For You
A slip, trip or fall can happen in a second and leave you dealing with the consequences for months. If you were injured because someone responsible for a place failed to take reasonable care, you may be entitled to claim compensation.
We act for people injured in shops, supermarkets, car parks, restaurants, offices and other business premises, and on pavements, footpaths and roads. Most claims are funded on a no win, no fee basis, and the first conversation is free with no obligation to take things further.
It depends on who was responsible for the place where you fell, and on what they should reasonably have done about the hazard.
On premises, an occupier owes what the law calls the common duty of care. Under section 2(2) of the Occupiers’ Liability Act 1957 that is a duty to take such care as in all the circumstances is reasonable to see that a visitor will be reasonably safe in using the premises for the purposes for which they are invited or permitted to be there. So the question is not whether an accident happened, but whether the occupier took reasonable care.
A warning sign is not automatically a defence. Section 2(4)(a) of the same Act says that where a visitor is injured by a danger they had been warned about, the warning does not by itself absolve the occupier unless, in all the circumstances, it was enough to enable the visitor to be reasonably safe. A wet floor sign left in the wrong place, or put out long after a spill, may not be enough.
Where a contractor did faulty work, section 2(4)(b) means an occupier is not automatically answerable if they acted reasonably in entrusting the work to a contractor and took the steps they reasonably ought to have taken to satisfy themselves both that the contractor was competent and that the work had been done properly. That defence is narrower than it sounds: it covers only the faulty execution of construction, maintenance or repair work, so a cleaning contractor is arguably outside it altogether. It is why supermarket and shopping centre cleaning cases turn on the cleaning records.
The law expects less care of some visitors than others. Under section 2(3)(a) an occupier must be prepared for children to be less careful than adults. Under section 2(3)(b) an occupier may expect someone visiting in the exercise of their trade to appreciate and guard against the special risks ordinarily incident to it, but only so far as the occupier leaves them free to do so.
Spills not cleared, floors left wet after cleaning, trailing cables, stock or pallets in aisles, and entrance matting in poor condition.
Wet or greasy floors, poorly lit steps, unmarked changes in level, and worn or loose stair coverings.
Potholes, broken kerbs, missing bollards, unlit areas and ice left untreated on a private car park.
Damaged flooring, unsecured mats, obstructed walkways and stairways without adequate handrails.
Raised or sunken paving slabs, potholes, uncovered utility openings and defects left unrepaired. These claims are brought against the highway authority and follow a different route, set out below.
Falls in the shared parts of blocks of flats and commercial buildings, where responsibility usually rests with the landlord or the managing agent.
Falls at someone else’s home are normally met by their household insurance rather than by them personally.
Claims against a highway authority work differently, because of a statutory defence that has no equivalent in an ordinary occupiers’ liability claim.
Under section 41 of the Highways Act 1980 the highway authority is under a duty to maintain a highway maintainable at the public expense. That duty attaches only to highways maintainable at public expense, which is not every path or forecourt that looks public. For snow and ice there is a separate and narrower duty, to ensure so far as is reasonably practicable that safe passage is not endangered.
Section 58 of the same Act then gives the authority a special defence. It is a defence for the authority to prove that it had taken such care as in all the circumstances was reasonably required to secure that the part of the highway in question was not dangerous for traffic. The burden is on the authority, not on you.
In deciding that, section 58(2) says the court must in particular have regard to:
the character of the highway and the traffic reasonably expected to use it
the standard of maintenance appropriate for a highway of that character and used by such traffic
the state of repair a reasonable person would expect to find
whether the authority knew or could reasonably have been expected to know that the condition was likely to cause danger
where repair before the cause of action arose was not reasonably possible, what warning notices were displayed
Those matters are not a closed list.
There is one further point in the closing words of the same subsection that is often overlooked. It is not enough for the authority to prove that it engaged a competent contractor. It must also prove that it gave proper instructions about maintenance and that the contractor carried them out.
There is no statutory threshold for when a pavement defect becomes dangerous. The Highways Act sets no measurement. Whether a defect is actionable depends on the authority’s inspection and repair regime and on whether it took the care reasonably required. An authority’s own intervention level, often 20mm or 25mm, is an internal policy, not a legal threshold, and the courts have said so. So do not be put off by being told a defect was too shallow to matter, and do not assume a deep one succeeds automatically.
The authority’s inspection and repair records are usually the evidence the claim turns on, and we obtain them.
