VIC Tripped in Council Owned Car Park - Entitled to Compensation?

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katiejany

Member
22 May 2016
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The car park at my son's school apparently is owned by the local council. It used to be gravel but they put bitumen on it about 8 months ago. There are knee-high wooden barriers around the car park with about a 10-15 cm gap between them and the bitumen, which is just gravel/dirt. A lot of these barriers are bent back from cars pushing into them.

Anyway, I was putting something in my boot and my foot got caught between the barrier and bitumen which made me fall flat on my back (on the other side of the barrier). My foot was jammed stuck between the barrier and bitumen and it took a few people to get it out. As it turns out, I now have a fractured talus bone & severe sprain and I am unable to walk/weight bare. I

have to use a moon boot for at least 8 weeks, and crutches. I also have a 'corked thigh', but it is my foot that is my biggest problem. I cannot drive or look after my son properly. I also look after my Mother who doesn't live with me so this also makes it hard. It has made my life and that of my family's life very inconvenient especially seeing I am the only one who can legally drive.

My question is, would I be entitled to any compensation or anything through council? I have submitted an incident report.
 
S

Sophea

Guest
In order to be successful in claiming compensation you would need to be able to show that the council was somehow negligent by leaving the wooden barriers there and that they posed a hazard. This requires you to establish that the council failed to take reasonable care by allowing unsafe conditions to exist in the carpark.

Do you know of any prior incidents? Or reports of near misses?

Also, the damages that you would be entitled to would not be huge, considering that you likely won't be losing future earning capacity (though you may have had to take a few weeks off work), I am assuming you will not have a massive residual impairment after the bone is healed and I assume most of your medical bills are covered by the state so you are not out of pocket for those. You would just need to determine whether the likely amount you can claim is worth it having regard to the amount of legal costs you will be required to pay in order to get it.

I would speak with a lawyer about it, many offer free consultations.