Councils' £62m compensation bill

More than £62m has been paid out in compensation claims by councils and their insurers in the West Midlands over five years, the BBC has learnt.

BBC Inside Out Midlands collected compensation figures for 48 councils, between April 2003 and March 2008 using Freedom of Information requests.

The councils received more than 39,000 claims. Most of their payouts were for falls and slips, the programme found.

The councils paid £45m in insurance premiums during that time period.

'Vicious circle'

In the past five years, most county and metropolitan and unitary authorities have taken on the responsibility for highways, which "significantly" increased the number of claims and subsequent payouts, the BBC investigation found.

Snapshot of council claims Birmingham City Council....£16.7m payout total from 2,005 claims Herefordshire Council....£1.3m payout total from 984 claims Staffs County Council...£3.7m payout total from 2,733 claims Warks County Council....£2.7m from 1,520 claims Shropshire County Council....£840,007 payout total from 1,000 claims

Each claim has to be thoroughly investigated using tax payers money and legal costs pile up, researchers said.

The 39,000 claims total includes both claims which were successful and those which were unsuccessful.

Edward Welsh, from the Local Government Association, said councils simply could not afford to pay the claims as well as fix the pavements.

"What's happening is that councils are having to fund legal work and that means they don't have the money for the paving stones.

"So people are making claims about tripping on paving stones.

"It's a vicious circle."