A public liability claim seeks compensation for a personal injury on property open to the public. The property owner has a duty of care to anyone accessing the area and must keep the property safe for all users.

You will have a public liability claim if you have suffered a personal injury and it is not your fault. You make a public liability claim for the costs and damages arising from your avoidable injury.

A No Win No Fee solicitor will take your public liability compensation claim against the owners of the property and their insurance company.

public liability claim

Common public accident claims

Holiday Injury Claim

Holiday accident claims are for a personal injury suffered while on your holidays. You can just as easily slip on a wet floor in a hotel as you can in your local supermarket, and injure yourself as badly.

Sports Injury Claim

A sports injury claim for compensation is for an injury on the pitch, at the gym, on the court or any other sporting venue or event that was not your fault.

Dog Bite Injury Claim

A dog bite injury claim is for compensation you could be due if bitten by a dog. Dogs can be dangerous and bites can cause serious injuries when a person is attacked.

Slip Trip & Fall Claim

A slip, trip & fall injury claim can be for an accident at work, or in a public area that was not your fault, such as a slip on a wet public bathroom floor, a trip over unguarded cables at a concert or a fall on a broken stair at work.

Pavement Injury Claim

A pavement accident claim is a legal process to seek compensation when you are injured in an accident that was not your fault. You could suffer a personal injury when walking the dog, jogging in the evening or if you trip on a loose pavement slab when walking to work.

Supermarket Injury Claim

Supermarket and shopping centre injury claims seek compensation when you are injured in an accident that was not your fault. You could be injured when slipping on a wet floor, tripping over rubbish left outside the shop door or falling on a faulty escalator.

Pothole Injury Claim

A pothole injury claim is a legal process to seek compensation when you are injured in an accident that was not your fault. You could be injured falling from your bicycle, motorbike or electric scooter when hitting a pothole in the road.

School Yard Injury Claim

A school yard injury claim is a legal process to seek compensation when your child is injured in an accident that was not their fault. They could be injured in a fall from faulty playground equipment or a trip on a poorly-maintained path or school yard.

Bar & Nightclub Injury Claim

A bar injury claim is a legal process to seek compensation when you are injured in an accident that was not your fault. You could suffer a bar injury when slipping on a wet bathroom floor or if you cut your hand on broken glass left on a table.

Faulty Product Injury Claim

A faulty product injury claim is the legal process to seek compensation for your injuries and the effects on your life. You could suffer a faulty product injury when drying your hair, doing the laundry, or exercising in the back garden.

Injury at a Public Event Claim

An injury at a public event claim is the legal process to seek compensation for your injuries and the effects on your life. Your injury at a public event could be a broken leg in a trip over cables, crushed ribs in a crowd surge, or lacerations from a fall on broken glass.

Injured in an Assault Claim

A personal injury claim for assault is the legal process to seek compensation for your injuries and the effects of it on your life. Injury in an assault or criminal event could range from cuts and, bruises and lacerations to broken bones and nerve damage.

Injured due to Weather Conditions Claim

An injury due to weather conditions is one you get when the weather turns bad at any time of the year, such as when blown off a ladder in high winds or slipping on an icy path.

How much in damages can I claim in a personal injury claim?

In a public liability claim, you can claim damages ranging from a few thousand pounds to more than £10 million. How much compensation you can claim depends on the injuries suffered and the financial effect of those injuries on your life. 

If someone else is responsible for your personal injury, you can claim compensation from their insurance company.

Sample compensation amounts in a personal injury claim are as follows. Please note these are figures for the injuries only. Financial losses would apply in addition:

  • Facial scarring from £9,110 to £30,090
  • Moderate hip and pelvis injury from £12,590 to £39,170
  • Severe shoulder injury from £19,200 to £48,030
  • Moderate neck injury from £7,890 to £38,490
  • Severe back injury from £38,780 to £160,980
  • Traumatic chest injury from £65,740 to £100,670
  • Moderate brain injury from £43,060 to £219,070
  • Paraplegia from £219,070 to £284,260

(The figures given here are for General Damages amounts only. You will also receive compensation for any financial losses you suffer due to the personal injury. Figures taken from Judicial College Guidelines 16th Edition and are accurate as of April 2023.)

