It has been recently revealed that Translink, the company in charge of running the public transport system in Northern Ireland, is paying out a total of £2,000 per day in injury compensation.
According to the Belfast Telegraph, which made a Freedom of Information request, around 330 successful accident compensation claims in the past year have been made against Translink. Over the last five years, the company has paid out a total of £4.3 million to people who have been injured in accidents involving vehicles in its network.
In one high profile incident which took place in August 2012, dozens of people were injured when a double decker bus overturned outside Belfast’s Central Station. In another case, two women were lucky to escape with only minor injuries after a bus hit a shelter in Belfast city centre.
Commenting on the figures, the chair of the Assembly committee in charge of transport matters, Jimmy Spratt, said:
“The high number of claims – to the extent where there is almost one a day – is concerning,”
“Inevitably accidents will occur, but this seems a very large compensation bill. It is vital that Translink work more proactively to try and dramatically reduce the number of these claims.”
