Public bodies owe all members of the public a legal duty of care upon using public services. This means it is the public bodies’ responsibility to ensure that wherever you are, you are adequately protected from any accident or injury. This is done by the public bodies or a designated individual consistently undertaking safety checks, repairs, necessary restructuring, rewiring and actively keep public places hazardous fee.

This duty is breached if you suffer an injury due to the neglect of the public body or an individual acting in a public capacity and you can show that the accident did occur because of neglect.

The most common public liability accident is a slip and trip injury. This is where an individual suffers an injury arising from either a slip, trip or fall in a public space. Such instances where this may arise include, but are not limited to –

  • Falling over a pothole which has not been properly sealed off
  • Suffering an injury due to hazardous objects interfering in your path e.g. broken shards of glass, loose branches, deleterious substances such as acid being present, slipping due to oil leakages, wet leaves etc.
  • Tripping over a loosely implemented cobble or pavement slab
  • Suffering a fall due to slippery or wet floors
  • Suffering a burn or scald as a result of extreme water conditions

What may appear to be innocuous injuries at first glance could potentially lead to disastrous consequences. This is further exacerbated by the fact that these types of injuries can occur almost anywhere – in a shopping mall, walking down a pavement, in a public park, crossing a road, at a restaurant, using an elevator or staircase and even car parks.

If you feel as though you have been injured in a public vicinity, you should immediately report all incidents to the relevant body in charge of the area. You should collect as much information as possible about the accident e.g. witness details, where the hazard was, the time and date of the accident, who’s responsible for the area in which the hazard is situated in, clear photographs showing the hazard, whether any CCTV footage is recoverable etc. You should also visit your local GP for any immediate medical attention and make a note of the time and date you attended as well as any diagnoses’.

And you should also contact us as soon as possible. Our highly specialised team of personal injury solicitors are well experienced in dealing with public liability matters. Once we have retrieved all the information necessary from you, we can proceed with the matter as efficiently as possible. We will evaluate the facts and merits of the case and try our utmost best to ensure the defect can be established as being an actionable defect i.e. a defect of a dangerous nature. We will notify all relevant parties to the matter and work diligently towards a solution for you. Call us now on 01282 678767 / 0330 053 6767 or contact us online for a free no obligation consultation with one of our dedicated solicitors.