TRAFFIC warden-style repair patrols are being introduced as council chiefs try to reduce its bill for "trips and slips" compensation claims.

The move by Lancashire County Council comes as councillors in Blackburn with Darwen consider holding a conference to try to solve spiralling litigation costs.

The county council had to increase the amount it pays out before costs are covered by insurance from just over £4million to £6million late last year at the request of its insurance firm.

One of the reasons given for a rise in liability claims was that insurers were worried about potential claims from people affected by Operation Nevada -- the police investigation into alleged child abuse at schools and care homes -- if anyone is convicted.

But another factor was the rising number of claims being made against the county council for injuries caused by faults in roads and on pavements, which is expected to continue to rise next year.

Now £500,000 is being spent on creating a team of staff who will patrol the county looking for faults in the road before they cause someone an injury.

Repairs will then be carried out immediately.

Coun Tony Martin, in charge of finance at county hall, said: "People used to see a hole and report to us so we could fix it.

"Now they see a hole, have an accident, then call a no-win-no-fee firm to sue us. They might ring us and let us know about the hole.

"The problem is such that it has become the main reason our liability has been increased.

"Basically, we will now have to foot the first £6million in claims so we have to do something to sort out the roads."

Discussions on this year's level of council tax are still continuing at county hall, but it has already been agreed that £500,000 will be found for the new hole-spotting service.

Coun Martin added: "We can't afford not to. At the moment, not only do we have to foot the bill of repairing the holes or whatever the damage is, we have to pay out compensation claims.

"It is a litigious world we live in now and we need to react to that.

"The system will work similar to traffic wardens with staff travelling around looking for problems which, hopefully, will be fixed before someone has an accident."

Blackburn with Darwen Council is also tackling the problem.

It has deployed extra staff to investigate claims to ensure they are genuine as its annual bill tops £1million. Money has been transferred from other budgets to cover immediate repairs to try to slash the spiralling bill.

Now the watchdog committee which monitors work carried out by the technical and regeneration department has called for the council to hold a North West conference to see if new ideas for tackling the problem can be found.

Coun John Milburn, in charge of the committee, said: "If we can get our heads together, we might be able to find a solution.

"We appreciate it is a national problem, but we are only concerned with Blackburn and Darwen and want to see it tackled quickly.

"Moving money from one budget to another is only a short-term solution."