POORLY-maintained and damaged roads and pavements are costing Kent County Council tens of thousands of pounds in compensation to pedestrians and motorists.

Payouts of more than £500,000 have had to be made in two years to settle successful compensation claims against the authority, which is responsible for 5,000 miles of roads, pavements and footpaths.

And the county council is having to fend off an increasing number of claims from motorists and pedestrians trying to win cash compensation after accidents on Kent’s roads.

Of the £500,000 paid out between April 2004 and March this year, £371,000 was to settle 65 compensation claims from pedestrians who injured themselves through trips or slips, an average of £5,700 per person.

The cost of settling 136 claims from motorists, mainly for damage to vehicles such as hitting potholes but also for personal injuries, such as whiplash, cost £156,000, an average of about £1,100.

The figures, which include legal costs on both sides, were released to the Kent Messenger Group under the Freedom of Information Act.

But while KCC is paying out thousands of pounds, separate figures, also released under the Freedom of Information Act, reveal it is successfully rejecting many more.

Between March 2004 and March 2006, the authority rejected more than 1,000 claims from motorists, more than seven times as many as it settled. It also rejected 547 claims from pedestrians, more than eight times the number it agreed to settle.

KCC says it strives to weed out suspicious claims and only agrees to compensation where it is strictly liable.

Separate data show that Canterbury topped the table for the most claims made between April 2004 and March 2006, with KCC receiving 254. But of those, just six - or one in forty - were successful in securing payouts totalling £8,309. Only three of the 136 who claimed for damage to their vehicles got any money, an average of about £100 each.

In Ashford, 220 claims were made but KCC accepted liability for just 23, who between them received payouts of nearly £12,000. The fewest claims were made in Tunbridge Wells, where just 100 claims were made, with five people receiving compensation totalling just under £11,000.

In the county town of Maidstone, 24 people were between them compensated to the tune of more than £10,000 after KCC accepted liability for claims. But highways officials rejected nearly three times that number.

Often, KCC is able to reject claims because the fault lies with contractors carrying out repair work.

County road chiefs say that while they take compensation claims seriously they do not believe the level of payouts made to motorists and pedestrians is excessive.

Cllr Keith Ferrin, KCC’s cabinet member for highways, said: “There is no evidence of any trend upwards and we keep a close eye on those that might be fraudulent. While it is not a small sum of money, in the context of the amount we spend overall on highways, it is relatively low. However, we are not complacent.”

Claims were often rejected because KCC was able to demonstrate that it was not to blame or had complied with guidance on checking the condition of roads and pavements, he added.