Slipping or falling on ice - personal injury claims advice

Slipping or falling accidents on ice

This page offers advice to individuals who have suffered personal injury following a fall on ice or snow in the UK. We discuss what circumstances may lead to a compensation claim being made and what steps should be taken to pursue such a claim.

Read more about trips and slips not involving ice or related weather conditions.

If you have suffered injury in a fall - we can help you make a claim and offer a totally free UK legal service. Make an enquiry about your case today - call 0800 0322210.

The majority of ice related accidents occur on public roads or pavements and generally fall under the responsibility of the local council or authority. There is much legal debate about how far a councils duty of care should go as far as gritting or salting is concerned.

Furthermore it has to be accepted that any council would have an impossible task trying to make safe every highway, pavement or public area during a cold spell of weather. This has to be borne in mind when you consider whether a claim should be made.

Our view is that if the council fail to grit busy roads at busy times of the day during severely cold weather, then they may be liable for any accidents that occur. Liable, that is, at least to a degree. Similarly if zebra crossings or other public safety zones are not made safe then this too may amount to negligence.

The law on the subject is varied and different solicitors will have different views. Many claims fail because they don't meet vital criteria. Find out today if you can pursue a claim for personal injury suffered on a slippy, icy road or pavement.

To make an enquiry - please complete the brief form opposite or CALL  0800 0322210. Our team will respond to all written enquiries within one hour 8am-8pm.  

Here are some additional points to consider before bringing a claim in these circumstances:

Some Highway Authorities are under the mistaken belief that they cannot be liable for claims for personal injury arising from a failure to de-ice their roads. They are wrong.

if the liability is for negligence not a breach of section 41(1) of the Highways Act 1980; Liability under the Occupiers' Liability Act 1957 is also unaffected. This Act imposes a different duty and a different standard from the Highways Act 1980. The occupier of shops, offices, car parks and similar places have an obligation to take such care as is reasonable in all the circumstances for the safety of visitors.

For example, a station car park is a place to which drivers are "invited" as are rail passengers and leaving it un-gritted on an icy night is a breach of the duty of the station owner or controller under the Occupiers' Liability Act 1957; The duty in negligence is the same as the duty under the Occupiers' Liability Act 1957. It is not that no slipping or skidding shall occur.

It does require the people occupying the premises to: take account of weather forecasts to have salt in stock; to clear a safe path through the snow; and to put up warning notices or shut the premises if necessary.

It is not a defence for a defendant to say that members of the public are invited onto premises but run their own risk of skidding on compacted snow that it was reasonable for the defendant to have cleared up;

It will be difficult for a defendant to raise a defence on the basis that the cost of remedy is too high. When balanced against the cost of a compensation claim, the above measures an only be considered reasonable under the circumstances. Judges may find negligence in some of the following circumstances: where there is no system for spreading grit; where, although there is a system for spreading grit, the actual spreading does not follow the system; if the system itself is inadequate. For example, there is no consideration of weather forecasts or no salt in stock; if other occupiers have gritted but the defendant has not; if there are no tools for clearing snow and ice or spreading grit; if a Highways Authority has failed to comply with the "Code of Good Practice" or its own local practice standards.

As always, the range of factual circumstances will be large, but the usual test of reasonable foreseeability of harm and an examination of the reasonable steps taken to remove the danger of ice will be a good guide when considering if a claimant has a potential case.   T

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MORE LINKS: British safety website - winter footwear safety - CAR PARK ice accidents businesses -