Compensation calculator

There is not one fixed amount in personal injury claims. The circumstances differ from person to person and claim to claim, and the amount of compensation awarded will be tailored to the circumstances of your claim.  

A No Win No Fee personal injury solicitor can give you an idea of what to expect from their experience in compensation claims.

What can you claim for compensation in a personal injury claim?

In a personal injury claim, you claim compensation for two types of damages: General Damages and Special Damages.

How much compensation you are rewarded, depends on the following 2 factors:

General damages is the claim you make for what is known as PSLA, or the Pain, Suffering and Loss of Amenity you experience directly from the personal injury.

Pain is that suffered as a direct result of the injury or any treatment for it.

Suffering is the discomfort in your life as a result of the injury

Loss of Amenity is the disruption to your daily life, such as difficulty or restriction in walking, sitting, playing sports, and sleeping.

Special damages cover your past and future financial losses. These could include loss of earnings, care costs, medical treatment or specialist rehabilitation, aids, adaptations and any other out-of-pocket expenses you have or will suffer due to the personal injury.

Loss of earnings is for income lost directly from being off work and any reduction in income expected from not being able to return to your current type of employment.

Care costs include the care needed to recover from the personal injury and any long-term care and treatment costs, whether provided by friends and family or professionally.

Out-of-pocket expenses are for your medical appointments, travel and accommodation and any other costs incurred after the injury.

Compensation is awarded to cover all losses, including loss of life, medical expenses and long-term care needs arising from the injury in a personal injury accident.

You will need records such as payslips, all day-to-day receipts, and any other paperwork showing your losses from the personal injury.

Public liability insurance

Public liability insurance protects you and your business against claims made by the public. All legal fees and cost of damaged property will be covered. 

Public liability insurance is not legally required but acts as a safety net in the event of a costly lawsuit. 

If the guilty party does not have public liability insurance, they must pay your compensation damages and costs in full, out of their own pocket.

If they own a business, the business may pay the damages awarded. When it is a private individual, then they are responsible for paying the award.

If you make a public liability claim against, say, a hotel without public liability insurance, the owners must pay your compensation claim. If they do not, the business may need to close and assets sold to find the money.

Who is responsible for a public liability claim?

The owner of a public place where you had the injury is responsible for a public liability claim. If you are injured in a public place, and it was not your fault, you can make a public liability against the owner.

The person responsible for a public liability claim could be the pub landlord, the hotel owner or the individual who runs the cafe where the accident happened.

Public liability is also the responsibility of the local authority that owns the town park, the footpaths and the roads in your area.

Personal injury can happen anywhere, and public liability claims are for compensation for the damages caused.

Who is responsible for a personal injury

How to make a claim for personal injury compensation

To make a claim for personal injury compensation, there are usually a few standard steps to follow. We will guide you through the entire process from first contact through to the conclusion of your claim.

Instruct a No Win No Fee personal injury solicitor as soon as possible. A personal injury solicitor can look at your case, see the extent of your injuries and how it will form a personal injury compensation claim.

Only a No Win No Fee personal injury solicitor will have the experience and the team to handle your claim. They will know what your claim may be worth and how to get the best results for you.

You may require medical treatment or investigation if you have suffered an injury due to an accident. It is important that the nature and extent of your injuries are contemporaneously recorded in your medical records. 

This may be in a consultation with your GP if you have less severe injuries which do not require immediate treatment but do not clear up in a reasonable timeframe. You may need investigations, referral to a specialist, or maybe physiotherapy.

Of course, in a serious or life-threatening personal injury claim, you will attend A&E, and the hospital medical records will detail your injuries and treatment.

The solicitor gets all details and evidence to support your case in the next step of the claims process. 

Your Personal Injury Team solicitor will speak to you and obtain a detailed description from you of how the accident happened, all injuries suffered, and the financial losses you sustained.

An experienced personal injury expert will assess the case. If they confirm you have a valid personal injury compensation claim, they will discuss the next steps in the process with you and answer any of your questions.

The personal injury solicitor submits the claim through a “Claim Notification Form” to begin the formal process for most claims which are likely to be worth less than £25,000. Your solicitor sends the Claim Notification Form to the negligent party or their insurance company.

Most personal injury claims go through an online Claims Portal. Your personal injury lawyer will send the form through the portal directly to the insurance company on your behalf.

