Pothole and playground accidents included in £400,000 compensation claims against Harrogate Borough Council

Figures obtained by the Local Democracy Reporting Service last month showed the council was found to be at fault for almost 200 accidents during that time period - with some complainants receiving eye-watering amounts of more than £45,000 for their injuries.

A person tripping over a raised paving slab in Boroughbridge and bin lorry crashing into a property in Harrogate were some of the accidents first revealed by the council.

And it has now revealed the details of more claims including £17,992 paid out to a resident who suffered injuries after tripping over at a Ripon car park and £4,524 for a person who "sustained personal injury due to a pothole in footpath".

There was also more than £21,000 paid out to two council employees who were injured at work during separate incidents in October 2017 and December 2018, as well as two more bin lorry crashes costing over £6,120.

A person who was injured whilst using equipment at a Harrogate play area was also paid £4,333 in April 2017.

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A council spokesman previously said the authority will "inevitably" receive compensation claims from time to time, "although very few" when compared to other councils.

“We therefore have liability insurance and internal reserves in place should we find that we need to use them," the spokesman said.

“We would of course try and prevent any accident or injury happening to someone else in the future by fixing or repairing the cause, whatever it might be.”

Motor claims were responsible for the largest compensation payouts at Harrogate Borough Council with £237,353 - more than half of the total - paid out over the last five years.

The single highest amount paid out during that time period was £45,441 to the pedestrian who suffered injuries after tripping over a raised paving slab in Boroughbridge.

The breakdown for each financial year is as follows:

2015/16 - 97 claims and 39 payouts

2016/17 - 86 claims and 37 payouts

2017/18 - 95 claims and 40 payouts

2018/19 - 77 claims and 33 payouts

2019/20 - 71 claims and 33 payouts

In total, the council received more than 420 compensation claims between April 2015 and the start of the 2020, and paid out 182 of them at a cost of just over £405,800.

By Jacob Webster, Local Democracy Reporter