Commuter gets £27k for 'possible pigeon poo slip'
 

A commuter received £27,602 from Network Rail after "possibly slipping" on pigeon poo at Paddington station.

Data obtained by the BBC has revealed Network Rail has paid out nearly £1m in five years for slips, trips and falls at its stations across the UK.

Over half of the payouts were made following accidents at Euston, Paddington, Victoria and Liverpool Street stations.

Network Rail said a "tiny fraction" of commuters "experience a mishap".

In the five years up to the end of 2018-19 financial year a total of £951,360 was paid out in compensation.

The highest single amount was £39,631 for a passenger who "slipped on some liquid" at Charing Cross station.

Other passengers have received large payouts for slips at Paddington (£36,392) and Euston (£35,721) while another commuter received £28,000 after suffering a "possible lacerated finger" at Liverpool Street.

Settlements made by Network Rail were said to reflect the claims and would take into account not only the injury but the wider impact.

Network Rail's Philip Thrower said Network Rail was a company that took its "responsibilities seriously".

He added: "With tens of millions of people using our stations every day, only a tiny fraction of a percent experience a mishap.

"If we are at fault for causing damage or injury to anyone, we rightly compensate them for those accidents and put in place new ways of working to stop them from happening again."

Network Rail manages 20 stations across the UK including 11 in London.

Others include stations in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham, Reading, Guildford and Bristol Temple Meads.

Victoria was the railway station that saw the highest number of successful claims paid out by Network Rail - 44.

Waterloo (32), Leeds (32), Euston (27) and Liverpool Street (24) also feature highly.

Guildford and Glasgow Central were the only Network Rail-run stations not to have had a compensation claim paid out in the past five financial years.

The lowest amount paid out by Network Rail was £10 to a commuter who slipped on ice at Victoria station "suffering personal injury and damage to their suit".

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-49256251

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Just goes to show ... there is money in ****

Some people are soo litigious. If I slipped over bird poo I wouldn't be thrilled, but it wouldn't occur to me to sue.

Bird poo, what are they meant to do about it, scatter seed laced with loperamide?

it's also telling, that there was not a single claim made in Glasgow in the five year period

:laugh::laugh: I wonder how you could prove you slipped on pigeon poo.

Good Lawyer

what a coo for the lawyer

Think you're doing a disservice to the victims, by pigeonholing people as litigious.

Nice little nest egg for him.

why are you homing-in on Oliver?

I think it plants a bad seed in people's minds when you make them out to be money grabbers.

the amounts are not chicken feed....I know its a tenuous link at best :laugh:

I feel sorry for this dude; he's really ruffled some feathers and put the cat amongst the pigeons by just claiming his rights.

Rebecca Jane WHO?

I'm going to find some pidgeon poo next time I'm at Liverpool Street and slip on it and possibly pull a muscle

What the ****? I didnt know you could be paid fortunes for stuff like this! I have slipped in train stations, hell my mother has a scar on her knee where she slipped and fell onto the actual track..scar looks like a carrot, its so weird. Kids have fell too, a fair amount. So we would be basically millionaires if we had tried to sue for us being clumsy?! Maybe I need to start being a twat...

...when the commuter filled in the claim form...they were probably winging it as well...

Probably flipped them the bird on his way out of court.

...oh give it a nest, will you...

...:laugh:...

Just because your birdbrain intellect can't keep up with my rolls royce brain, doesn't give you the right to criticise.

A real feather in his cap

I guess the early bird really does get the worm.

nothing worth squab bling about

I don't know......stepping in bird poo - sounds like a bit of ostrich to me

winner :clap1: