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A British Transport Police officer has been paid an estimated £10,000 compensation after falling off a chair while on London Underground premises.

The award was part of nearly £5 million paid out by Transport for London over the past three years in compensation to people injured on the Tube, buses, railways, roads and pavements.

The payouts were condemned as a “result of living in a compensation culture gone mad”.

A series of revelations over compensation cases has rocked police forces across Britain.

They include policewoman Kelly Jones who is suing a burglary victim in Norfolk after tripping over a kerb, a Grampian policeman awarded £108,000 after being hurt by handcuffs on a training course and a Surrey officer suing a shop owner after allegedly falling into a drain during a call-out to a burglary.

The claims have been condemned by the public and former officers who say the service is being dragged into disrepute.

TfL paid out £11,575, including its own costs, last year over the chair incident involving the BTP officer.

Topping its list of compensation payouts was £158,884.10 for someone who tripped over a pavement bollard.

It also paid out £34,030 after a blind person caught their arm in an automatic door, £15,168 for somebody who had their elbow trapped in a Tube door and £10,050 after someone sat on a platform seat and it collapsed.

The figures were obtained by a Freedom of Information request lodged by Southwark Liberal Democrats.

Anood Al-Samerai, leader of the Lib-Dem group on the council said: “These are extraordinary figures which yet again show we are living in a compensation culture gone mad.

“If somebody is injured and TfL is at fault then clearly there is a need for compensation to cover medical bills and time off work.

“But with so many large claims, I would question why TfL aren’t saving themselves some big payouts by upgrading safety standards for passengers.”

During 2010-12 TfL paid out a total of £4,769,728.49 in compensation. Among the other payouts were:

Slipping on a wet platform, £35,566

Slipping getting off a tram and falling on an icy platform, £33,899

Tripping over a raised manhole cover on LU premises, £30,600

Slipping on a wet floor, £20,011.92

Slipping on a wet mat entering a station, £13,281.

The names of the claimants or the severity of injuries have not been revealed.

Jill Collis, London Underground’s director of health, safety and environment, said: “We have an excellent and improving safety record. Out of well over a billion passenger journeys last year, 435 resulted in a compensation claim — some of which were subsequently not pursued, were rejected or closed at no cost. This equates to one claim from every 2,298,850 journeys.

“We are continually working to further improve safety on the network — including the highest standards of staff training, a rigorous maintenance regime and a wide range of activity to remind people to take care on the network.”

British Transport Police declined to comment.