News bulletin: massive amount Liverpool Council pays out for pothole compensation claims

🛣️ Settling compensation claims relating to potholes and highways costs Liverpool Council £2 million a year.

Around 550 liability claims are made to the local authority every year, according to a report to go before its cabinet on Friday.

Half of them are “ low value property damage claims such as burst tyres” while the remaining are “personal injury claims of varying values.”

Liverpool Council also receives a small number of employer liability cases, some school claims and about 30 public liability claims.

The report said they were predominantly “highway claims where our inspection and repair system has failed and statutory liability attaches.”

As a result, the cost of settling the cases sets the cash-strapped local authority £2m annually and £13,330 per case.

⚫ A 14-year-old boy who cannot be named be legal reasons has been found guilty of the murder of 12-year-old Ava White.

A jury spent two hours and eight minutes deliberating before giving their verdict. He fatally stabbed Ava in the neck in Liverpool city centre on November 25 following a row over a Snapchat video.

🚨 A firearm has been recovered in Sefton Park after a man found it hidden in the ground on Tuesday afternoon.

The black self-loading pistol, along with bullets, had been found buried in a plastic container by the Palm House. The gun has been made safe and is being forensically tested.