FIRMS who chase compensation have found a new set of "victims" - in Manchester's classrooms.
Claim companies have targeted the parents of pupils allegedly injured in schools in their search for new clients.
Legal action has been bought over fingers trapped by radiators and falls from playground climbing frames.
Former pupils have also demanded taxpayers' money for incidents dating back as far as seven years - in some cases their school has been demolished.
Manchester City Council is facing 158 education-linked demands for compensation, the majority of which involve children.
Senior officers say the claims companies have also flooded council estates looking for building defects and enlisting people who say they have fallen in their homes or gardens.
The revelations come as councils across Greater Manchester struggle to cope with rocketing bills for compensation.
Manchester taxpayers have shelled out '9.9m in the past financial year for pay-outs, legal costs, refunds and fees.
Legal bills
About '2.7m went on trip claims even though 90 per cent of cases are successfully defended by the council.
New figures show Stockport town hall has paid out almost '14m for trip-and-slips over the past five years. The council's insurance costs have risen by '1m to '6.4m to cover the increase in payments.
Paul Murphy, Manchester council's executive member for direct services, said even those cases that were rejected racked up significant legal bills.
"Where a claim is genuine we will pay but where we think a claim is vexatious we will take people on," he said. "We have some families where four members all seem to have tripped over the same spot.
"Some of the `claim farmers' are acting in a very irresponsible way by encouraging people to make claims that have no chance of success.
"The fact is there are such things as accidents."
Manchester's robust approach has allowed it to stem the rising tide of new claims from 4,188 in 2002/03 to 3,791 in 2003/04. But that is still nearly 50 per cent higher than the figure five years ago (2,409).
Carol Jackson, head of personal injury claims at leading Manchester solicitors Pannone & Partners, said: "We do get approaches from 'claims farms' who handle school cases and we don't deal with them.
"I am surprised that solicitors would take on cases that have no chance of success. What people have to realise is that to be successful you have to prove someone else was at fault."
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Norman Brown, Crewe (04/11/2004 at 14:39)
chris, stretford (04/11/2004 at 17:15)
Sue, Salford (08/11/2004 at 18:11)
The Government introduced the compo culture - not surprising as a large number of MPs are solicitors and barristers - and it's up to the Goverment to get rid of it.
To your commentator who couldn't believe that a solicitor would stoop to such levels, let me explain - this same body of people don't want the law changing so that a defendent's antecedents are heard in a court of law; after all if a jury/bench of magistrates knows up front that a defendent has previous convictions for a similar offence, then solicitors/barristers are only going to get one bite of the cherry.
The sooner independent, unbiased governance of both the legal profession and the medical profession is brought into play, the better for the people of this country.