CRACKED pavements are costing the region's tax payers tens of millions of pounds in compensation.

With every council facing hundreds of claims every year - costing an average of almost £2,200 per claim - the region's poorly maintained pavements are taking huge sums out of council budgets.

The scale of the problem came to light when it emerged that Newcastle City Council has faced a £7.7m bill for compensation to pedestrians injured by falls on damaged pavements since 1997.

The region's other authorities fare little better, with County Durham facing a bill of £9.5m over the same period. This figure, which totalled 3,250 claims, also includes claims for potholes in the road.

Stockton Borough Council, which faced 1,059 claims since 1997, is expected to pay £2.3m, while Hartlepool Borough Council, which faced 605 claims during the same period, had to pay £1.39m.

Darlington Borough Council has received 1,300 liability claims from the public - including claims for accidents caused by potholes and council vehicles - which amount to almost £800,000 in the past five years.

A spokeswoman for the authority said: "While the claims faced by Darlington may be less than other councils, we have noticed an increase in the number of cases against us in recent years."

The figures include payments already made and the total for claims yet to be processed.

A spokesman for the Newcastle Liberal Democrat group, which uncovered the scale of the bill facing the city, said: "It is almost beyond belief that so much money is being paid out in personal injury claims.

"Residents across the city are sick of being told by the council that there's not enough money to repair their street - it's no wonder given that so much is being lost in legal costs."

North-East councils said the figures represented a worst-case scenario and that many claims were successfully contested.

In December last year, an elderly woman shattered her kneecap after slipping on new paving stones being laid in Ripon Market Place, North Yorkshire.

Her fall happened only days after a mother-of-two broke her hip after falling at the same place.