ALMOST £100,000 a year is paid out to people injured tripping over a pavement in Lincolnshire.

Lincolnshire County Council has revealed it pays out an average of £92,000 a year and their single largest payout is £38,000 following an accident caused by an unsafe pathway.

However, compared with some of the large metropolitan areas, our county council has paid out very little damages resulting from dangerous pavements.

A Freedom of Information request submitted by the Liberal Democrats revealed that Leeds City Council had the highest compensation payment which was £10.2 million between 2004 and 2009.

And the average compensation payment across 92 councils responding to the request was £833,269 over five years, nearly twice Lincolnshire's £461,000 paid over the same period.

The assistant director of the highways department at Lincolnshire County Council, Paul Coathup, said:

"Over the past six years, Lincolnshire County Council has paid out around £100,000 per year in compensation for damages incurred due to personal injury claims relating to trips on the footway.

"Although not complacent, our exposure to claims is well below the national average due to our robust inspection and maintenance routines.

"However with around 2,500 miles of footway in a largely rural county and a growing compensation culture, claims of this nature are unfortunately unavoidable."

Tean Butcher, a partner at Wilkin Chapman Solicitors in Lincoln, said he had acted in cases against Lincolnshire County Council following pavement trips where damages had been awarded.

"I think there's perhaps less of a claiming culture in Lincolnshire compared to the big metropolitan areas," said Mr Butcher.

"There may be a bit more stoicism in Lincolnshire and people might not immediately think they are entitled to compensation but in many circumstances they might be.

"It maybe the general quality of pavements is better here than in the bigger cities where the areas are much bigger and council resources stretched further."

However campaign manager for the TaxPayers' Alliance, Emma Boon, said local authorities should not be paying out any cash for accidents caused by dangerous pavements.

Mr Coathup said pedestrians should ring 01522 782070 to report any damage to pavements.

"This way, we can be sure that this money is instead used to improve the county's highways something that will benefit all residents, not just the few," he said.