Hi not sure if in right place or if any one can help but here goes

my wife on her way home tripped in a pot whole this was on a path that is directly conected to the town market owned by the council and leads in to a service yard used by various companys the council have written back to say the owner of the land has not been identified but is confirmed its not under the ownership of the council is this a fob off ?

they also say however taking the above they are willing to make a without prejudice good will gesture of £25 in full and final settlement of her claim this offer is made without admission of liability

Quick question (not for a direct answer but to provoke a train of thought),

If the council say they don't own the land (therefore not their problem) why are they offering a gesture of goodwill in 'full and final settlement' of her claim?

To me, if the council don't own the land then they are under no obligation to offer any settlement, so why are they offering a token gesture of goodwill payment?

Just something to consider..............

Feebee_71

my thoughts exactly also if they say they dont own the land but cant prove who does seems odd also the path is directly conected to council property as it is an access path to the market sq just need to think how to write a nice sarcastic letter to them

Firstly you have not indicated what injuries/damages your wife incurred as a result of the trip.

Secondly it is very strange that the council has offered a settlement on land it deems not there's. It could be that the land may not be Highway Authority land, but may be private council owned land. If you can be bothered you should do your own land registry search, which you can google now. Also you should write to the council and ask them to provide you with a map showing the highways authority footways on it.

Don't accept the £25 its not enough to be worth it, unless you do not have the time to tackle this properly.

the claim is quite small really no injury apart from a few scratches basically it was my wifes first day in a new job as a nurse at our local hospital in the fall she ripped her uniform trouser cost £20 to replace and scuffed up a brand new pair of shoes specially designed for nurses cost £60 may seem trivial to some but why should we be out of pocket secondly since this the council have been far from helpful its taken 3hrs of phone calls and 6 emails to get this far so now is a matter of principle as well might even try and claim an admin fee now

Any advice on how to proceed would be great full

Regards casper