COMPENSATION cheats who make fraudulent claims for trips and falls are costing East Lancashire taxpayers millions of pounds.

An official report says local authorities are having to fork out huge sums of money to people who claim to have had accidents in the street - with many cases believed to be false.

In Blackburn and Darwen the problem was so bad the council was spending more on insurance claims than it did on repairing its roads and had set aside £1.4 million to deal with claims.

Now the council is bringing in a series of measures which could see people fined for making false claims.

Last year, Lancashire County Council was forced to introduce similar measures after its annual liability bill topped £6million.

A Blackburn with Darwen Council report into the matter said that its highway maintenance service was suffering a "massive burden of compensation payments".

The report added that this had been caused by a change in the law which allows legal firms to fight cases on a no win no fee basis.

Prior to the legislative change, claimants were said to be less likely to sue for damages because of a fear of the cost involved in bringing an unsuccessful action.

But the Law Society said it believed people were now less likely to make a false claim. A spokesman added: "Legal Aid on all personal injury claims was abolished four yeas ago and we think that was a good thing because people no longer get legal advice unless there is merit in the claim." However, the Law Society admitted people who would have paid for legal advice four years ago could now make a claim for free.

Director of regeneration, housing and neighbourhoods for Blackburn with Darwen Council, Adam Scott explained: "In recent years, an increasingly litigious society has seen third party highway claims spiralling up to the point where almost twice as much money was being paid out to claimants as that spent on repairing the highway infrastructure.

"Increased highway inspections and improved repair response times now means the council has increased its success rate in defending these claims.

"Along with other local authorities we participate in the Regional District Audit Fraud Initiative in our fight against fraudulent claims.

"These include checks with other authorities and agencies where fraudulent claims are suspected and the referral of these claims to our insurer's fraud department. This has led to more claims being withdrawn and all cases taken to court have been successfully prosecuted with the claimant being liable for the costs.

"We have been able to radically improve the position as a result. The Council has been able to re-allocate £450,000 from the insurance budget to highway maintenance.

"The council's highway maintenance budget is now £1.8million compared to £1.4million set aside for claims payment.

"Early signs are that this trend will continue as the council takes an increasingly tough stand against suspect claims."