The compensation culture has cost Scottish councils an estimated £13m over the past three years, and authorities have earmarked a further £24m to meet future legal judgements.

Figures were compiled by a Scottish Sunday newspaper which surveyed all 32 local authorities. A total of 42,000 claims for compensation have been made since 2003. The Scottish Executive was said to be monitoring the situation to see if legislation was needed to curtail the activities of so-called ‘claims farmers'.