INVERCLYDE Council has shelled out more than £160,000 to people who have slipped and tripped on roads and footpaths in the last five years.

Broken pavements, uncovered drains, inadequate lighting and potholes are just some of the reasons which have led to people demanding compensation for personal injuries since 2015.

And with 21 claims yet to be finalised - one of which has been outstanding since 2016 - council coffers could still take an even bigger hit.

Data obtained via Freedom of Information laws also confirmed the local authority has been faced with 130 personal injury claims since 2015.

The largest payout came in 2016, when the council coughed up almost £75,000.

In 2015 - £16,080 was paid to 25 claimants.

The following year the figure surged to £74,630l.

It came back down to £25,220 in 2017 across a total of 35 claims.

In 2018 a sum of £38,560 was paid out.

The total payout so far for 2019 cases stands at £6,270.

More than two-thirds of the claims have been made due to broken pavements which haven't been maintained, while potholes led to more than 13 per cent of claims.

Council bosses insist Inverclyde received relatively few claims compared to other areas across the country.

A council spokesperson said: “We invest significant amounts of money maintaining and repairing local pavements.

"Between 2012/13 and 2018/19 we spent nearly £4 million.

"The work was targeted in a flexible, demand-driven way using the specialist knowledge of council staff, the number of complaints and liability claims received and information from the public and councillors.

“It is fair to say the public has become far more inclined to go to law and sue local authorities.

"Despite this, we received relatively few claims in respect of slips and trips compared to other local authorities across Scotland.

"The weather is often a significant factor with claims of this type and also in terms of causing damage to pavements."

When asked why there was still a claim outstanding from 2016 - where a broken pavement was the alleged hazard - the council said it could not comment on individual cases.

A spokesperson added: “Personal injury claims are passed directly to our insurance company which then makes a decision on whether or not to pay them.

"Each claim is judged on its merits.

"We can’t comment on individual cases but the legal process involved with personal injury claims can sometimes take a considerable amount of time.”

Alongside broken pavements and potholes, failure to provide adequate signage, unfinished road surfaces, uncovered drains, wet or slippy surfaces, protruding manholes, inadequate lighting and failure to grit roads were all other hazards alleged by people making compensation claims between 2015 and 2019.