How To Make A Public Liability Injury Claim
Although it is nice to think that nothing bad will ever happen to us, the truth is that public liability claims are a necessity for many people. In the following post, we will explain all you need to know about making a public liability claim.
We cover everything from what constitutes a public liability claim to how you go about making one and finding the right person to represent you. If you believe you have been the victim of an accident in public, read on to discover how you can get the compensation you’re entitled to.
What Exactly Counts As Public Liability?
Public liability can be explained as the duty of care a business, organisation or individual is responsible or owes the general public to ensure a public area or space is safe for use. Companies are advised to take out public liability insurance to enable them to give compensation to members of the general public who are injured on their property or areas when they are at fault.
What Is a Public Liability Compensation Claim?
A public liability compensation claim, which could also be referred to as a personal injury claim, is making a claim again the owner of a public property if you have had an accident and suffered from an injury. There are many organisations, public and governmental, that fall under this umbrella term when it comes to making a claim.
What Kinds Of Accidents And Injuries Qualifies For Public Liability Claims?
There is a wide variety of accidents and injuries that qualify a public liability claim, including:
- Trips, slips and falls that have been caused by untreated surfaces in winter weather, poorly maintained pavements and footpaths and potholes. This can apply to areas such as car parks, schools shopping centres, supermarkets and damaged stairwells.
- Objects causing injuries, either by falling from a height onto the public, or sharp objects that should have been moved or covered over to make them safe.
- Obstructions on a footpath road or any other hazards that can cause trips.
Though the above list is not exhaustive, it gives you a good idea of the kind of accidents and injuries you should make a public liability claim against. therefore, if you have experienced any of the above or something similar, should contact a personal injury lawyer to start the claim process.
Can You Make A Claim?
If you have suffered injury or been involved in an small or large accident while in a public area or on public property and it wasn’t your fault you could be eligible for a public liability compensation claim. You may be eligible to make a claim against an employer if the accident occurred on public property during your time as an employee because they didn’t take due care to ensure your health and safety
What If The Property Or Public Area Owner Does Not Have Public Liability Insurance?
In the event that the owner of the property or the person or organisation responsible for the public area where you suffered from injuries or had an accident does not have public liability insurance, don’t worry. You are still eligible to make a claim for compensation.
Rather than the owner is responsible for paying compensation, you would make the public liability claim against the person or party who was at fault. This makes recovering damages harder if they don’t have enough money to pay you or they go bust. A personal injury lawyer will be able to help you out and discuss the risks of your claim not being successful.
What Do You Need To Do To Make A Claim?
In order to put forward a successful claim for public liability compensation, you need to prove with clear evidence that the injury was not your fault.
To make your claim stronger, you need to:
- Report the incident immediately when it happens to either the owner or the member of staff responsible at the time.
- Make sure your accident is recorded in an accident book.
- Take contact details of any eyewitnesses of your accident.
- Photograph the area the incident happened
- If your accident involves uneven or damaged pavements, it is a good idea to use a coin (like a 50p or 10p piece) or ruler and stand it upright in or beside the lump or hole before you take photographs to show the height/depth better.
If you plan to claim expenses along with your public liability claim, including travelling expenses and the costs of prescriptions concerning treatments, you need to keep your receipts as the evidence.
If there are any video cameras or CCTV in the area, you could approach the owners and request a copy which shows the time of your incident. This is more than likely to be the strongest evidence you could obtain when it comes to making a public liability claim.
Learn More About Public Liability Claims
To help with your understanding of making a public liability injury claim, we’ve included links to some of our most useful pages:
- Do I Need To Use Accident Solicitors Near Me?
- Accidental Death Compensation Claims
- How To Get A Personal Injury Lawyer For Your Claim
- How To Claim Compensation For An Accident And Injury
- A Guide To Personal Injury Claims
How Do You Start A Public Liability Claim?
There are strict time-frames in place for when you are allowed to make personal liability claims. Therefore, if you are looking to make a claim, you need to start the process within three years of when the accident occurred. However, if you are under the age of 18, and experience an accident that results in an injury, the time limit starts from the date of your birthday when you turn 18.
As personal injury and public liability law are complicated, it is not advisable to put forward a claim representing yourself. It is inevitable that the opposing side would use their legal representative’s knowledge to undermine any aspect of your case even if there is video evidence. Make sure you contact a personal injury lawyer with experience in public area accidents, and they will be able to help you out with making a successful claim which sees you receiving the compensation you are entitled to.
