Slip Trip Fall No Win No Fee Claims
Accidents involving a slip, trip or fall are very common and can occur almost anywhere. In this guide, we’re going to look at when you could use a no win no fee solicitor to make slip and trip compensation claims. We’ll explain when you might be eligible to claim, what you can claim for and provide examples of the different types of claims you could make. We’ll cover slip, trip or fall claims covering accidents at work, in a shop, in restaurants as well as many other places too.
Here at No Win No Fee Expert we have a team of specialist advisors who can assess your claim for free. If they think you’ve got a strong chance of winning compensation, they could introduce you to one of our panel of personal injury solicitors. If they take on your claim, it will be on a no win no fee basis. To discuss your slip or trip claim today, call an advisor today. There’s no pressure or obligation to proceed, so you’ve got nothing to lose.
If you’d like more information about making a slip and trip claim before you call, please carry on reading.
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- A Guide To Slip Trip And Fall Accident And Injury Claims
- What Is A Slip Trip And Fall Accident Or Injury Claim?
- What Could You Claim If Injured In A Slip, Trip Or Fall Accident?
- Slip And Fall Compensation Calculator
- Injuries Caused By Slips And Falls
- Slip Trip And Fall Public Place Accidents
- Slip And Trip Accidents In Bars, Clubs, Restaurants Or Cafes
- Slip And Trip Accidents At A Supermarket Or Shop
- Slip And Trip Workplace Accidents
- Slips And Trips In A Rented Property
- Who Was At Fault For Your Accident?
- Slip Trip And Fall Claim Time Limits
- Could I Claim Using A No Win No Fee Agreement?
- How To Make A Slip And Fall Claim
- Getting In Touch With Our Team
- References And Other Information
A Guide To Slip Trip And Fall Accident And Injury Claims
According to Health and Safety Executive statistics, during 2018 slips, trips and falls were the most reported non-fatal accident at work (29% of all reported accidents). This means that nearly 170,000 employees were injured in a slip at work in that year. This guide will look at workplace accidents involving slips, trips and falls but we’ll also cover other parts of everyday life where a similar accident could happen.
We’ll look at when somebody else could be liable for your accident, slip and fall compensation amounts, what you can include in a claim and the types of injuries that can be caused by falls.
As well as covering the scenarios that can lead to a fall, we’ll look at when a personal injury lawyer might take on your case, and what type of evidence you’ll need to provide to substantiate your claim. Furthermore, we’ll provide information about the time limits involved with making a claim.
When you’ve read this guide, if you have any queries about making a personal injury claim for a slip injury, please call a member of our team. We are more than happy to offer free legal advice as we believe it’s vital you know your options before making a claim.
What Is A Slip Trip And Fall Accident Or Injury Claim?
Accidents where the victim is caused to slip, trip or fall can result in devastating injuries. An accident which takes only seconds to occur can lead to months, years or even a lifetime of pain and misery.
Later in this guide, we’ll look at specific scenarios where accidents can happen which lead to slip and trip claims. In this section though, we’re going to provide some generic examples of accidents which could lead to a claim which could happen almost anywhere.
Here are some scenarios which could lead to slip, trip or fall claims:
- Raised paving slabs, potholes and missing kerb stones.
- Slippery or wet floors where warning signs aren’t used. These could be caused by cleaning, leaks or spillages.
- Broken handrails causing you to fall.
- Obstacles blocking a pathway.
- Trip hazards that aren’t visible due to poor lighting.
- Falls on faulty escalators or in elevators.
The number of different accidents which could lead to a slip compensation claim is too long to list here. Importantly though, to be able to claim, you’ll need to be able to show how somebody else caused the accident. If you are able to do so, you could be eligible for compensation even if we don’t discuss your specific type of accident in this guide.
Call an advisor for free, no obligation advice today.
What Could You Claim If Injured In A Slip, Trip Or Fall Accident?
