Paying out £19,000 to one person in 2016 because they tripped on a small chair in a school is just one of the many examples of compensation Lewisham Council has had to pay out.

According to a data released following a Freedom of Information request, since 2015 Lewisham Council has paid out more than £1.7m in compensation for a wide variety of reasons.

Other large amounts of compensation the council had to pay out include £8,600 for a pupil who was injured during a charity football game, £8,000 for a child falling in a playing area, and £6,672 due to a chair collapsing when someone sat on it.

The most costly reasons the council had to pay compensation were frequently due to tree roots damaging property, such as uplifting the driveway and cracking walls.

In 2015 the council had to pay £50,000 due to tree roots, and a further £75,000 in 2017 for a similar reason.

Children and students injured showed up frequently on the list as well. There was one claim paid out in 2015 for £3,000 when goal posts which people were swinging on collapsed onto people.

In another case in 2017 the council had to pay out £2,000 when a child fell down a drain, and another £4,000 claim for when a dance pupil fell due to the surface they were dancing on.

Even noisy lifts can drain the purse of the council, with one person successful getting £500 compensation in 2015 due to noise nuisance from a lift.

The amount Lewisham Council has had to pay has dropped each year, from £738,000 in 2015 to £484,000 in 2017.

Greenwich Council paid out slightly less than Lewisham over the same three year period, paying less than £1.5m in compensation claims.

Lewisham Council has been contacted for comment.