Heritage sites face glut of claims for visitor injuries

LEADING tourist attractions have had to pay out thousands in compensation claims from falls into castle moats to injuries from moving model ships.

Visitors have accounted for dozens of claims submitted in the past five years. It comes after grandfather Ian Taylor, 69, of East Grinstead, West Sussex, was awarded a six-figure sum in May for falling into a moat at Carisbrooke Castle on the Isle of Wight.

Historic England is contesting case but a judge ruled that a sign was not on display to indicate the danger.

The organisation, which runs 400 properties, has faced 10 claims for falls in the past three years, including almost £60,000 for a fall at Walmer Castle in Kent and over £20,000 at Yarmouth Castle on the Isle of Wight.

Historic England has warned that the country “is in the grip of a compensation culture” and could force it to erect a “plague of irritating signs” to warn against “obvious” dangers.

In the past three years the Govern- ment organisation has been forced to pay out £400,000 for more than 20 claims. These included one at the Wellington Arch, near Buckingham Palace, where a cyclist collided with a gate and another person suffered a cut to their face on a lift.

It is not the only body to have faced a glut of claims, the Royal Museums Greenwich had to pay almost £100,000 after a person suffered a back injury while moving a ship model.

The National Army Museum paid out £1,458 after someone suffered a static electric shock at Stevenage. The National Museum of Wales has had 15 compensation claims over the past three years, 12 of which were all against St Fagans National History Museum and a trip at Stonehenge led to a £1,200 claim.

In many instances, organisations paid out far more in fees to the lawyers than to the claimants

A claim to Pendennis Castle for damaged hearing led to the claimant being paid £11,000, yet the legal costs amounted to £19,000.