by Richard Craig
27 October 2011
New figures indicate that councils in England and Wales have paid out £75 million in personal injury compensation in the last five years.
Whilst this may be met with disdain from some quarters, particularly in the context of the increasing dismay over the price of car insurance, one commentator believes that this demonstrates a culture of negligence surrounding public bodies rather than the prevalence of a ‘claims culture.’
Charles Hadfield, who works in the personal injury litigation field, says,
"For a personal injury claim to result in a pay out to the claimant, the defendant, in this case the councils, either have to concede negligence or it has to have been found they were negligent in court. So the problem is really down to council failure to avoid preventable accidents and injuries."
In that case Brighton and Manchester City Councils have questions to answer to their taxpayers following the revelation that they paid out £4.9 and £2.6 million respectively.
Hadfield says:
"Taxpayers have a right to know how much money negligence on the part of councils is costing them. This sort of information is valuable and should absolutely continue to be made public."