COUNCILS are spending tens of thousands of pounds settling compensation claims, it has been revealed.

Local authorities have received 917 compensation claims this financial year and have agreed settlements in 98 cases. The total paid out in compensation during 2012/13 currently stands at more than £70,000.

A Freedom of Information request revealed the vast majority of this has been spent by Dorset County Council, which has received 640 claims so far during 2012/13 and paid out on 33 of them, at a total cost of £61,354.57.

They paid out £11,132.49 on 14 claims relating to damaged cables or pipes caused by excavation works and they also paid out a total of £27,664.92 to 17 claimants who submitted a joint claim for accidental damage to their property.

Others included £4,040 for a council worker who fractured a finger while in a defective premises and £10,000 for a land search error. They paid out in three pothole claims – totalling £434.27 – and two pavement defect claims, one for £650 and one for £410.

Bournemouth council received 178 claims for compensation during 2012/13 and paid out in 11 cases, totalling £6,180.99.

Three were cases of property being damaged during a bin collection, where compensation ranged from £225 to £722.50 and one was a case of a vehicle being damaged by a refuse collection, where the council paid out £425.

There were two cases of property being damaged by council operatives, where sums of £1032 and £750 were agreed, and four cases of vehicles being damaged by potholes, where the compensation ranged from £214 to £1,192.49.

Poole council received 89 claims in the 2012/13 financial year and paid out in five, totalling £3,179.96.

Christchurch is considering seven – four claiming that a stone thrown up by a strimmer damaged a car, one of a car damaged by a defect in a car park, one where someone tripped over a post and one where someone was injured using gym equipment.

East Dorset council is considering two claims, one related to an error in a land charges search and one concerning a bike that skidded on a wooden walkway.

Purbeck has had one claim, which it has not provided details of. No claims have been made to North Dorset district council so far this financial year.

ONE WOMAN'S PLIGHT AFTER SEVERE FALLS

PAMELA Miles, 73, has lodged two claims with the Borough of Poole – and had both refused.

The former Poole Hospital worker first submitted a claim in April 2011 after she fell over part of an uneven pavement while walking home from work. She suffered a series of grazes and scratches to her arms and legs and needed treatment at A&E.

However, after reporting it to the council she had a letter from their insurers saying the pavement had been re-done and was checked on a regular basis and the case was closed.

She submitted a second claim last November after tripping on a loose concrete slab on the pathway outside NatWest bank on High Street North.

Again she was taken to A&E and this time her injuries were more severe, including a black eye, bleeding eye socket, sprained arm and sprained thumb.

She submitted photos of her injuries and of the pavement and witness statements from the bank staff but received a letter stating the pavement had been re-set and made safe and the case was closed.

Allan Warren, risk and insurance manager at the Borough of Poole, said: “When the council receives a personal loss or injury claim, it is investigated by our public liability insurers.

“For a highways claim to be successful, a claimant would need to prove the council has been negligent and not carried out its duty of care under the Highways Act.”