£34,000 for slipping on wet floors and £5,000 for dog bites: How police officers are cashing in on compensation claims for injuries at work

• West Midlands Police spent nearly £600,000 on personal injury claims brought by 26 officers in the last year
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  This included a fall off a faulty chair, dog bites and one who was hit by a car park barrier
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  Another got a pay-out after being mistakenly clobbered by a colleague with a baton
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  The TaxPayers' Alliance said: 'These figures are shocking'

A fall off a faulty chair, taking a tumble on a wet floor, struggling to get in and out of a car and being bitten by a dog.

It might sound more like the plot for a comedy film - but in fact, these bizarre occurrences are some of the compensation claims made by a single police force to its officers in the last year.

West Midlands Police had to fork out nearly £600,000 on personal injury claims brought by 26 officers.

The officers were successfully awarded compensation for a string of injuries, including a fall off a faulty chair, dog bites and one who was hit by a car park barrier.

Another got a pay-out after he was clobbered by a colleague with a baton who was trying to break a car window with it. A further three officers were injured by their colleagues while on a job. 

The biggest claims relate to officers who tripped and fell at work. Three officers slipped on wet floors, two sustained injuries after moving furniture, one tripped in a 'dark corridor' and another tripped in a 'hole in the office floor'.