The insurance company has to respond within a set time. The deadline varies depending on the type of claim, and it is three weeks for a road traffic accident and up to eight weeks for a public liability claim.

In claims likely to be worth more than £25,000, the claim is started by your solicitor sending a “Letter of Claim” to the defendant or their insurance company. The law allows them three months to respond to the claim formally and either admit or deny liability.

Your Personal Injury Team lawyer will advise you of the time limit applying to your case.

Getting the response from the negligent party informs your personal injury solicitor how the case is likely to proceed.

The negligent party can either admit liability in the case or state that they intend to defend it.

When the negligent party decides to defend the case, it is known as ‘denying liability’ in legal terms.

If the negligent party admits liability, which often happens, your personal injury solicitor will obtain medical evidence. You may need to have a consultation with a medical expert that your solicitor will arrange. Once completed, medical evidence and details of your financial losses will be sent to the insurer. 

The negotiation period then starts, often resulting in the settlement of your claim. You would be closely involved in this process and given expert advice throughout – no compensation would be agreed upon without your authority.

In very large claims, you are likely to have to see a number of medical experts over a longer period. When the injuries suffered are significant, it can take a long time until the final prognosis is known. Your solicitor will advise you on the likely timescales and when, tactically, will be the best time to enter settlement discussions with the defendant.

Often, claims for life-changing injury will be negotiated at a “settlement meeting” with the defendants. The two sides may meet. During the meeting, your case will be outlined, and negotiations will take place.

You would be at this meeting and be closely involved in this process, and no settlement would be agreed upon without your authority. 

At this stage, your solicitor, and sometimes a barrister, will handle the meeting and advise you on what is on offer and what level of compensation to accept. 

Going to court is the final step if the negligent party does not accept responsibility for your personal injury or if the negligent party admits liability but refuses to pay a fair amount to you in compensation. 

Issuing court proceedings is handled by your solicitor.

Although court proceedings are started in some cases, very few personal injury cases make it to a court case before a judge. The vast majority will settle before having to issue court proceedings, and even where proceedings are issued, few cases end up at a trial.

Your Personal Injury Team solicitor will advise you through the entire process from start to finish.

Case Study

Slip trip and fall claim

Our client was awarded £6,000 for slipping on the deck of a cruise ship which was missing their wet floor signs.

Public Accident claim FAQ

Interim payments cover the cost of your recovery before your case is settled. If you have suffered injuries in a public accident, and a third party has accepted liability for injuries sustained, you may be entitled to interim payments.

This payment can be used to cover the cost of recovery and replace lost wages. 

The final compensation amount will be reduced by the amount of interim payment paid out. You will still receive the same amount of compensation.

You have 3 years from the day of the accident occured to bring forward a claim for a personal injury. 

If under the age of 18 at the time of the accident, you have 3 years following your 18th birthday to make a claim. 

If you lack the mental capacity to make a claim on your own, there is no time limit on when a claim can be made. 

In a majority of cases, your solicitor will negotiate a settlement agreement outside of court. In the event your solicitor and the 3rd party can’t reach an agreement, you may have to go to court to secure the compensation you deserve.

Using a No win no fee solicitor will cost you nothing in the event you lose your claim.

If you were partially responsible for the accident, you may still be entitled to claim compensation. If the accident is partly due to the negligence of someone else, you may be entitled to compensation. 

This is referred to as contributory negligence or partial liability.

Find out how much you can claim for today

If you have been injured in public, speak to a personal injury solicitor today and find out how much you can claim in compensation today. 

Compensation amounts are guidelines on what to expect from your personal injury claim. Our personal injury solicitors can advise you using their expertise and experience and can quickly tell you if you have a valid claim and what to do next.

Our team of No Win No Fee personal injury solicitors can take your case and ensure you are awarded the compensation you deserve. We have the experience to handle your claim for personal injury compensation and see it through to a successful conclusion, whether the claim is worth £1,500 or more than £10,000,000.

When you suffer a personal injury, the effects on your life can be devastating. If the personal injury is not your fault, it can make the situation feel even worse.

Take our online assessment today to get an idea of claim amounts and what you could be due for the pain, suffering and impact on your life.

Contact your Personal Injury Team today for immediate expert advice tailored to you.