Public Liability Injury Claims
Having an accident in a public place can be tough both physically and emotionally. Even though the typical British response is to downplay things and solider on, you might experience complications in the aftermath like unexpected medical costs, emotional stress, and work disruptions
Of course, accidents happen, and sometimes there's no one to blame. But, if an accident wasn't your fault and was caused by someone else's negligence or mistake, you may be able to make a public liability claim.
At Lawhive, our personal injury solicitors are here to help you get the compensation you rightly deserve following an accident in public.
To discuss your claim with our team, get a free, no-obligation case assessment today.
What is public liability?
Public liability is the responsibility of individuals or businesses overseeing public areas to keep them safe. This is called a duty of care.
If an individual or business fails in this duty, and it causes injury, you can usually claim compensation if you can prove they didn't take proper care and, as a result, you got hurt.
Many businesses have public liability insurance to compensate anyone who is injured on their premises due to their fault or negligence.
What counts as an accident in public?
From a slip, trip, or fall in the town centre, or an accident on the road, businesses, councils, and local authorities have what is known as a ‘duty of care’ to members of the public that use the facilities that they own and operate.
There have been 53,403 public liability compensation claims in 2023 alone, these only account for those reported to the Compensation Recovery Unit, and the value of these was £5.915 million.
The owners of public spaces have a legal responsibility to ensure that public spaces are safe to use and that any identified risk is mitigated. So, if you’re involved in an accident that could or should have been prevented you could claim compensation.
What is a public liability claim?
A public liability claim is a compensation claim someone can make if they were injured in a public space at no fault of their own.
So, if you were injured because a third party did not do enough to make you safe, they can be considered negligent under the law and you may be able to make a claim.
You may be able to claim if you were injured in one of the following places:
Public places: pavements, paths, walkways, roads and parks;
Shopping centres;
Shops and supermarkets;
Public car parks – including supermarket car parks;
Restaurants, pubs, bars, and nightclubs;
Gyms, sports and entertainment venues.
What types of accidents in public places can you claim compensation for?
Personal injury lawyers and legal firms often focus on slips, trips, and falls as these are the most common forms of public injury.
Living Streets, a UK charity for everyday walking, reports that slips, trips, and falls could cost the British taxpayer as much as half a billion each year. The charity was given funding from the Department for Transport to investigate further, and surveying local authorities they found that:
Annual personal injury claims payments in England ranged from approximately £15.6 million in 2018 to £7.3 million in 2020
Medical treatment and ongoing social care costs are higher: the cost of emergency admissions requiring an overnight stay in 2019 was an estimated £98.7 million.
This form of accident disproportionally affects older people and leads to worse consequences for them. However, they can affect people from all age groups.
Common forms of public injury include:
Slips, trips, and falls – often caused in wet, snowy, or icy conditions;
Pavement and road accidents – caused by cracks or obstacles on pavements, walkways, paths, and roads;
Sports accidents – dangerous sports and activities like motocross, skiing snowboarding, and horseracing can lead to injuries;
Holiday injuries – if you were injured on holiday while skiing or during water sports or became ill from food poisoning, you may be able to claim on return to the UK;
Supermarkets – accidents in the aisles due to inadequate or no spillage warnings, uncleared obstacles, and car park accidents.
What sort of injuries happen in public place accidents?
The injuries sustained from public accidents can vary.
Some of the most common accidents reported are:
Cuts, lacerations, bruises;
Broken bones;
Strains and sprains;
Life-threatening injuries;
Fatal injuries.
Can I make a personal injury claim for an accident in a public place?
If you were injured and it was not your fault you may be able to make a personal injury claim for your accident that took place in a public space.
You’ll need to provide evidence that:
You were involved in an accident in a public space;
It wasn’t your fault; the other party was negligent;
You were injured in the accident.
You can still claim public liability compensation if you were partly responsible for the accident, as long as the owner of the space was also partly responsible for your accident taking place. The amount you could receive in this instance would be determined by the degree to which the other party was to blame for your accident.
It may be that the person who was injured is a loved one and is unwilling or unable to talk about the accident. Our solicitors can speak to loved ones, friends, and relatives and a claim can be made on behalf of the injured person when they are prevented from making a claim themselves.
Is there a time limit on public liability claims?
Yes, as with other personal injury compensation claims you will typically have three years in which to bring a public liability claim against a third party.
What this means is that you have three years from the date of your accident to make a claim. Or, when injuries don’t immediately result, three years from the date your injuries were diagnosed by a medical professional.
If you were under 18 at the time of the injury you will have to wait till you turn 18 to make a claim, and you will have until the day you turn 21 to do so. Otherwise, any parent, guardian, or responsible adult can claim on your behalf before then.
Other exceptions to the public liability accident timeline may apply, including if you or the claimant does not have the mental capacity to do so. In legal terms, mental capacity relates to the ability to understand what is happening and when. What constitutes as lacking mental capacity is set out in the Mental Capacity Act 2005.