From our survey, these are the best public liability lawyers in the UK
- The UK’s biggest personal injury website LegalExpert.co.uk very helpful and free live chat.
- The Accident Claims Company website AccidentClaims.co.uk provides in-depth guides to council claims.
- Beckett & Co Solicitors website BeckettAndCo.co.uk with advice on common supermarket accidents.
- Advice UK. One of the UK’s biggest legal advice websites is Advice.co.uk very helpful and provides personal injury advice.
- Thorntons. The Thornotns-Law.co.uk website has a detailed guide to pothole accidents that have caused injury.
Find injury lawyers near me – Contact us for 24 hour free legal advice
You can use our 24 hour free legal advice service to make any enquiries you have about personal injury claims.
Members of our legal advice team are available for free consultations, and could answer any questions you have directly about:
- Whether you are eligible to make a claim
- How much compensation you could seek for your injuries
- How to collect evidence to prove liability in an injury claim
Our advisers could also potentially connect you with one of our injury lawyers near you from our panel, or with one of the lawyers from our panel based elsewhere in the country, to help you make a claim on a No Win No Fee basis. We offer a nationwide service, and could assist you no matter where you are based in the country.
You can reach out to one of our advisers now for information about injury claims, or for more information on the services that our panel of UK personal injury lawyers can provide.
Learn More About Making A Compensation Claim
Below, we’ve included links to some of our other guides that we think you may find useful:
- How to get a personal injury lawyer for your claim
- How to claim compensation for an accident on injury
- Back injury at work compensation examples
- And see here for guidance on calculating back injury compensation
- Working with No Win No Fee solicitors
- How to claim for a wrong postal address data breach
- How is compensation calculated?
- Do employers have to pay for steel toe boots?
- Stolen or lost device data breach claims
- How to claim for a data breach caused by a failure to use BCC
- A guide to claiming data breach compensation
- How much for a dog bite injury?
- Can you sue someone for breaking your nose?
- Broken ankle at work – how much can I claim?
- Allergic reactions to bleach hair dye
- Slip and fall payouts
- How could a back injury lawyer help you?
- Carbon monoxide claims
- Carbon monoxide poisoning at work
- Claims for a broken hand at work
- Broken pelvis claims
- Bicycle crash claims
- Your rights after an accident at work
- Back pain compensation claims
- Accident at work compensation examples
- Ankle injury compensation claims
- Broken hand injury at work claims
- How to make a claim for a bus crash
- Car park accidents
- Claim for a chemical burn from foot peels
- Can you sue for assault?
- Working with personal injury solicitors that represent children
- Can you be sacked for having an accident at work?
- Sue for falling on someone’s property
- Assaulted at work
- Corneal abrasion claims
- What to do if you have a cycling crash
- Claims against the council for personal injury
- Car crash on a public road
- Claims for a broken humerus
- Personal injury claims explained
- Eye injury claims
- Cyclist claim against a motorist
- Claims for degenerative disc disease aggravated by a car accident
- UK GDPR claims
- Injured by a forklift in a warehouse
- CICA payouts and how to claim
- Building and construction accident claims
- Grievous bodily harm claims
- Can you claim for a fall at work?
- Data breach compensation examples
- How to make a car crash compensation claim
- Who is liable for employee car accidents?
- How does No Win No Fee work?
- How long does a medical negligence case take?
- Claims for a cut finger at work
- Herniated disc claims
- Compensation claims for a motorcycle accident
- Claiming compensation for a fall
- Compensation for a broken foot
- Groin injury compensation claims
- Claim compensation for a broken wrist
- Cycle accident compensation claims
- Claim for a burnt chest caused by hot food
- Herniated disc compensation awards
- Prison injury lawyers
- Forklift accident and injury claims
- NHS injury at work compensation claims
- Is tendonitis a work-related injury?
- Do I get full pay if injured at work?
- Can I claim compensation for sexual abuse?
- Hit and run pedestrian accident claims
- Vulnerable road user accident claims
- What to do after an accident in a public place
We also have some other guides you may find useful:
- Compensation for the loss of a limb
- How to claim compensation after an accident at work
- Fractured sternum compensation claims
- Working with a No Win No Fee data protection solicitor
- Is it worth using a concussion compensation calculator?
