THE mysterious case of the non-slip floor that wasn't looks set to cost Blackburn with Darwen Council an awful lot of money.

People have been injured, some quite severely, walking along Market Avenue which links the two market buildings.

Two, who broke their wrists, have already received payments of £8,000 and the bill so far is £20,000 and climbing.

What really concerns us is the statement, by a "council spokesman" last year, denying that the surface was dangerous.

Answering complaints from shoppers who had slipped he said that type of flooring was also used in shopping centres and similar venues to the market nationwide and that it was non-slip and not dangerous.

How wrong can you be?

People were slipping and sliding again within weeks of the statement and soon the casualties were being counted.

The spokesman and those who advised him should be wearing bright red faces.

The accidents appear to happen in wet weather when shoppers tread rainwater in from outside.

But why don't other floors around the country exact the same toll from shoppers?

Could it be that Blackburn folk are less sure-footed?

Or could it be that in other venues they have taken the simple and sensible step of putting down carpets or mats to soak up the water? In the light of all this it was fair to ask Blackburn with Darwen Council what it was doing to prevent shoppers from running the gauntlet of Market Way.

The explanation from a spokeswoman in the Council's insurance department was: "We are trying to minimise the costs by assessing risks and working to minimise them. We value our staff and our customers and we are actively trying to keep costs down because, in the end, it's the ratepayers who pay."

Apart from the last five - she's right, council tax payers cough up in the end - we have 40 words of pure waffle.

The statement doesn't give us a clue what, if anything, is being done to improve Market Avenue's unfortunate image and stop the council's insurance bill from going through the roof.

And it doesn't mean a thing to those nursing broken bones and sore backsides.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.