Early in 2010 Britain experienced some of the most severe weather conditions it had seen for years. In the worst affected areas this put particular strain on the hospitals, who reported an increase on admittances relating to slips and trips, indicating that people have been attempting to stay safe by avoiding the car and taking to the streets.

In badly hit areas, such as areas of the Midlands and Sothern Scotland, A&E departments of hospitals were reporting an increase in slip related fractures, relating the slippery conditions. One Reading based hospital were forced to create extra theatre space to carry out a higher number of procedures after on e particularly accident filled day when they sae a 36% increase in patients.

A number of people who have been injured or know someone who has are angry with the way local councils failed to prepare for the extreme weather, with some threatening legal action. However if you’re thinking of taking them to task, you may want to rethink, as you need more than the fact that you were injured to prove it was the fault of the council.

As one PI solicitor at Chester based Oliver & Co ‘you have to be able to show the council acted unreasonably in failing to grit the pavement’, which is more tricky to prove then you would first think. This is not the case, however, if your accident occurred on some sort of private land such as a car park, and in these scenarios bringing a claim may be more straightforward.

Privately owned areas, unlike the public highways and byways, are bound to ensure an areas safety is “reasonable in all circumstances” as part of the Occupiers Liability Act 1957.

At the moment the weather has certainly picked up, but should we see the adverse weather again we recommend wearing sensible shoes, avoiding unnecessary journeys and if you must go out trying to find a well gritted route and taking it slow.

Want to find out more about compensation services, then visit the What’s My Claim Worth site and see if you may be entitled to make ano win no fee compensation claim.

This entry was posted on Friday, March 12th, 2010 at 6:09 am and is filed under Diseases & Illness. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.