Personal injury claims can be made up of a number of different elements depending on what injuries you suffered and how the injury affected you. When your solicitor files your claim, they could seek compensation for:
- Physical and psychological suffering caused by the accident. This part of the claim is known as general damages.
- Medical costs could also be included in the claim. This could include the cost of prescriptions, professional care and even private medical care if it’s required.
- Lost earnings could be added to the claim if you had to take time off work which led to a reduction of your salary. In cases where you’re affected in the long-term meaning your ability to work is reduced, you could seek compensation for future lost income too.
- Travel costs can soon build up during a claim. You might need to travel to and from medical appointments in which case you could include the cost of fuel and parking in the claim.
- If your injury is serious enough to mean you need to make changes to your home or vehicle, you could claim for the adaptations too.
- You could also include the cost of any damage to your personal property that occurred during your fall. This could include clothing, jewellery or mobile phones. The claim would cover either the repair or replacement of the item.
If you are looking to claim for any of the above, you should keep hold of any receipts because they will act as evidence to support your claim. Ideally, you should check with a solicitor before spending money to check whether it can be included in your claim.
Slip And Fall Compensation Calculator
When looking at how much compensation can be claimed for, for a fall, solicitors, lawyers and the courts use a document called the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG). It contains information about how much compensation is awarded for different types of injury based on their severity.
The table below shows some examples of compensation amounts that could be paid for different injuries. It gives an indication of the amounts you might expect for different injuries regardless of how they happened.
| Body Part Injured | Severity | Payment Range | Details |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hand injury | Minor to serious | Up to £54,280 | The lower end of this payment range covers injuries such as soft tissue damage. At the higher end, injuries inlcude long term loss of the use of the hand. |
| Wrist injury | Minor to severe | Up to £52,490 | The lower end of this payment range covers injuries such as soft tissue damage. The higher end covers injuries resulting in the long term loss of the use of the wrist. |
| Arm injury | Moderate to severe | Up to £114,810 | The lower end of this payment range covers injuries such as painful injuries which do eventually heal. The more extreme end includes injuries resulting in permenant damage to the arm causing paralysis. |
| Back injury | Minor to severe | Up to £141,150 | The lower end of this payment range covers injuries such as bruising, sprains and strains. The higher end covers cases of the most severe injury involving damage to the spinal cord and nerve roots, leading to a combination of very serious consequences not normally found in cases of back injury. |
| Neck injury | Minor to severe | Up to £130,060 | The lower end of this payment range covers injuries such as simple soft tissue damage. The top end of the scale covers neck injury associated with incomplete paraplegia or resulting in permanent spastic quadriparesis or where the injured person, despite wearing a collar 24 hours a day for a period of years. |
| Ankle injury | Minor to severe | Up to £61,110 | The lower end of this payment range covers injuries such as simple sprains and strains. At the other end injuries resulting in cases of a transmalleolar fracture of the ankle with extensive soft-tissue damage resulting in deformity and the risk that any future injury to the leg might necessitate a below-knee amputation. |
| Foot injury | Minor to very severe | Up to £96,150 | The lower end of this payment range covers injuries such as soft tissue injuries. At the higher end this injury is also treated as similar to a below-knee amputation because of the loss of the ankle joint. |
| Leg injury | Minor to severe | Up to £119,220 | The lower end of this payment range covers injuries such as simple soft tissue damage. At the extreme end of the scale, some injuries, although not involving amputation, are so severe that the courts have awarded damages at a similar level. |
If you’d like a clearer indication of how much compensation you could be entitled to, why not let one of our advisors assess your claim for free?
Injuries Caused By Slips And Falls
Slip, trip or fall claims can be made for any type of injury caused by the accident. However, there are some injuries which are fairly common including:
- Hip injury – from bruising to a hip fracture. This can result in the need for an artificial hip in serious cases.
- Head injury – from cuts and bruising to concussion, skull fractures and serious brain injuries.
