I fell badly on a dodgy piece of paving at school and they haven'y even apologised.

[ExLondonite]

I'm not a 'pick up the phone and call injury lawyers r us' sort of person, but this really peed me off!!!
To set the scene ... rainy, early evening. I'm late for pick-up, it's dark - before the clocks went back. I'm running because my 7 yr old is going to bollock me for being kept waiting, I leap over a puddle onto 'paving' . 'Paving' is in inverted commas, because 'paving' was actually a very slippery (like ice-slippery) wooden sleeper that 'trims' the side of the length of the pavement. I end up doing a comedy, whole body in the air, landing on my side, in a puddle, car keys flying out of my hand fall. A nice, young guy in his twenties walking past offers me a hand and picks up my keys for me, I'm trying to recalibrate and know something's happened to my knee, a lovely mum I know comes running over and tells me she's mentioned the wooden sleepers to the headmistress ... so I arrive at school entrance limping, my suede coat dripping and feeling like I'm stupidly about to cry!
The first person that sees me is the headmistress who looks suitably sympathetic and tells me she's going to fill in an accident report form. I warn her about the wooden sleepers - they're truly dangerous. And it's great, the next day there's an email warning all parents about them, signs go up, and three days later the metal plates are put on top of the sleepers.
Eight weeks later, after a twisted knee and realigned sacroiliac joint, signed off by my chiropractor, I'm okay but feeling totally peed off. Why should I have to pay for these sessions, couldn't they at least have paid for my dry cleaning and said 'sorry' , an 'are you okay; email wouldn't have gone amiss. I know we now live in a libellous society, but it all felt so wrong.
I called the school and asked them to pay for my four chiropractic sessions. I felt almost fraud-like asking them to do this. I felt like a grabby, faker and very even worse when the accounts dept sent me an email saying 'accidents do happen', no, they wouldn't pay for my chiropractic sessions, their insurance wouldn't cover it and they were glad I felt better. ARGH!!! Just so you know, I've never done this before - claimed for an accident, I have had 3 children at the school - and...and ... argh!
So, I'm left with the sad, realisation - which has probably always been the case with some schools - that they are, after all, businesses, company policy comes in front of all the moral values they say they teach our children - compassion, kindness, respect for others ..and I'm just lucky I came out of it unscathed, but massively peed off/let down/rather sad/disillusioned/peed off etc.

As for the suggestion that everyone remembers the state of each section of a pavement they regularly walk on and can identify precisely where one particular section is in the dark, that is, with every respect, absurd.

I'm not suggesting she should know precisely where a section is in the dark, just that she should have a reasonable awareness of the potential risks that exist along a path she uses on a near daily basis. Most people would take extra care if it was dark and rainy out generally; if I was aware there was an additional hazard that I was less able to identify in those conditions, I certainly wouldn't be running and leaping, unless in a genuine emergency.

Sometimes our judgement fails us - which is what I believe happened to the OP. No one's perfect! I just find it strange that the OP cannot accept any responsibility for her accident and further, she believes the school should pay for her private treatment and dry cleaning.

And the cost of premiums going up is not negligible once a claim has been made. It's a lot.

I don't think OP is refusing to accept any responsibility; what she's asking for is pretty modest when you think that if she went through the courts she could claim damages for pain and inconvenience as well as the financial losses she has suggested. The simple fact is that the school accepted that there is a foreseeable risk with putting something inherently very slippery onto a pavement, and that there were simple precautions they could take to avoid the risk. Therefore they are liable.

So far as the cleaning is concerned, there's a basic principle that you take your victim as you find them - if you negligently crash into a Rolls, for instance, your insurers will be paying whatever it costs to repair it, and would get nowhere claiming the other driver shouldn't go out in such an expensive car. As for the chiropractor sessions, that would depend whether the treatment was realistically available on the NHS; there's a trade-off between the cost of that treatment and what they might have to pay out if OP were left with longer term after-effects or issues such as her employability and ability to look after the family were affected.

So far as insurance premiums are concerned, if this is a state school it is likely to be on a block policy for all schools in the area and it's highly unlikely that they would go up by anything significant for what is on any interpretation a small claim. If it's an academy or independent school, premiums might go up slightly more but that's a risk the school takes and frankly it's not something I would lose sleep over in OP's position.

I would love to see a photo of this death trap!

So does no one just have an accident now? Why just we always blame someone?!

I tripped on an uneven bit of pavement in Norwich the other day and fell on my knee - I suppose I should have sued Norwich City Council for negligence!

Actually most councils self insure for small claims like this. So it WOULD come out of the councils budget

Christ on a bike! I should have looked where I was going better, it was a sodding accident! I would never claim for this crap.

Whatthefreakin, that's a perfectly straightforward issue. If the pavement was unusually uneven and badly maintained and there was evidence that it had been in that state for some time, then yes, you could sue. Obviously most people won't for a trivial injury. But suppose you had been really badly injured such that you had to give up your job and would be disabled and in serious pain for the rest of your life, would you be that eager to suck it up? Don't think it couldn't happen, it did happen to someone I know. It's in all our interests that councils be incentivised to maintain these things properly.

This post sums up what is wrong with broken Britain in 2016.

I wouldn't dream of claiming for this

I totally agree TheNaze

I totally agree TheNaze

I'm sure there's a system in place to enable reporting unusually uneven and badly maintained pavements to the local council. In fact I know there is.
Suing for compensation as a way of "highlighting" the issue, just for altruistic purposes (yeah, right) is not necessary at all.

When I tripped up outside Priilmark the council paid for my chakra to be realigned. Took months

Gawd, not Broken Britain. Any more Daily Mailese?

The basic law on the right to sue for negligence was formulated in 1932 when Mrs Donoghue established the principle that she was entitled to sue Mr Stevenson for manufacturing a bottle of ginger beer with a dead snail in the bottle which caused her to suffer gastroenteritis and shock. Was Britain Broken in 1932?

No-one suggests that you should sue councils for broken pavements simply as a means of highlighting the issue. You can and should if the broken pavement causes serious injury. If there were no consequences of that nature pavements would be in an even worse state than they are now.

limited i couldnt care less whatthe op was wearing.
It was dark, slippery, raining and she was running.
That's what i judge it on.
Awful accident, but bought on my her, not the school.
Seriously, i used to really think your posts were helpful and funny when i've seen you post on before, butnow?
Comparing this to Hillsborough, just no. What is with you putting this on threads

Ooh Betsyderek, not like you're the injury lawyers for you, kind
Hope your chakras are back on their feet now, (but nowhere near a railway sleeper!)

kali110, the accident was caused by the slippery piece of wood placed there without the warning signs and metal plates that they put there after the accident. Yes, OP contributed to it, but I don't see how you can absolve the school of all responsibility.