The single most useful thing you can do is record the scene before it changes. A spill is mopped up and a paving slab is repaired, often within days.
Photograph the hazard from more than one angle, with something in shot that shows scale, and photograph the wider area so the location is identifiable.
Report it to the shop, the venue or the local authority, and keep the reference number. Ask for a copy of the accident book entry.
Note the time and date, and the names and contact details of anyone who saw it or who dealt with you.
Keep receipts for anything you have had to pay for, and keep a note of time taken off work.
Keep the footwear you were wearing, unwashed, if the surface was wet or greasy.
If CCTV exists, it is often overwritten within weeks, so tell us early and we will ask for it to be preserved.
Compensation is made up of two parts.
General damages compensate for the injury itself, meaning pain, suffering and loss of amenity, assessed from independent medical evidence about the injury, the treatment and the recovery.
Special damages compensate the financial consequences, known as the heads of loss:
loss of earnings to date, and future loss where you cannot return to the same work
treatment, physiotherapy and rehabilitation
care and assistance, including help given unpaid by family
travel to appointments
aids, equipment and adaptations
damaged clothing, glasses and personal items
We will tell you at the first conversation which of these apply to you and make sure each is evidenced. Our personal injury claim calculator gives a rough indication in the meantime.
A first conversation, free and without obligation, to establish what happened and whether a claim is viable.
Investigation. We identify who was responsible for the place, then obtain the accident report, the cleaning or inspection records, CCTV where it exists and witness evidence.
Medical evidence. We instruct an independent expert to report on the injury, the treatment and the recovery.
Negotiation. Most claims are settled without court proceedings, which is faster, cheaper and less stressful than litigating.
Court proceedings where a fair settlement cannot be reached. Issuing does not mean the case will be tried; most issued claims are still settled.
A claim must generally be started within three years of the accident, or of the date you first knew that you had a significant injury, that it was attributable to someone else’s act or omission, and who that person was.
If the injured person was under 18, the three years runs from their eighteenth birthday, so a claim can be brought until they are 21. If they lack the capacity to conduct proceedings, time does not run while that continues.
The court has a discretion to allow a claim outside the limit, but it is not something to rely on. If you may be close to a deadline, contact us straight away.
Most of these claims are funded by a conditional fee agreement, known as no win, no fee. Nothing is payable upfront, and if the claim does not succeed you do not pay our fees.
If it succeeds, most of our costs are recovered from the other side, and a success fee comes out of your compensation. By law that success fee cannot exceed 25% of your damages for pain, suffering and loss of amenity and your past financial losses, after any benefits repayable to the Compensation Recovery Unit have been taken off. That cap applies however the claim ends, and the fee is never taken from compensation for future losses. You would also be responsible for disbursements such as expert and court fees, and for any costs order made against you, which is what after the event insurance is for. We will set out all of it in writing before you sign anything.
Two alternatives are worth checking first. Legal expenses insurance is often included with home or motor insurance and, if you have it, can mean no deduction from your damages at all, so send us your policy schedule and we will check. And some trade unions provide legal assistance to members.
Where a lump sum could affect entitlement to means-tested benefits, a personal injury trust can protect it.
If you were injured because someone responsible for the place failed to take reasonable care, you may be. See the time limits above, which are not always three years from the accident. The first conversation costs nothing.
Yes, though it makes evidence more important. Medical records, photographs, witness accounts and the occupier’s own cleaning or inspection records can establish what happened where an accident book entry cannot.
You may still claim. Where responsibility is shared, the award is reduced to reflect your share rather than refused. How much it is reduced by depends on the facts, so it is worth taking advice rather than assuming.
In practice the claim is dealt with by their household insurer rather than by them personally, which is what that cover exists for. It is worth discussing openly at the first conversation.
A straightforward claim where liability is admitted may take nine to eighteen months. Where the injury is more serious, longer, because the claim should not be settled before the medical evidence is complete.
There is no standard figure. It depends on the injury, the recovery and the financial consequences for you. We will explain which heads of loss apply once the medical evidence is available.
Yes. A fall at work turns on an employer’s duties to its employees rather than on occupiers’ liability, and it is dealt with as a workplace slip and trip claim. A fall in a public place is dealt with as an accident in a public place.
More questions are answered on our personal injury FAQs page.
Tell us what happened and where, and we will tell you whether we think you have a claim, how it would be funded and what the next step would be.
Call our team of personal injury solicitors on 01689 887887 or request a callback. The first conversation is free and confidential, and there is no pressure to take things further.
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