OXFORDSHIRE County Council can quite rightly point out with some justification that its compensation bill for cracked and uneven pavements causing injuries is less than many other authorities.

Its repair bill is less than others too and the reason for that is probably because it spends as much as it needs to.

If others spend more then their footpaths are probably in a worse condition than ours.

But taking all of that into account, it is still not satisfactory that the equivalent of about £1,400 is paid out each week to people injured because of the state of footpaths.

Just because it is doing better than other councils does not mean that spending so much taxpayer money is acceptable.

There is of course something we can all do as taxpayers to protect our own interests: tell the county when there is a problem.

Hugh Jaeger says he has reported problems in the past and been disappointed with the response.

The county’s eyes can’t be expected to be everywhere but if it is told about problem pavements then it must act quickly.

Allowing citizens to get hurt is just not worth the cost.