THE number of people who fall or injure themselves on pavements are not being recorded, unless they try to sue Hertfordshire County Council.

The information came to light after WGC councillor Malcom Cowan was working on a report.

The Liberal Democrat said he was shocked to be told pedestrians who fall on pavements in the county are ignored in the council’s statistics.

He said: “The vast majority of cases, where the person goes to hospital or to the GP, do not feature, because no recording takes place.

“It just shows how much pedestrians are ignored – every accident in the road which causes any personal injury is recorded.

“This helps show where improvements to the road may be needed.

“Yet exactly the same injury to a pedestrian caused by tripping over an uneven pavement, is ignored unless they sue; so there is no pressure to fix the poor pavements.”

He added: “The Conservatives who run the county council have refused to start collecting the number of falls, saying it is too expensive, even though they admitted they didn’t know how much it would cost.”

A county council spokeswoman said: “We record the number and category of all highway faults reported by the public and our safety inspectors, including those on footways, verges and cycle tracks.

“We also record the number and category of claims made in relation to the public highway, including trips or falls on footways, verges and cycle tracks.”