Compensation claims
If you have experienced damage, loss or harm to yourself, your belongings or property while you were using the road you may wish to make a claim for compensation.
Before making a claim for compensation, please be aware that there is no automatic right to compensation from the Council. When you submit a Public Liability claim it starts a legal process and compensation is only offered where there is a legal requirement to do so.
Please read all the information before making a claim.
Responsibility
The Council is responsible for maintaining publicly owned roads and streets in Edinburgh – this is known as the adopted road network. However, some roads are privately owned and we are not responsible for maintaining them. If an incident happened on a publicly owned road, we will investigate your claim.
Visit the list of public roads to find out if a road or a pavement is maintained by us.
In some cases, we may not be responsible, for instance if the problem happened because of work being done by independent contractors, utility companies (eg Scottish Water) or another third party working on the road.
Events can also occur that result in injury or a financial loss that are not due to any party’s negligence.
Using your own insurance policies
If you have your own insurance arrangements in place providing cover for loss (such as a motor or contents policy) you may wish to make a claim from this. This should mean that the matter is dealt with more quickly, as there is not the requirement to investigate and establish negligence. If your insurer believes that fault lies with the Council, they may contact us to seek to recover their costs. You may also have to advise your insurers of any loss to ensure compliance with insurance terms and conditions – please check your policy. The Council is not liable for any lack of declaration to your own insurer.
