A council grave digger who fell into the plot he was preparing and injured his knee has won £65,672 in compensation.

The cemetery worker, who was employed by Birmingham City Council, was digging a fresh grave when a burial chamber collapsed. The Council was found to be at fault for failing to have in place a safe system of work.

This is just one of the personal injury claims brought against the Council in the past year for which compensation was paid.

Three school workers won damages for slips and falls. One slipped on some food in the dining hall of the school where she worked and received £100,000 in damages for the back injury she sustained. Another settled her claim for £19,890 after she fell on an icy path and fractured her knee and a third tripped on the edge of a carpet and received £17,905 in compensation.

The information was made available following a request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 made by the Birmingham newspaper the Sunday Mercury. This revealed that Birmingham City Council made 274 compensation payments, at a cost of £4.9 million, between 2006 and 2011.