A wet floor with no sign. A broken step that should have been fixed. A potholed car park no one got around to repairing. These accidents happen because someone failed in their duty to keep a space safe. If that is what happened to you, you have options.
Under the Occupiers' Liability Act 1995, anyone who controls a premises — a shop, a restaurant, a landlord, a local council — owes a duty of care to visitors. If they fail to maintain the space reasonably and you are injured as a result, they are liable.
This covers far more than slipping on a wet floor. Uneven paving outside a shop, a broken step on rented premises, an unsecured mat at a hotel entrance — all of these can give rise to a valid claim. The key question is whether the occupier knew, or should have known, about the hazard and failed to address it.
Report the accident to the manager or owner on the day and make sure a written record is made. Take photographs of what caused the fall before anything is cleaned up or repaired. Get witness names and contact details if anyone saw it happen. These steps significantly strengthen your claim.
Siobhan was doing her weekly shop on a Tuesday morning when she slipped on a wet floor near the deli counter. There was no cone, no sign, no warning of any kind. She went down hard on her left side and fractured her wrist.
Staff were kind. Someone got her a chair and a glass of water. The manager filled in an incident report. Siobhan was mortified and told them she was fine, even though she was not.
She did not think about making a claim until her hand specialist told her the fracture might affect the movement in her wrist long-term. A friend suggested she speak to a solicitor. Siobhan assumed it was too late. It was not — she was still well within the two-year window.
Her solicitor obtained CCTV footage showing the floor had been wet for over twenty minutes before she fell, with no signage placed at any point.
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