Police payout £144,000 to officers injured on duty
Posted: March 3, 2014
Posted in: Finger Injuries Knee Injury Workplace Injuries
South Yorkshire Police Force has paid out a total of £144,000 in compensation to officers injured while on duty. A total of 31 financial settlements were made by the force in only four years, (between 2008-2012) with payouts ranging from insect bites to knee injuries. As a result, the force has been urged to crackdown on officers who are ‘playing the system’ as personal injury compensation claims continue to become increasingly trivial.
Compensation payouts included:
- £30,000 to an officer who tore a ligament in his knee while training
- £18,000 to an officer who fell from a wall
- £5,000 to an officer who fell on black ice
- £5,000 to an officer who fell down a flight of stairs
- £1,500 to an officer who suffered a bruised and swollen finger after a van door was slammed on their hand
- £1,500 to an officer who fell backwards from a chair after the backrest snapped
Other injuries included an officer who tripped on a doorstop and an officer who suffered some insect bites. Despite this, an officer who broke his leg while raiding a house was not awarded with compensation – highlighting a flaw in the system.
Jonathan Isaby, Chief Executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “Officers do a difficult, sometimes dangerous job, but that doesn’t justify absurd claims for trivial reasons. Police chiefs need to crack down on cynical claims designed to play the system that ultimately end up costing hard-pressed taxpayers.”
If you have suffered an injury at work, and are looking to claim compensation, please contact us.
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