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A London council paid out more than £43,000 in compensation and legal fees after a child got a splinter from sitting on a playground bench, figures revealed.

The youngster needed surgery following the incident, reports said.

The claim is one of 1,600 made against Croydon Council since 2014, and contributes to the total of almost £6 million forked out by the local authority over accidents and injuries in just three years.

According to figures obtained by the Standard, the biggest pay-out was £181,000 to a member of the public who tripped on a pavement that was damaged during council improvement works.

Data also revealed that the local authority paid out £81,000 to a claimant who broke his leg after jumping over the gates of car park because he thought they were locked.

The list of compensation pay-outs was released under the Freedom of Information Act.

A Croydon Council spokeswoman said that, while the figures shown for each case were paid out by the local authority, not all of it was direct compensation to the claimant.

She added that legal fees for both the council and the claimant were included in the overall total for each case.

In statement, the authority said: “Where appropriate the council will robustly defend claims against it.

"In this case [of the child's splinter] it was deemed by the court the claimant should receive damages of £2,760, and we abided by this decision.”