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Blackpool Council has paid out £1,072,500 in the past three years alone in personal injury claims for people injuring themselves on broken pavements in the resort town. All of the 135 claims come from five of the most damaged sections of pavement.

In an interview with Blackpool Today, Councillor Fred Jackson said, "These days everyone who has an accident has to claim and we are suffering from this." Jackson claims that the council is a victim of the growing compensation culture in Britain.

Robin Wainwright of Blackpool's Personal Injury Careline disagrees. He believes that people have a right to compensation if they have been injured. He says that they only proceed with cases that are legitimate. People making false claims are not tolerated.

The council is aware of the problem that they have but they have been in a difficult position. Jackson said, "Over the last few years we have tried to address the problems of damaged pavements but there is never enough money to do everything." The situation is set to change as the Blackpool executive committee has agreed to recommend that the council borrow £210,000 to repair the broken walkways and hopefully reduce their legal headaches.

Jackson says that the council has also become vigilant in researching the claims and have identified fraudulent claims. They intend to take action against people wanting to defraud the council of taxpayers' money by making false injury claims against them. In Britain in the last decade there has been an 800% increase in personal liability cases of the type Blackpool council is dealing with. Experts believe that this is a result of 'No Win -No Fee' lawyers. Robin Wainwright doesn't agree. He was quoted on You Claim web site as saying, "The fact that people are now more aware of the fact that they can make an accident compensation claim is making the world a safer place". He believes the council could have saved a lot of money if they attended to the broken pavement in a timely manner and people could have avoided undo suffering as result.