- Back injury – These can include swelling, bruising, a spinal injury such as a fractured vertebra or slipped disc. Serious back injuries can lead to paralysation.
- A bone fracture – any bone in the body can be fractured or broken in a fall but a fractured wrist is fairly common as the victim will often use their hands to break their fall.
- Sprains – these are common when a joint is jarred during a fall. Ligaments around the joint can be sprained and lead to many weeks or months of pain.
- A shoulder injury – the two main types of shoulder injury are a dislocation or a brachial plexus injury. The brachial plexus is made up of nerves which interconnect the shoulder, arms and hands to the spinal cord.
Even if your injury isn’t listed here, we could still help you begin a claim. Get in touch and explain how you were injured and we’ll assess your claim for free.
Slip Trip And Fall Public Place Accidents
If you have an accident in a public place, then finding out who’s responsible for the area is important. Many places such as parks, footpaths and public highways are local authorities so the claim could be made against them. It would need to be shown that the responsible party had been negligent and that was the cause of the accident. Later in this guide we’ll explain what evidence you could use to support this type of claim.
Slip And Trip Accidents In Bars, Clubs, Restaurants Or Cafes
Any restaurant, café or bar has a responsibility to ensure customers are as safe as possible. This means that they should try and take steps to reduce the risk of a customer slipping or falling where possible.
Spillages should be cleared up as soon as possible (and warning signs used while the floor is still wet), empty bottles and classes cleared away as quickly as possible and trip hazards should be made obvious by adequately lighting the area. Failure to do so, could lead to slip, trip or fall claims if a customer is injured.
Slip And Trip Accidents At A Supermarket Or Shop
Shops and supermarkets need to take steps to react to scenarios which could cause a customer, or member of staff, to slip over. It’s not always their fault that a trip hazard presents itself, but they need to act as quickly as possible to prevent accidents happening. Claims could be possible for slips or trips caused by:
- A freezer defrosts and causes a wet supermarket aisle.
- Items of merchandise dropped on the shop floor but not returned to the shelf / rack.
- Doormats at the store entrance which have become loose or folded over.
- Slippery entrances caused by excessive rain which hasn’t been highlighted with warning signs.
Slip And Trip Workplace Accidents
A slip and fall injury at work could lead to a compensation claim if it was caused by employer negligence. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE), provides free guidance to employers on how to prevent slips, trips and falls at work. Part of that guidance recommends performing risk assessments to reduce the chance of slips, trips and falls.
Therefore, if you’re injured at work because you’ve tripped and fallen, you might be entitled to compensation for any injuries sustained. Trips that could eligible for a claim include those caused by wet or slippery floors, uneven flooring, missing or broken handrails or cables that are trailed across the workplace.
Slips And Trips In A Rented Property
When you rent a property from a private landlord, council or housing association, they are duty bound to ensure the property meets minimum safety levels. Therefore, if a defect causes you to slip or fall, you might be able to seek compensation from them, especially if the defect had been reported to them previously.
Claims could be made for slips inside the property, in communal areas like stairwells and in the garden or entrance to the property. To make a slip or trip claim due to housing disrepair it must be proven that the landlord has infact acted in a negligent way and you accident could have been prevented.
Who Was At Fault For Your Accident?
When you look at how to make a slip and fall claim, the first thing you’ll need to do is identify who was responsible. Then you’ll need to identify if they owed you a duty of care. Finally you need to show that they breached their duty of care causing the accident to happen.
Usually a business operator or local authority will owe you a duty of care if you’re in their premises (legally) or on land that they’re responsible for. Therefore, if you’ve identified the party responsible for the place your accident happened and identified that they do have a duty of care, you’ll then need to show what caused the accident and why it was their fault. We’ll explain the methods and evidence you can use to do this later in this guide.
Slip Trip And Fall Claim Time Limits
Generally, if you’re looking to make slip, trip or fall claims, you’ll need to make sure you do so within the personal injury claims time limit. For adults, that is currently 3 years from the date of your accident or from when your injuries were diagnosed.
