim if it was caused as a result of careless behaviour on their behalf. 

How to sue the council for negligence? 

Claiming against your local council requires you to show that your injury has been caused by a failure of care on their part. If you’ve experienced an injury as a result of their negligence, you’re eligible to file a compensation claim. You can sue your local council by arranging an initial consultation with an expert solicitor to discuss your case and decide if you want to take it forward. 

Suing your council for damages can be difficult if the pavement or road defect that caused your injury has since been remediated. You can help your solicitor make your claim by: 

• Taking measurements of the defect or the pothole that caused your injury. 
• Taking pictures of where your injury took place
• Providing your solicitor with the address and names of any witnesses present. 
• Letting your solicitor know the police incident number. 

What types of claims can be made against the local authorities? 

Your local council has a duty to ensure that pavements, roads and other public areas are diligently maintained. Your solicitor can help you fill a local authority recompense claim if you’ve been injured as a result of: 

• Poor Maintenance 

That’s a common cause of accidents in public spaces. Poor maintenance can often cause equipment to break, manholes and drains to be left unsafe or could cause pipes to become faulty or worn over time. It’s imperative that maintenance is carried out on a regular basis in order to avoid this. 

 Fall on and trip on a footpath is a regular claim made against city councils where local pathways are not well-maintained as they should and also in the instance where repairs are overlooked to the footpath in a reasonable time after they have been reported to the council. 

• Inadequate Signage 

Local authorities are responsible for making their citizens aware of any potential hazards that could potentially cause an accident. Proper signage should be in place if there is maintenance work being carried out. But failing to warn people of this potential danger only means they don’t have enough time to react in this instance and may sustain accidents as a result. 

• Poor Road Conditions 

This is generally one of the leading causes of road transit accidents. Claims against the local authorities are commonly made as a result of uneven road surfaces or potholes, which are a potential hazard for vehicles. Such conditions should be repaired in a timely manner, or there should at least be adequate signage in place to make locals aware of this until the problem can be resolved. This could lead to injuries like broken bones and whiplash. It’s vital to understand that if you come across a pothole that could eventually cause an injury, you should report this to your local authorities to have this repaired. 

• Lack of Training 

Local authorities must provide the necessary training to all employees in order to properly carry out their job. This helps reduce the risks of accidents occurring and allow them to carry out their job safely. This training has to be offered to them by the local council who have a duty of care to ensure their safety and health at all times during the course of their work. 

What are the time limits for making a claim?

Claims against your local authorities usually need to be made within three years of the crash that caused your injury. 

Yet, there are some important expectations for this three-year rule: 

• There is no time limit for those who claim on behalf of someone who doesn’t have the mental ability to claim for themselves. There is no limit for children up to their 18th birthday. From 18th birthday the three-year time limit applies. 

In case of council negligence solicitors recommend making your claim as soon as possible. This will make it easier for your solicitor to gather necessary evidence, such as taking pictures, interviewing witnesses in support of your case or taking measurements of the paving/road defect that caused your injury.