Network Rail has paid out nearly £1m in five years for slips, trips and falls at its stations across the UK
The BBC featured a story today with the headline “Paddington station: Commuter gets £27k for ‘possible pigeon poo slip'” although this headline may grab people’s attention, it is clearly intended to imply that the claim was laughable but these claims are serious and the story highlights some important information around accidents such as these.
The point of the article is (and the headline should be) that Network Rail has paid out nearly £1m in five years for slips, trips and falls at its stations across the UK.
In our experience, rail companies and their solicitors will often only take injury claims seriously once court proceedings have been commenced by the claimant. Most cases relate to a failure to adequately clean or maintain the stations and trains, with compensation only being paid out on cases where they accept that the evidence shows this. Compensation is paid where the rail company accepts it was negligent and has therefore failed to take reasonable measures to keep customers safe. It is only right that injured passengers are compensated although, with damages averaging £200k per year, clearly more could be done.
If you would like to pursue a claim for a slip, trip or fall, contact me on [email protected] or call 01473 298111.