For slips and trips involving children, a parent or responsible adult can claim on their behalf at any point until they turn 18. After they become 18 years old, the victim can make their own claim before they turn 21.
Could I Claim Using A No Win No Fee Agreement?
When you start to consider making slip, trip or fall claims using a personal injury solicitor, you might worry about the costs involved. That’s why our panel of solicitors work on a no win no fee basis for claims that they handle.
Legally, no win no fee agreements are known as Conditional Fee Agreements or CFAs. Once you’re happy to proceed a solicitor will draft a CFA which will explain that you don’t need to pay anything for the claim to begin and you’ll not pay the solicitor’s fees if they fail to win the case. It will also provide details of the success fee.
A success fee is a percentage of your compensation (a maximum of 25%) used to pay the solicitor if they win your case. As the amount is deducted from your compensation, you won’t need to find the money to pay them yourself.
Your solicitor will help you make your claim by:
- Arranging for an independent medical assessment.
- Helping you collect the evidence required to support your claim.
- Formulating your claim and sending it to the defendant.
- Handling all communication with the defendant or their solicitor.
- Advising you on what to do if you receive a compensation offer.
It’s really rare for slip, trip or fall claims to require court cases because they’re usually settled amicably. However, if required, your solicitor will represent you if the case does have to go to court.
How To Make A Slip And Fall Claim
When you’re involved in a slip, trip or fall, to be able to make a compensation claim, there are a number of things we recommend you do. Following these steps could help you win compensation as you’ll have the evidence to prove what happened:
- Take photographs. Try to capture the scene of the accident before the cause of it is cleared away or repaired. Also, if you have visible injuries, photograph these too.
- Report the accident. If your slip happens at work, in a shop, restaurant or in any other public place, make sure you report it to staff. You could ask for a copy of the accident report (which they’re obliged to write) as supporting evidence for your claim. If you’re unable to report the accident right away (if your injuries require immediate treatment for instance), do so as soon as you’re able to.
- Get witness statements. Ask any witnesses to write down what they saw. Also, ask for their contact details in case your solicitor needs to speak with them.
- Visit a doctor or hospital. It’s essential that your injuries are assessed and treated by a medical professional no matter how small. Doing so will mean medical records can be used to demonstrate how serious your injuries were.
- Obtain CCTV footage.If your accident happened in a public place that was covered by CCTV, try to obtain a copy. Act fast though, as it will usually only be retained for a short period.
- Write down what happened. As soon as you feel able to, write a log of what happened. Include times, dates and places because after a while, it’s quite easy to forget exact details. You could also keep a note of any expenses you’ve incurred because of the accident.
Getting In Touch With Our Team
If you’re ready to discuss your claim with us today, you can call our team of specialist advisors on 0800 073 8802 now. If you’d like to arrange for us to call you at a convenient time, please fill in our online enquiry form.
Remember, when you call, we’ll assess your claim for free. Our team are friendly and professional and happy to work at a pace that suits you. We’ll also provide free legal advice about your options. It might be a good idea to write down any questions you might have before calling.
If we think you’ve got a good case, we could introduce you to one of our panel of no win no fee solicitors. If they take on your claim, you’ll be provided with regular updates as the case progresses. They’ll also provide you with expert advice regarding any compensation offer you receive.
References And Other Information
Now that you’ve reached the end of this guide, we’ve decided to provide links to further guides and external resources which you might find useful.
Problem Pavement Reporting – Information from the government on how to report pavement problems to your local authority.
Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 – The legislation used to ensure employees remain as safe as possible while at work.
Common Slip Hazards – A guide from the Scottish NHS about trip hazards and precautions that can be taken to prevent them.
No Win No Fee Solicitors – This guide provides a more in-depth look at how no win no fee solicitors operate and how the claims process works.
Please feel free to call and ask a friendly member of our team if you need any more advice.
Written by BT Edited by MA.