- Claiming compensation for a bicycle accident
- Minor brain injury compensation claims
- How to make a motor injury claim for compensation
- How to make a hip injury claim
- Farm accident compensation claims
- Chemical burn at work compensation claims
- Minor personal injury claims explained
- How long do you have to claim for an accident at work
- How to prove a personal injury claim
- Factory forklift truck accident claims
- Lumbar spine injury claims
- HGV and lorry accident claims
- How to claim compensation for lower back pain after a car accident
- Can you sue a doctor for negligence?
- Multiple injury claims – how are they calculated?
- Can you claim for a minor accident at work?
- How to use a loss of earnings calculator
- Slip and fall head injury settlements explained
- Sexual assault and rape compensation claims
- How to make a personal injury claim for psychological damage
- How much are scar settlements worth?
- How do you claim for serious hand injuries?
- Sepsis claims – get help from medical negligence solicitors
- Kidney injury compensation claims
- How to claim compensation if prescribed the wrong medication?
- How injury at work solicitors can help you
- How to make a personal injury claim for depression
- How are personal injury claim payouts calculated?
- Taxi accident and injury compensation claims
- Scooter accident and injury claims
- Claim compensation for a misdirected fax data breach
- Credit card data breach claims
- Dental data breach claims
- What is an interim payment in personal injury claims?
- Claiming road accident compensation
- What are special damages?
- A guide to suing the council for uneven pavements
- HMRC data breaches
- Slip and fall in a restaurant – can you claim?
- Traumatic brain injury lawyers – get the help you need
- Can social services breach data protection?
- No Win No Fee claims against the council
- Police force data breach claims
- How to sue a nightclub for an injury
- Housing association data breach claims
- Private healthcare data breach claims
- NHS data breach claims
- I’ve been offered compensation without a solicitor, should I accept?
- Should I accept a personal injury offer of settlement without a solicitor?
Check out more guides here:
- How to claim for a data breach by a pharmacy
- Cycling accidents
- Accidents while shopping
- Accidents in a public park
- Acid attack compensation claims
- Personal injury fees and payments
- Can you claim hit and run compensation?
- Compensation for rape victims
- Exposure to hazardous substances claims
- Trauma compensation claims
- Optician data breach claims
- Pedestrian car accident compensation claims
- Road traffic accident claims
- Uninsured and untraced driver accident claims
- Data breach claims against a solicitor
- How to use a soft tissue injury compensation calculator
- Manslaughter and murder victim compensation claims
- What are typical payouts for personal injury claims in the UK?
- Trip injury compensation claims
- Medical negligence claims
- What is RIDDOR and why do injuries need to be reported?
- Mental health compensation calculator
- What are the steps in a personal injury case?
- What could you claim for work-related back injuries?
- What are the main causes of pedestrian accidents?
- What happens when you make a claim?
- What percentage do solicitors take in No Win No Fee cases?
- What are the indicators of sexual abuse?
- Slips, trips and falls in Scotland
- How to claim for harm caused by being starved of oxygen at birth
- Spinal and back injury compensation calculator claims
- Historic sexual abuse claims
- Claiming compensation for sexual abuse in Scotland
- How to claim victim of crime compensation
- How to find criminal injury lawyers
- What is the criminal injuries compensation authority (CICA)?
- Accidents in a public place in Scotland
- How to get sexual abuse compensation
- No Win No Fee serious injury claims
- Can victims of crime claim compensation
- Do I need to claim with medical negligence solicitors near me?
- Road traffic passenger accident claims
- Everything you need to know about road traffic accident compensation claims
- Will the new whiplash claim rules affect me?
- How to claim for a motorcycle death
- Is there a minimum speed for a whiplash claim?
- How to successfully claim for a car accident compensation
- Fatal injury compensation claims
- Trip hazard compensation
- How to make a claim against the police
- Examples of serious injury claim payouts
- How long after a road traffic accident do you have to claim?
- How much compensation could I get for being knocked off my bicycle?
- Hit and run compensation claims
- How to successfully claim car accident compensation?
- Can I make a pedestrian claim after being run over?
- My child got hit by a car, can I claim?
- How to find specialist cycle accident solicitors?
- How to find the best fatal accident solicitor for you
- What is a catastrophic injury and can I claim?
- Is there a criminal injury victim compensation scheme?
- How long do I have to claim criminal injury compensation?
- Working with a serious injury lawyer to claim compensation
- Making a claim after a road traffic accident
- Criminal injuries compensation claims
- Motorcycle accident compensation
- Hit and run pedestrian accident claims
- Vulnerable road user accident claims
- Accident In Public Not My Fault – Personal Injury Guide
- Public Cycle Path Accident Claims Guide
- University Accident Claims Guide